So I started up MLB The Show last night wanting those sweet, sweet Program Stars cards. You know how it is – you see everyone running god squads already, and your budget team is getting slapped around like crazy. Figured it was time to level up.
First things first, gotta grind those stars. Jumped straight into Conquest. Maps, maps, and more maps. Super grindy hitting goals against the CPU. Steal two bases with this bronze guy? Sure, why not. Score two runs with rookies? Painful, but doable. Felt like it took forever, swapping players in and out constantly. My thumbs were sore just from bunting with garbage commons to finish missions.

- Knocked out those Conquest goals mostly. Annoying, but points add up.
- Dove into Moments too. Had to retry the pitching ones a few times. CPU cheats sometimes, I swear.
- Shoved my head into Showdown. High risk, high reward. Sweating buckets trying to beat the boss with mediocre draft picks. Failed once, nailed it the second time. Huge chunk of stars right there.
Alright, now the fun part – claiming rewards. Scrolled through the program paths. Tough choices! Needed pitching bad, but that outfielder looked juicy too. Kept checking prices on the market just in case. Nope, way cheaper to grind it out myself.
Started grabbing packs along the way. Mostly trash pulls, obviously. One gold player. Totally useless. Kept grinding those stars like my life depended on it. Finally hit the big pack tiers. Cracked it open… boom! Got that diamond starter card people were buzzing about! Felt like a lottery win after all that bunting nonsense.
Dug back into the program menu. Unlocked a few lower-tier diamonds earlier, but now was ready for the heavy hitters. Clicked the big 99 OVR reward. Took a breath. That was a lot of extra innings games, Showdown stress, and boring objectives. Threw the new beast card straight into my lineup.
Finished up my session hopping into Ranked. First batter with the new guy? Smoked a double. Yeah. Totally worth the grind. Arm felt dead, but man, seeing that shiny new card actually playing well? Priceless. Don’t even want to know how many hours it took though.