MLB The Show 23 Season 5 has officially begun. This newest season focuses on Finest and Retro Fineset content. Finest cards are always some of the best cards in the game. These cards comes out after the MLB season, and celebrate the players who had the best performances from the past year. The new season comes out swinging with tons of content for players to complete. This includes Team Affinity, collections, conquest maps, showdowns, and tons more!
Season 5 XP Reward Path
The first part we need to look at is the new XP Reward Path. This season’s path has tons of great rewards. On top of packs, stubs, and cosmetics, the new Reward Path has 97 OVR and 99 OVR Boss Choice Packs. Players will earn seven of the 97 OVR Choice Packs and three 99 OVR Choice Packs. All of the players in these packs are a part of the 2023 Finest series. The players in these packs are listed below:
97 OVR Choice Pack
- Yankees SS Anthony Volpe
- Guardians SP Tanner Bibee
- Tigers 1B Spencer Torkelson
- Athletics 2B Zack Gelof
- Mets RP Brooks Raley
- Rockies 3B Ryan McMahon
- Giants C Patrick Bailey
99 OVR Choice Pack
- Blue Jays 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
- Rays LF Randy Arozarena
- Mariners C Cal Raleigh
- Reds SS Elly De La Cruz
- Marlins SP Jesus Luzardo
On top of the packs, included within the Rewards Path itself is 99 OVR Milestone Braves RF Ronald Acuna Jr. Acuna is the favorite to win NL MVP this season after becoming the first players ever to record 40 HRs and 70 SBs in the same season.
Team Affinity Season 5
Team Affinity Season 5 is where you will get the most Finest cards. This season’s TA finally has 99 OVR bosses! These bosses are 2023 Finest cards that represent players who were the best performers of the 2023 MLB season. 99 OVR Retro Finest henchmen cards accompany the 2023 Finest bosses, giving players 60 free 99 OVR cards they can earn just for playing the game.
Some changes have been made to Team Affinity Season 5 based on feedback from players. These changes intend to streamline and simplify the grind for those 99 OVR cards. The number of Showdowns and Conquests is reduced from 3 to 2. PXP and stat missions have been simplified and reduced. Also, players earn a TA voucher for every 10 inning they play in online modes. This addition has fans excited to finally be able to make TA progress while playing online.
Finest Frenzy Event
The newest event features all of the Finest cards in MLB The Show 23. This event tasks players to use 2023 Finest, Retro Finest, Captain, and Live Series cards in Core, Set 4, and Set 5. The games are 3 innings long and on All-Star difficulty. 5 wins in the event will get you 2023 Finest Giants RP Tyler Rogers. 20 wins in the event rewards 2023 Finest Guardians 3B Jose Ramirez. Finally, winning 12 games in a single event entry will get you 2023 Finest Mets SP Kodai Senga.
Ranked Seasons 8
The 8th Ranked Seasons program is now available in Diamond Dynasty. Like usual, this program has tons of rewards, including the World Series reward Choice Pack. This program’s World Series Choice Pack includes:
- 2023 Finest Cubs SS Dansby Swanson
- 2023 Finest Padres SP Blake Snell
- 2023 Finest Rays RF Josh Lowe
However, something new has been added that is sure to make players happy. Rewind packs have been added for each series, including all previous Ranked Seasons rewards. These packs will help players complete any collections they might be behind on. Also, these packs are sellable. This will hopefully bring down the price of previous rewards, as well as give players a new way to earn stubs.
Packs and Collections
The new season brings with it a load of new collections for players to work towards. First is the Set 5 collection. Players can collection Set 5 cards to earn extra 2023 Finest cards. The main prize in this collection is the Set 5 Collection Choice Pack. This pack has three 99 OVR 2023 Finest cards that are some of the best in the game. This pack includes:
- Blue Jays SS Bo Bichette
- Brewers C William Contreras
- Angels SP Shohei Ohtani
Along with the Set 5 collection is the Team Affinity Season 5 collection. This collection will let you earn extra 99 OVR 2023 Finest players as you make your way through Team Affinity Season 5. The thresholds and rewards for this collection are:
- 20 cards: Mets 1B Pete Alonso
- 40 cards: Guardians CP Emmanuel Clase
- 60 cards: Pirates LF Bryan Reynolds
- 75 cards: Yankees 2B Gleyber Torres
- 90 cards: Cubs CF Cody Bellinger
On top of the new collection for the Season 5 content, a new Core Collection has also been added. Collecting 250 Core cards will get you 99 OVR 2023 Finest Braves 2B Ozzie Albies. Now, at first, that seems like way too many Core cards. However, upcoming Battel Royale programs will have new Core cards, as well has flashback packs to previous BR program Core cards. These flashback packs will also be sellable, which will hopefully bring down the prices of other previous Core cards.
Ther are two new packs in The Show Shop. The first is the new 2023 Finest Choice Pack. This pack has a base round with three 99 OVR 2023 Finest cards and a rare round with 1:4 odds and two other 99 OVR 2023 Finest cards. The cards in this pack are:
Base Round
- Mariners SP George Kirby
- Marlins 3B Jake Burger
- Dodgers CP Evan Philips
Rare Round
- Mets C Fancisco Alvarez
- Brewers CP Devin Williams
Finally, the last new piece of content for the Season 5 debut is the newest Chase Pack. This new Chase Pack features 99 OVR Awards Series Yankees RF Reggie Jackson
