The Buscher

I know the rumors of the Fields/Atlanta trade were being kicked around last week but there's even more reports today that the Bears have decided on Caleb Williams and, in turn, the Fields trade could happen as soon as the league year opens. Along with that, they're said to have similar valuations on all three of the top WR (Harrison, Nabers, Odunze) and they would be willing to move up from #9 to secure one of them if it comes to it. Given there might be as many as 4 QBs going in the top 10 right now the Bears could be in a spot where they won't even have to do that.

The franchise stream, as expected, didn't reveal much of anything in the way of new features. Everything they've added is relatively minor. Maybe the biggest franchise feature is they have a pre-existing injury thing ala Madden where you can choose to ensure players hurt right now will be hurt in-game when you start a franchise (so some guys are already out for the year, etc). Logic was basically limited to just "we always go under the hood and make some changes every year" but nothing in detail. Given people have been screaming about bullpen logic for ages, not specifically addressing that doesn't fill me with much confidence that much was done to it. And that would be really a shame because you can tell instantly the CPU manages the same way every game and kills the same long relief pitchers dead. Guess we'll see when the game releases and we get reactions on OS. On to smaller things, I'm no developer but when I see something that's been requested by the community for well over a decade now like a coach editor. Nothing flashy, just the ability to edit a game-generated-coach just as you can edit the game-generated players. Change name, jersey number, whatever. And it's still not in there. Is it more complicated to add than I think, or do they just not see the value? Because my god I can't tell you how irritating it is to sign a new 3B coach and then every time I hit a HR I have to see him slap hands with the hitter and remember that my coach is wearing a retired number, or the same jersey number as one of my star players. And I can't do anything about it. I know it's small but it's just basic immersion stuff.

I’ve barely absorbed any RT content in a decade but the old podcasts and Let’s Plays had me in stitches at times and gave me some running jokes with my friends.

Yeah whenever they don't mention franchise at all it means the mode is basically a copy and paste job from the year prior. I'll grant that there's only so much more they could do to the mode in terms of new features and I'm sure there are spatial limitations (that they're still making PS4 might be a bit of a hold back in terms of adding, say, Class A). But there are definite under the hood adjustments that would make the mode better. I only just got 23 at Christmas so I wasn't rushing out to the buy this one, but I just have this looming sense that within the first day of release I'll see a post on OS about bullpen AI logic still being broken. I'm not willing to spend the time doing 30 team control reconfiguring rosters so they'll manage a bullpen realistically. So I've just had to create a headcanon in my world where some of the best set up guys in baseball are injury prone and that's why they only pitch 15 innings a year, and just accept that it's standard practice in this world for teams to carry multiple SP in the bullpen and have them eat nearly all the innings. It's dumb, but too much work for me to fix myself. Hell it's not just the bullpen. I'm in May in my franchise and I've seen teams carry 24-year old B rated prospects on their bench, accumulating a month of service time and playing in just 2 games instead of having them play every day in the minors. And nobody ever uses the DH spot logically either - for as long as I can remember Nelson Cruz has been playing RF in the Show and the game refuses to keep him at DH. And this is a legacy issue - definitely remember years where the Red Sox in my game didn't roster a backup 1B which meant David Ortiz played 1B every day. Why can't DH be its own position at this point? There's literally a DH Silver Slugger, so the game can and does track who is taking their ABs at DH.

I saw they put J&J Security in the game but not really - they're blurred out of the WM31 footage and it's basically just 2 NPCs that are reasonable facsimiles to J&J without being them. Kinda like how they handled Tyson in a previous game. Anyway I only say this because it's wild that somehow the only game Jamie Noble ever got to officially be in was Raw 2 in 2003. The SmackDown games had smaller rosters back then, maybe 50 or so active roster and then legend spots for the rest and Noble, even when he was Cruiserweight Champion, topped off at someone who was probably in the final round of cuts. The cruiserweight division in general was always underrepresented - Nunzio never got to be in one, Funaki was only ever in SD2, etc. Used to annoy me having to create the same guys every year. I was definitely that guy who as far back as HCTP was yelling to get rid of the legends to put in the undercard current roster.

For the first time ever, you can play as a woman in RTTS. Awesome addition.

