Any tips for someone who's been away for awhile?

[alangst]

First let me say, I havn't really dug into a baseball game since the 2k games, where I would construct a roster as close to reality as possible and make my way through 161 games.

In any sports game, I've never really spent a whole lot of time in the card collecting, fantasy team portion of the game. It always seemed like a way to suck you into spending real money in the game, and thats something I have no plans of doing.

But since I was waiting for the regular season to start, and Diamond Dynasty is so prevalent in all aspects of the game, I started with that mode this year. And, man am I hooked. It's way more fun than I thought, and I love the mini-seasons as a way to improve plus see some crazy teams with 90 plus rosters. I also can't believe how easy it was to go from a team of scrubs to one filled with Ken Griffey Jr., Babe Ruth, etc... , even if my overall team ranking is still around 80. And the ability to create customized uni's, and maybe when I get around to it, a customized stadium is a ton of fun. Right now, I'm mainly sticking to offline modes as I learn the game and improve my difficulty.

So here are a few questions...

Any reason not to use my best team all the time? In other card games (if I remember correctly), you could only use a player for so many games .

Is there a "best way" to get exp? So far, I've been sticking to mini-seasons, daily moments, and completing some of the programs.

I'm a bit confused by "collectables" and "Exchange". If I use a card for collecting, am I no longer able to sell it or put it on the market? Can I Exchange a card after I collect it?

Anything I should be saving my stubs for? I'm at around 20k atm, and havn't gone in the marketplace or stub store. Is it better to use the stubs for lesser players to complete collections or should I just keep saving up til I can buy one of the more expensive packs?

A bit off topic, but it seems like the first time I start a mini season game, my team logos don't show up, but upon 2nd game, they're back.

Does increasing difficulty really jack up the exp and rewards? I'm basically just using dynamic atm.

Does the mode of hitting, pitching, or fielding affect anything or is it personal choice?

Can I play a franchise with my DD team? Can I put my created player on my DD team?

Sorry, for the long post, and thanks for any help or tips. I'm just excited to be loving a sports game again after finding them to be increasingly the same year after year.

[Caulfield]

the best tip I can give is to go into the Diamond Dynasty sub-forum, between Show Online sub-forum and Sounds of the Show sub-forum. lotsa great information there.
like Yogi said, ''you can observe a lot by just watching''
translated from yogiism to english:
''you can learn a lot by just reading'' lol