The World Baseball Classic Comes to MLB The Show 23

With the World Baseball Classic well underway, SDS announced that WBC-themed content would be in MLB The Show 23. For the first time ever, Diamond Dynasty will feature World Baseball Classic uniforms, animations, moments and international players. As MLB The Show has firmly taken hold, every new release was met with requests for the World Baseball Classic. And it’s finally here.

The World Baseball Classic Comes To MLB The Show 23

The addition of anything World Baseball Classic would have been exciting. Just some kind of generic theme in the game or a couple uniforms would have been new. There’s plenty of MLB superstars that have played in previous WBC tournaments that packs and other content could have been built around. We’re getting so much more than that.

SDS announced in their official press release that we’ll be getting over 100+ international players from 20 countries. It remains to be seen how that number is calculated. If current MLB players are included in that total, the number of “actual” new players will of course be lower but this is still incredibly exciting. It’s also unexpected. The inclusion of the World Baseball Classic wasn’t announced from the beginning of The Show 23’s hype machine. It was yet another shiny coin in the treasure trove of MLB The Show 23’s overflowing collection of incredible announcements.

Beginning on March 24 when Early Access launches, we’ll be able to play through the World Baseball Classic Program. It sounds like a familiar enough program with promises of Moments, a Conquest map, and a themed Event with bat skins and Flashback player items from this year’s tournament. This alone is exciting because we’re going to see brand new versions of players we’ve used hundreds of times over the years. Combined with the new international players, this is going to be one of the biggest infusions of fresh content we’ve ever seen in Diamond Dynasty.

We also learned that the mystery choice packs being advertised in the pre-order bundles revolve around the World Baseball Classic.

Digital Deluxe Edition and Captain’s Edition purchases will include World Baseball Classic country uniform choice packs and another choice pack with World Baseball Classic player items. There’s also the promise of the “Around the World” pack being available separately when the game launches. My guess is the “Around the World” pack is purchasable on the marketplace and with so many World Baseball Classic cards coming, don’t be surprised if there’s a big collection attached as well.

World Baseball Classic Players

Uniforms and themed content is great, but the crux of Diamond Dynasty is the players. We know we’re getting 100+ and SDS gave us a solid list of players to expect off the bat. This announced list promises more to come, but the names attached already include DD-community favorites.

• Munetaka Murakami (Team Japan)
• Roki Sasaki (Team Japan)
• Mookie Betts (Team USA)
• Jung-hoo Lee (Team Korea)
• Marek Minarik (Team Czech Republic)
• Chieh-Hsien Chen (Team Chinese Taipei)
• Li Lin (Team Chinese Taipei)
• Kungkuan Giljegiljaw (Team Chinese Taipei)

The announced Flashbacks include the following:

• Miguel Cabrera (Team Venezuela)
• Freddie Freeman (Team Canada)
• Paul Goldschmidt (Team USA)
• Nolan Arenado (Team USA)
• Manny Machado (Team Dominican Republic)
• Yoan Moncada (Team Cuba)
• Ronald Acuna Jr. (Team Venezuela)
• Yusuke Masago (Team China)
• Kyle Tucker (Team USA)
• Luis Robert Jr. (Team Cuba)
• Yu Darvish (Team Japan)
• Sandy Alcantara (Team Dominican Republic)
• Adam Wainwright (Team USA)

Impact On Diamond Dynasty

We already stated the obvious by acknowledging how much content this will be for Early Access launch night. But what’s the overall impact of the World Baseball Classic content within Diamond Dynasty?

For starters, it brings sensation Roki Sasaki to the game. Sasaki features elite stuff on the mound and will bring his 100+ MPH fastball and disgusting splitter to Diamond Dynasty. If Sasaki gets a card that truly represents his talent, he’s going to be one of the best SP during the early months of release.

It also gives us early, top-tier versions of MLB players like Mookie Betts, Miguel Cabrera, Nolan Arenado, Manny Machado, and Ronald Acuna Jr. Last year’s Faces of the Franchise Program gave us playable diamonds of players like Ronald Acuna Jr. and Mike Trout, when traditionally those players were locked behind the Live Series collection most of the year. The World Baseball Classic content will operate in a similar way, giving us juicier versions of superstar players that might have expensive Live Series cards. Mike Trout hasn’t been announced as having a WBC card, and he may not, but the point stands that SDS now has the option. Getting playable versions of the most popular players into Diamond Dynasty earlier in the year will always be a huge win in my book.

Another thing to consider is the new Sets and Seasons dynamic within Diamond Dynasty. We don’t know if these cards will be Core or Set 1, but I’m leaning toward the assumption that they’ll be Set 1 cards. That means you’ll be able to use all of them for the first two seasons before being forced to choose a single Set 1 card to carry into Season 2. With the promise of 99s on day one and every day throughout the game cycle, these World Baseball Classic cards might be a bit better than we’re used to seeing from early program cards. Regardless, I’m already looking forward to using some brand new players and curious how many signature animations made it in the game.

Bottom Line

The addition of the World Baseball Classic content to MLB The Show 23 is a huge accomplishment and selling point. So far, we’ve gotten the announcement of Derek Jeter returning to The Show, the addition of the Negro Leagues with a new historical mode to learn about key players, and now the World Baseball Classic. In terms of mega-impactful content additions, all three of those would be huge wins if added separately. The fact that we’re getting all three at once is quite literally mind-blowing to me. I have never been this excited for MLB The Show before and I’m eagerly counting down the days to launch.

It is worth pointing out that, per the press release, World Baseball Classic “playable content in Diamond Dynasty” will expire on 12/31/2023. It also states that any user items in inventories or on the marketplace will stay in place. This sounds like everything from Moments to ways to earn the WBC cards will disappear at the end of the year, almost surely due to licensing issues. But any cards you do earn or purchase will remain with you forever. It’s probably safe to assume we’ll get a deluge of packs to earn or purchase before the end of the year to ensure that we’ll always have these cards. Certainly a note worth keeping in mind when the grind starts on March 24.

How do you feel about the addition of the World Baseball Classic to Diamond Dynasty? Are there any specific flashback players you hope to see?