It’s hard to believe that the baseball season is already well underway. That means it’s time for MLB The Show to kick off the release of the first Monthly Awards program. The April edition is here, and we’re here to cover the do’s and don’ts as we walk you through the program and break down the rewards.

How to Complete April Monthly Awards Program

For anyone new to MLB The Show, Monthly Awards is a program that uses MLB’s real-life relationship with the Topps trading card company to celebrate standout moments in the season. A new set of moments will be released every week, and at the end of the month, you will be able to trade in all of the cards you have earned in challenges to earn a ‘Lightning’ Monthly Awards player that matches the top cards in the game when it’s released.

This year is a bit different. Instead of releasing sets of moments and then releasing a program at the end of the month, Sony San Diego has elected to simply update the program as new cards become available. in order to advance past the first stage, you need 17 Topps Now cards to advance from stage 1 to stage 2. In order to get these cards, you need to complete 25 different moments, and once you have completed all of them, you’ll have collected the first 52 program points.

It is critical to the program that you do not sell these cards. You CAN sell them if you are desperate for Stubs but if you want Monthly Awards players you will need to acquire another copy of that card. One final time, we insist that you do not get rid of these cards. Now let’s get into those rewards.

  • 4 points: 1x The Show Pack6 points: 500 Stubs8 points:  Topps Now Jeremy Pena10 points: Topps Now Joey Bart12 points: Topps Now Hunter Greene14 points: Topps Now Steven Kwan 16 points: Topps Now Seth Beer18 points: 1x The Show pack20 points: 500 Stubs24 points: Topps now C.J Abrams26 points: Topps Now Nestor Cortes Jr.28 points: Topps Now Brandon Marsh30 points: 1 The Show pack32 points: 500 Stubs36 points: Topps Now Makenzie Gore38 points: Topps Now Eric Lauer40 points: Topps Now Michael King42 points: 2x The Show packs44 points: 1,000 Stubs48 points: Topps now Travis Demeritte 50 points: Topps Now Tylor Megill52 points: Topps Now Willy Adames

Stage 2 explained

To get these rewards, all you need to do is head into the Program and complete the various moments that are now available. Once you complete them all, you can lock in the cards you’ve earned for extra XP. After you have collected the 17 cards in this program collection, you move from the Topps Now stage to the Monthly Awards stage. During this stage, you’ll earn 87 OVR Topps Now Seiya Suzuki. You’ll also get 40 program points for finishing the collection. This puts you at 92 total program points. Stage 2 gives you access to eleven different Moments, which brings your total points to 125. The rest of the program is advanced by collecting Parallel XP for all of the Monthly Awards players you unlocked by completing the Topps Now Collection. Here’s a more detailed breakdown of specific rewards.

  • 54 points: 2x The Show packs56 points: 1,000 Stubs60 points: 2x Ballin Is A Habit packs65 points: Green Lightning Bat Skin70 points: 1x Monthly Awards 88 OVR Choice pack75 points: 1x The Show pack80 points: 1x Monthly Awards 88 OVR Choice pack90 points: 1,500 Stubs95 points: 1x Monthly Awards 88 OVR Choice pack105 points: 2x The Show packs110 points:1x Monthly Awards 90 OVR Choice pack120 points: 1x Ballin is a Habit pack125 points: 1x Monthly Awards 90 OVR Choice pack135 points: Set 9 Headliner pack145 points: Set 10 Headliner pack150 points: Set 11 Headliner pack155 points: 5x The Show pack bundle160 points: 10x The Show pack bundle165 points: 2,500 Stubs170 points: Monthly Awards Andre Dawson175 points: Monthly Awards Anthony Rizzo

Here’s a look at the top-rated players in this program now that we’ve seen all the player rewards.

Kyle Wright

Andre Dawson

Antony Rizzo

Stage 3 explained

Stage 3 will unlock as soon as you collect 5 Monthly Awards Players which you will have once you obtain 125 program points. In order to collect Rizzo and finish the program, you need to grind Parallel XP yet again with the players from the choice packs. Once that is done, Stage 3 is simply cleaning up to collect the other cards in the choice packs that you did not get the first time.

  • 185 points: 1x Monthly Awards 88 OVR Choice pack195 points: 1x Monthly Awards 88 OVR Choice pack205 points: 1x Monthly Awards 88 OVR Choice pack215 points: 1x Monthly Awards 90 OVR Choice pack

Remember to take your time. The Monthly Awards Program isn’t going away. However for you speedrunners there is a 10,000 XP reward if you lock in Rizzo to Collections before the Spring Cleanup Program ends.