I got the THPS remake on Christmas 2020. By about May 2021 I figure I'd topped out my ability and assumed I'd never platinum. About a year later I picked the game back up, played the hell out of it and, against all odds, actually beat all of the really hard "get-there" challenges to earn a trophy only 0.2% of players get, and then went through the grind of earning the platinum (only 0.1% do it) before putting it away. Couple weeks ago I had the urge to play again after almost 2 years, popped the game into my PS5 and spent the 10 bucks to download the graphically enhanced PS5 version. Thought to myself "well I already platinumed the game once, least I don't need to do those awful get-there challenges again" ...I did the challenges again they suuuuuuck but after knocking a few out the desire to see if I could do them all again took hold. So now I've earned the hardest of the trophies in the game. Still would need to grind through like 25 levels which takes a long time if i'm gonna get a 2nd platinum but no real reason I can't get there with the one brutal trophy over and done with. Love this game. Still bums me out the 3 and 4 remake got nixed due to Activision's dumbassery.

Arch Manning has decided to not be in the game because "he is focused on playing football on the field". There's gonna be players who opt out of course but it's hilarious to give a reason that implies signing a document and getting a check for $600 is some massive distraction to getting ready to play the real season. Most guys who opt out are doing so because they want to take a stand about it not being enough money for likeness rights or whatever. Knowing the Manning Family I can quite easily imagine them not wanting his image attached to like a 75 OVR backup QB that players can transfer to Coastal Carolina.

That is an awesome feature. I honestly struggled finding the motivation completing MyCareer a few years ago because I was getting so sick of tag matches. Was just ridiculous you had to hit someone with their finisher, then change focus to knock the opponent(s) off the apron, and hope they didn’t jump off the apron first. If they did jump off the apron there was no point in going for a pin, they would break it up.

This line from Richard Lewis is one of the best in the history of the show.

With only 5 modern era HOFers getting in per year it's hard to ever really know who will be a first ballot HOFer outside of QBs. But "best of all time at your position" usually pulls some heavy weight in the selection meeting, plus he'll likely be an even bigger media name by then which will also help. Very good chance he'll go straight in with the class of 2029.

Oh yeah I see it now. Pack doesn’t drop until November. Mr. Perfect and The Great Muta are in it. Muta’s awesome but the rest you’re paying for guys who have been in the game before - this isn’t even the first time DDP and Luger have been DLC in the last decade. Plus the tendency is that DLC guys are in the base game the next year, so paying to play as guys in November for 4 months when they probably end up in the next game.

DLC Packs confirmed Pack 1 (May 15): CM Punk, Terry Funk, The Sandman, and The Dudley Boyz Pack 2 (June 26): Post Malone, Honky Tonk Man, Sensational Sherri, and The Headbangers Pack 3 (July 24): Pat McAfee and “Playable Co-Hosts” Pack 4 (September 20): Dragon Lee, Kairi Sane, Carlito, Nia Jax, Jade Cargill, Lyra Valkyria, Michelle McCool - - - Love that you have to wait 6 months after release to get a bunch of current roster members because I guess people were itching to play as AJ Hawk, Boston Connor, and Ty Schmitt in a video game.

My favorite part of spring is when you hear some little kid in the stands screaming their head off in the late innings. There's such an innocence to it. Like, of course a kid would be the only one there to actually be invested in the on-field results of a spring game. The idea of "meaningless baseball" doesn't really occur at that age and you also never know when or if they've ever been to a regular season game - if they live in a part of Florida far away from the Major League cities, this might be the closest to a big league game they can go to. Some poor Mets minor leaguer was on the mound with the bases loaded, no outs in the 8th yesterday and this kid was screaming "WE WANT DIAZ!" This may as well have been a World Series game to him. Bless him.

Caught up with Abbott Elementary. So good. You know it's a great ensemble comedy when I really can't even decide on a favorite character, all of the leads are funny in uniquely different ways.

It’s a 3-year, $80 million deal for Bellinger with opt outs after each year. So if he has a year like last year, he goes back to the market. If he regresses, he stays. Seems like a good deal for the player and the appropriate amount of risk for the team. Exactly the kind of deal all parties should be looking for at this stage of the offseason.

Seeing them in action now, wow the small names on the jerseys looks even worse on TV. Again I half expect this is a precursor to putting ads behind the shoulders.

