Weekend Classic has Been a Major Disappointment: MLB The Show 25 Diamond Dynasty

A Blog by Greg

Diamond Dynasty has been the most popular and most profitable game mode in MLB The Show for years now. Within their flagship mode, the most beloved subsection is Ranked Seasons: a mode where users can play others with the team of cards they have collected. The goal of most Diamond Dynasty players is to build the best team possible for playing other users in Ranked Seasons to climb up the rankings with the hope of eventually reaching the almighty World Series division. Outside of collection rewards, the cards unlocked from reaching the World Series division are usually some of the best in the game, which makes unlocking these cards the primary objective for high-level players. For almost a decade, the structure of Ranked Seasons has remained untouched. Players would start at a low level and compete for about a month to see how close to reaching the World Series division they can come before the season ends, rankings are reset, and new rewards are announced. However, in MLB The Show 25, things changed when San Diego Studios announced a new feature: Weekend Classic.

When SDS announced Weekend Classic, the fan base was almost unanimously excited for the mode. Even I sang the praises of the developers in my first Diamond Dynasty blog (prior to the first Weekend Classic) for finally innovating Ranked Seasons for the first time in seemingly forever. In theory, Weekend Classic seemed like the perfect addition to Ranked Seasons and Diamond Dynasty as a whole. Weekend Classic was described by the developers as a subsect of Ranked Season that would take place at the end of each season. Players would be placed into tiers, similar to the divisions in regular Ranked Seasons, and compete over the course of a few days to earn “substantial rewards,” according to the MLB The Show website.

This addition seemed perfect for MLB The Show. It would add an entire new layer to Diamond Dynasty and give lower-level players, whose chances of reaching World Series were slim, a reason to play Ranked for the entire season. The idea was simple: try to reach as high of a division as possible, then compete in a few games against players of similar skill level to potentially earn some of the best rewards ever offered in Diamond Dynasty. In theory, the Weekend Classic seemed like it would be a home run. In actuality, Weekend Classic was more like a pop-up to the first baseman.

The first weekend classic arrived in mid-April, and players were eager to try this new, exciting, innovative game mode. Unfortunately, many players were disappointed for a number of reasons. First, the servers clearly could not handle how many users were trying to play, leading to a number of server crashes. If you were lucky enough to get into a game on the first day of Weekend Classic, gameplay was incredibly laggy, and players would often disconnect from their opponent. The servers improved over the next few days; however, more issues began to present themselves. The matchmaking system proved to be completely broken, leading to users facing opponents in dramatically different divisions than intended. This completely contradicted SDS’s promise of players only facing opponents in the same division determined by performance in Ranked Seasons. Some players, like myself, faced exclusively inferior opponents, leading to me receiving the best possible rewards, while others faced far superior opponents, leading to a frustrating experience. Finally, one of the most common complaints among players was how games played in Weekend Classic affected their final Ranked Season rating. Weekend Classic was advertised as a mode similar to the MLB playoffs. Your rating in Ranked Seasons should determine your final division in Weekend Classic, and the games played in Weekend Classic should therefore have no effect on Ranked Season. That was unfortunately not the case. In the end, the first Weekend Classic was a buggy, inconsistent, disappointing experience for most players.

When the second Weekend Classic came around nearly a month later, players were expecting significant changes from the disaster that was the inaugural Weekend Classic. Many were disappointed to find that the developers addressed almost none of the issues expressed by individuals on social media. The servers were better, and connection issues were less frequent; however, most people chalked that up to a decrease in player base rather than improvements made by the devs. Many players still complained about their Ranked Season rating being affected by games played in Weekend Classic as well as the fact that they were playing individuals well outside of their division and skill level. Unfortunately, the second Weekend Classic was more of the same.

I genuinely hope that Weekend Classic returns in future installments of the game; however, significant changes need to happen. The most alarming issue is the fact that the division system seems to be totally broken and needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Additionally, the developers at San Diego Studios need to listen to the outrage of individuals on X and Reddit and listen to the feedback of their fan base. Weekend Classic has the potential to be an incredible feature in MLB The Show, but in its current state, it is an incredible disappointment to fans of Diamond Dynasty and MLB The Show as a game.

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