05-06-2026, 03:28
If you have been playing Diamond Dynasty lately, you already know that the community is losing its mind over the new 94 OVR April Spotlight Lightning Elly De La Cruz card. Elly cards are notorious for being absolute glitches in MLB The Show, combining insane power, glitchy switch-hitting animations, and game-breaking speed on the basepaths. If you want this card in your lineup, the good news is that you do not need to pull packs or work the Market for millions of Stubs.
This Elly De La Cruz card is a pure "No Money Spent" (NMS) reward. You can earn it completely for free just by playing through the live content drops.
To add him to your squad, you need to navigate to your Spotlight Collections under the April Lightning Collection menu and lock in the five specific program boss rewards from the weekly April Spotlight Program Drops. Once you collect and lock in all five, the 94 OVR Elly is yours.
Required Cards to Collect
To complete the collection, you will need to grind out each of the five weekly April Spotlight Drops. Here are the five player cards you need to secure and lock in:
90 OVR Kevin McGonigle (Drop 1 Reward)
91 OVR Jo Adell (Drop 2 Reward)
91 OVR Jhoan Duran (Drop 3 Reward)
92 OVR Mike Trout (Drop 4 Reward)
93 OVR Ben Rice (Drop 5 Reward)
Fastest Method to Complete the Programs
Whether you are starting the grind from scratch or just need to finish up the final Drop 5 program for Ben Rice, sitting down and mindlessly playing random games will take forever. If you want to rack up program stars as quickly as possible, use this optimized sequence to crush the requirements in record time:
Knock Out the Moments First: Always start by knocking out the standard program Moments. They are quick, solo challenges that give you an instant baseline of up to 35 stars per program. A quick tip: skip the "Extreme Moments" if you find yourself struggling with them. They take up way too much time for the amount of rewards they give, and your time is better spent elsewhere.
Stack Your PXP Missions: Do not just play with your main squad. Build a dedicated team featuring your newly unlocked April Spotlight players and any Topps Now cards you have lying around. By stacking these players in your lineup, you will complete parallel XP (PXP) and statistical missions simultaneously, letting you pull in chunks of 20 to 55 stars at a time.
Farm the Event Matchups: Take that dedicated PXP squad into the live online Showcase Events. These games are played on All-Star difficulty, matchmaking is usually pretty friendly, and the games are only 3 innings long. It is an incredibly fast way to farm multi-program XP while earning free bonus packs along the way.
The Reliever Strikeout Cheesing Method: If you are struggling with specific pitching or strikeout objectives, there is an easy way to cheese it. Load up a Cityscape Mini Season game or a standard Play vs. CPU game on Rookie difficulty. As soon as the game starts, sub in a relief pitcher to replace your starting pitcher. This allows you to rack up easy strikeouts over multiple innings with a reliever, crushing specific program requirements much faster than playing naturally.
Pad Your Stats Against the Rookie CPU: If you find yourself just a few stars short at the end, jump into a single 9-inning game against the CPU on Rookie difficulty. Make sure to choose a tiny stadium or a max-elevation custom stadium. You can easily rack up 20+ hits in a single game, maximizing your statistical progression and finishing off the program in just a few innings.
This Elly De La Cruz card is a pure "No Money Spent" (NMS) reward. You can earn it completely for free just by playing through the live content drops.
To add him to your squad, you need to navigate to your Spotlight Collections under the April Lightning Collection menu and lock in the five specific program boss rewards from the weekly April Spotlight Program Drops. Once you collect and lock in all five, the 94 OVR Elly is yours.
Required Cards to Collect
To complete the collection, you will need to grind out each of the five weekly April Spotlight Drops. Here are the five player cards you need to secure and lock in:
90 OVR Kevin McGonigle (Drop 1 Reward)
91 OVR Jo Adell (Drop 2 Reward)
91 OVR Jhoan Duran (Drop 3 Reward)
92 OVR Mike Trout (Drop 4 Reward)
93 OVR Ben Rice (Drop 5 Reward)
Fastest Method to Complete the Programs
Whether you are starting the grind from scratch or just need to finish up the final Drop 5 program for Ben Rice, sitting down and mindlessly playing random games will take forever. If you want to rack up program stars as quickly as possible, use this optimized sequence to crush the requirements in record time:
Knock Out the Moments First: Always start by knocking out the standard program Moments. They are quick, solo challenges that give you an instant baseline of up to 35 stars per program. A quick tip: skip the "Extreme Moments" if you find yourself struggling with them. They take up way too much time for the amount of rewards they give, and your time is better spent elsewhere.
Stack Your PXP Missions: Do not just play with your main squad. Build a dedicated team featuring your newly unlocked April Spotlight players and any Topps Now cards you have lying around. By stacking these players in your lineup, you will complete parallel XP (PXP) and statistical missions simultaneously, letting you pull in chunks of 20 to 55 stars at a time.
Farm the Event Matchups: Take that dedicated PXP squad into the live online Showcase Events. These games are played on All-Star difficulty, matchmaking is usually pretty friendly, and the games are only 3 innings long. It is an incredibly fast way to farm multi-program XP while earning free bonus packs along the way.
The Reliever Strikeout Cheesing Method: If you are struggling with specific pitching or strikeout objectives, there is an easy way to cheese it. Load up a Cityscape Mini Season game or a standard Play vs. CPU game on Rookie difficulty. As soon as the game starts, sub in a relief pitcher to replace your starting pitcher. This allows you to rack up easy strikeouts over multiple innings with a reliever, crushing specific program requirements much faster than playing naturally.
Pad Your Stats Against the Rookie CPU: If you find yourself just a few stars short at the end, jump into a single 9-inning game against the CPU on Rookie difficulty. Make sure to choose a tiny stadium or a max-elevation custom stadium. You can easily rack up 20+ hits in a single game, maximizing your statistical progression and finishing off the program in just a few innings.