Ultimately I really don't care about the real player names one way or the other. As someone who plans on sinking deep into dynasty mode, they're going to be off my team within a few seasons one way or the other.

Not even a single spring game played and Kodai Senga has a shoulder strain and is shut down and will open the year on IL. It's likely 3-4 weeks of rest at minimum and then from there he'll either be cleared to throw or he won't. If he's cleared then he basically starts his Spring Training. Given a pitcher needs around 6 weeks to fully ramp up we're looking at 9-10 weeks from right now and that's a best case scenario which, it's the Mets so I never assume that. If he throws a pitch in a big league game before June it would be a victory. Unfortunately for the Mets, he's also their ace and basically the only guy in the rotation anyone had confidence in. The Opening Day starter is now gonna be one of Jose Quintana, Sean Manaea, or Luis Severino. Hilarious group to choose from given this team has the highest payroll in baseball. And Stearns has already categorically ruled out adding another starter despite the glaringly obvious need everyone sees. Punting a season when you're spending half a billion dollars on your roster. Never seen anything like this.

Heh, they just updated it in the last 45 minutes. Drew etc are listed now too. I for one am taking SCRYPTS to the main event of WrestleMania

The roster list on the 2k24 site doesn't seem to be completely up to date as its missing Drew McIntyre, George Steele, Kurt Angle, and Ken Shamrock who were all confirmed. In terms of other current names missing the one headscratcher missing is Karl Anderson. Luke Gallows is in and both guys were DLC last year. I'd have to assume him not being listed is an oversight on the roster page unless there's a weird contractual thing like when they left off Ciampa and Nikki Cross that one year. Can't really expect everyone from NXT being in but Mark Coffey not being in is strange given Joe Coffey and Wolfgang's inclusions. Lyra Valkyria and Von Wagner aren't in either unless the roster on the site wasn't up to date. Dragon Lee was with WWE well early enough to be included but his omission doesn't surprise me as they're always gonna want to withhold some fun names for DLC. Carlito is also someone I'd expect for DLC. Oh and I'd assume they'll do whatever they have to to get CM Punk in as late stage DLC too.

I'll third The Bear recommendation. It was classified as a comedy for the Emmys because it was a half hour show and so all of the shows of a similar ilk also went in as a comedy because everybody knew Succession would clean up the drama category. But aside from a few clear gags most of the humor is dark and it's a lot more on the drama side of things. The writing is great, does a great job of capturing human complexity. Absolutely captivating show, we flew threw it and are looking forward to the season 3 drop this summer. And yes, I now wish I could go to Chicago to get an authentic beef sandwich.

They posted this image after her Rumble win and there was so much outcry I wondered if they'd fine SOME way to fix the model late in the game. Apparently not. Yeesh.

First televised Mets spring game of the year on Saturday. I'll tune in because being greeted by Gary, Keith, and Ron for the first time makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. In general though I've not been this checked out before a season since 2013. I'm normally counting down the days to Opening Day by now. I look at this team and just don't really see how or why I'm supposed to be excited. Once the Mets didn't sign Yamamoto it feels like Stearns decided he wanted to look like the smartest guy in the room by building a roster that looks like the land of the misfit toys. Didn't add a single offensive weapon when the lineup badly needed one. The "big" position player add was Harrison Bader. Bader is a fantastic CF and I realize Stearns is operating under the belief that runs saved are just as good as runs scored but the lineup already sucked as is, now it's even worse. Pitcher gives up 3 runs it'll be game over most nights. Oh and this kicks Nimmo out to LF just a year after they gave him an 8-year deal for starting CF money. And with Alonso's impending free agency it feels like the last year the core is together is being punted. Everyone's screaming for Pete to be re-signed and I respect it'd be a good move for the fans to keep a homegrown guy which they rarely ever do. But the team has also sucked 2 of 3 years since Cohen took over, are we sure this is even a winning core? We already have Lindor, Nimmo, and McNeil signed for life, breaking the bank for Alonso might be a mistake as much as it pains me to say. If the team is bad this year it's screaming for a shake-up. Dunno. Just not sure I understand why the Mets are projected to win around 84 games most places I look. That would probably require EVERYTHING going right and it almost never does for this club. Safe money feels like it's on the under.