MLB The Show - General Discussion

[Toe]

10 minutes ago, Meacon said:

Is anyone aware of the roster issues they're having over at Operation Sports? Apparently their OSFM rosters are in jeopardy, because the game has some kind of glitch that makes it impossible for other people to download the rosters, or something? I don't know. It's a long thread and I admittedly only read the last three pages, but it sounds like it was an issue toward the end of '17's run and it's carried over to '18.

There are other rosters you can download right now. They are a little less detailed (especially concerning salary) but they do have the key prospects and free agents you'll need to start. 

I've started a game with the Tigers, and will switch to the Jays once the OSFM rosters are good to go.

[Bobfoc]

1 hour ago, Ms. Canadian Destroyer said:

Did 16 have a story mode type thing? 17 might have been the first year. They also changed the point system so you earn points differently. If you hit a home run, your contact and power goes up for example. 

16 didn't have a story mode, or at least I never found one. Do you think the point system is better now?

[Maxx]

In my 4 starts as a pitcher, my team has scored 1 run total while I’ve been on the mound.  My 1.47 ERA is being wasted in Birmingham!

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

On 3/28/2018 at 13:07, Bobfoc said:

16 didn't have a story mode, or at least I never found one. Do you think the point system is better now?

It's hard to tell because I haven't played it a ton. I like the fact that my stats will reflect how I hit. I don't love the new cap system. Like my shortstop can only have a 50 speed (may be able to boost it with equipment and stuff) because of the archetype I selected. But I might be more likely to play a few different ones to see what the different archtypes are like. 

[Timmoru Suzuki]

Was worried when I got swapped from a starting pitcher to a reliever (under protest) but it lasted all of three games and I'm back again. I hated barely earning any XP >_>

[FLiam]

Do any of you guys use the “Guess Pitch” when at bat? I can’t seem to find a definitive answer to what it actually does either. 

[Meacon Keaton]

3 hours ago, Liam Mk2 said:

Do any of you guys use the “Guess Pitch” when at bat? I can’t seem to find a definitive answer to what it actually does either. 

I do. I just guess pitches and locations based on the pitcher and the pitches they’ve thrown me. It’s suppose to give you a slight boost if you correctly pick the pitch and location which makes sense.

[SeanDMan]

It makes your reticule larger if you guess the correct pitch and if you guess the correct location (I don't have the latest version so this may have changed) it replaces your reticule and just  relies on timing to determine the hit. About 70% of the pitches you face will be fastballs so unless I have two strikes I will almost always guess fastball.

[FLiam]

Being a baseball novice I still don’t fully get pitching patterns and what to look out for. 

But I think I’ll try and use it a bit more in the future.

[The Buscher]

Does anyone have any good pointers for properly managing the budget in this game?  It feels like every year without fail, usually a couple of seasons into franchise, I will reach a point where merely re-signing my minor leaguers and arbitration eligible guys pushes me to the budget limit and that's even after winning a World Series and being given a lavish budget increase.  I'll offer contracts that immediately get disallowed because I have no budget space to offer even a league minimum deal and will be confused as to how the money dried up so quickly.

I've played with ignore budgets on before since there isn't a salary cap in baseball, but it's not exactly realistic as every team does operate with an internal budget and in video game land no budget means you can build a super team with minimal effort, especially with this 2018 free agent class.

[Meacon Keaton]

Try to sign your arbitration eligible players to deals through their arbitration deals. It’s cheaper to say give a guy who wants $4 million in arbitration a three year deal worth $5 million a year, because the odds could be he’ll want even more than$5 million his last two years of arbitration. 

How much are you spending on your coaches and scouts? I don’t like to shortchange my scouts so I’ll usually find a decent or average C rated first and third base coach to save money there. 

Other than that it’s just figuring out what you really need. I’m not going to pay a 77 overall pitcher six million a year when I’ve got a kid in Triple-A that may be a 72 or 73.

My major hump was I had to eventually accept I just couldn’t keep everyone. In 17, I had Archer and Taijuan walker become free agents the same year. Archer was 93 overall but wanted $24 million a year. Walker was 89 overall but would accept $12. So I kept Walker and made him my ace and his morale shot up to make him a 93 anyway. I slapped a qualifying offer on Archer and ended up getting a good starting pitcher in the draft with the pick I got for him. 

[SeanDMan]

1 hour ago, Liam Mk2 said:

Being a baseball novice I still don’t fully get pitching patterns and what to look out for. 

But I think I’ll try and use it a bit more in the future.

Its a chess game, essentially. If they threw you two balls outside, chances are this one is inside. But maybe they know you will think that, and thus they throw it outside. But maybe they know that you know that they know that, so maybe it's inside afterall. My advice is to keep your reticule low in the zone. Most pitchers try and stay low to avoid deep balls and induce ground balls. If the pitch is high and you get under it, maybe you pop it up, or maybe it ends up a bloop single into the shallow outfield. If you get on top of it, you're out unless it's an error; infield singles are pretty rare. I look for low fastballs and try and get most of my hits on those, unless it's two strikes in which case you have to be a bit less selective.

