Whether you’re new to MLB The Show 25 or returning to grind out your Diamond Dynasty dream team, one thing’s for sure: getting off to a strong start matters. Early progress can mlb the show stubssnowball into massive rewards, and knowing where to invest your time makes a big difference.

1. Attack the Programs
Your first stop should always be the current Featured Program. These change every few weeks and offer a ton of points through missions, moments, showdowns, and online games. Completing these nets you XP, stubs, packs, and guaranteed diamond players. Always check the path in the program menu to prioritize the missions that offer the most points early on.

Daily and weekly missions within programs often involve simple tasks like tallying extra-base hits with specific players or striking out opponents with pitchers from a certain team. These stack as you play, but if you focus your lineup to align with missions (e.g., use Yankees players when there’s a Yankees mission active), you’ll make faster progress.

2. Conquest = Free Rewards
Never sleep on Conquest Mode. It’s essentially MLB’s version of Risk, where you take over territories and play 3-inning games. Each map has hidden rewards like packs, stubs, and XP boosts. Some can be completed in under an hour and reward multiple standard or Headliners packs—valuable for building a team or flipping cards in the marketplace.

Plus, Conquest games are short, beginner-friendly, and help you grind stats without the pressure of playing online.

3. Moments and Showdowns: XP Goldmines
Moments let you replay real baseball scenarios or short missions with specific players. They might take 1–2 minutes each and usually award XP or help you progress through player-specific programs (like Team Affinity).

Showdown, on the other hand, is riskier but high-reward. Draft a mini-squad, complete mini-missions, and face a boss with specific challenges. It’s time-efficient and helps you unlock XP fast—but does take some skill. If you’re decent at hitting, this is one of the best XP sources in the game.

4. Complete Collections (Slowly and Smartly)
Don’t try to finish big collections on Day 1—diamond cards are expensive early on. Instead, start by locking in bronze and silver players you pull from packs. Eventually, you’ll complete team sets which reward you with solid player cards and vouchers that feed into Legends & Flashbacks Collections.

Keep an eye on the marketplace—use filters to spot underpriced players and invest. For example, if a silver player is needed for a program and suddenly spikes, you can sell and reinvest stubs into players you need.

5. Play the Market (Stubs are King)
Speaking of stubs: learning how to buy low, sell high in the marketplace is one of the best long-term strategies. Set up buy orders slightly below market and sell orders slightly above. Focus on flipping gold-tier players who have a tight gap between buy/sell prices—volume matters more than one big hit.

The marketplace is a mini-game of its own and can generate thousands of stubs per day without spending a dime.