20 minutes ago, Buschoru Suzuki said:

Does anyone have any good pointers for properly managing the budget in this game?  It feels like every year without fail, usually a couple of seasons into franchise, I will reach a point where merely re-signing my minor leaguers and arbitration eligible guys pushes me to the budget limit and that's even after winning a World Series and being given a lavish budget increase.  I'll offer contracts that immediately get disallowed because I have no budget space to offer even a league minimum deal and will be confused as to how the money dried up so quickly.

I've played with ignore budgets on before since there isn't a salary cap in baseball, but it's not exactly realistic as every team does operate with an internal budget and in video game land no budget means you can build a super team with minimal effort, especially with this 2018 free agent class.

Meacon have you a lot of good advice. My advice would be:

Never let a player go to arbitration. You get a shitty one year deal out of it and you will regret it. Overpay to lock him up for a few years rather than ending up drastically overpaying for one year.

Don't make five year deals. Contracts are backloaded so each year gets more expensive than the last. The only guys who should get five year deals are your prospects and your MVP. Try and only offer three year deals, it will give you a lot of flexibility.

If you have a lot of depth at a position, analyze and deal appropriately. There isn't much point to having guys making bank if they aren't in the majors. Downsize your minor league team and let cheaper prospects pick up the slack. Or don't use a full roster; you don't need 75 players under contract. Leave some of those bench slots open.

When analyzing what you have and what to spend, consider players as two things: their role and their position. If you have a guy who is really good at hitting for power as a shortstop, and you have a really good shortstop prospect who isn't taking his steroids yet, consider if you can turn your star shortstop into other pieces. If you can save money and replace that power somewhere else on the field, do it.

Guys on the last year of their deal are as expensive as they will ever get and are rarely going to improve skill wise. Opening day is a great day to make trades; teams that missed that free agent or had their MVP get hurt in spring suddenly get really thirsty. Take advantage of that.

Alternatively, if you're outside looking in at the all-star break, consider cutting bait on one year deal guys you are iffy about. No point paying a guy to help push you to third place in the division. Know when to fold em, and look for deals.

[Gabriel]

I find that most people who get into budget trouble are just trying to re-sign everyone. I am really bad for not wanting to let guys go, but I have started looking at regression, role and WAR when making my decisions. If I have a guy who is regressing, but he is filling a role that I don't have someone else for and his WAR shows that he makes my team better, I will still bring him back.

If there is regression and the WAR stat is bad? I let them go. Regression and I have someone else on my roster who can fill their role? Let them go. If I'm tight to the budget or want to make a big signing, I won't let guys just walk who are improving, but if I need the budget space, and I have multiple people who can fill a role, I find the guy with the worst contract and trade him away for prospects.

Edited March 31, 2018 by Gabriel

[The Buscher]

I wonder if minor leaguers are a culprit for my budget woes.  In real life minor leaguers are property of your team for a set number of years, yet in the Show most minor leaguers are on a one-year contract and it seems like they can still test the market even when they shouldn't be able to.

Unless it turns out I've been paying minor leaguers way more than I should when in reality they have no choice but to accept my shitty offer. 

[Gabriel]

7 minutes ago, Buschoru Suzuki said:

I wonder if minor leaguers are a culprit for my budget woes.  In real life minor leaguers are property of your team for a set number of years, yet in the Show most minor leaguers are on a one-year contract and it seems like they can still test the market even when they shouldn't be able to.

Unless it turns out I've been paying minor leaguers way more than I should when in reality they have no choice but to accept my shitty offer. 

Contract Renewable guys can be renewed for one year at 80% of their current salary, so keep that in mind. As far as I know, minor league guys actually can only sign one year deals as well.

A lot of the budget damage comes from having guys making 500k or millions, sitting on those teams. If you have the room, it's not a horrible thing to have, because then your MLB depth is considerably better, but when you run into budget troubles, moving guys on bigger deals who are not on your major league team in exchange for cheap prospects is always a good way to go.

[The Buscher]

Yeah I typically take full advantage of the contract renewable guys, but it's the minor leaguers not on my 40 man roster that seem to screw me.

Good point on the depth though.  I try to set my 40 man roster up realistically:  35 or so guys I'd be comfortable using throughout the year and maybe a handful of prospects who aren't yet ready but who I need to keep on the 40 for the Rule 5 Draft.  But I do like to have a few other Major league quality guys in the minors not on the 40.  I don't pay them a lot, but then again I'm looking at the dollars from a real life standpoint and that's probably where I screw myself.  MLB doesn't allow SDS to use accurate contract amounts in the game.  You'll see dudes on bloated contracts making next to nothing in the game, and so doling out a $750k for a minor league depth guy is comparatively a lot of money.

[Meacon Keaton]

Wait, why are your minor leaguers making so much? If they have no MLB service time, they should be making like $50k up to $100k at the very most. 

Or are you talking about minor leaguers on your 40-man that you call up in times of injury and September? You shouldn't be paying more than maybe five of your minor leaguers in the six figures.

[MDK]

Is this the only cricket game out on consoles? 

[Meacon Keaton]

RBI Baseball, but it's more of an arcade game if I'm not mistaken. This is the only simulation, but it's pretty great. And only on PS4.

[The Buscher]

OSFM rosters are out!!!