MLB The Show - General Discussion

[Gabriel]

24 minutes ago, Toe said:

Every time I try to tank in The Show, somehow my team ends up competing for the Wild Card - even after I trade away some of my best players. It happens almost without fail. 

I was playing with the A's and traded for Paul deJong at the deadline - and after 2 full seasons he has become the best hitting short stop in baseball. Possibly a top 5 hitter in the entire league.

That happened to me a lot in The Show 16. If I was having a bad year and moved out some bigger contracts, letting prospects get some playing time... I'd usually rally in the second half and be in contention for a wildcard spot. Fresh blood, maybe?

[Meacon Keaton]

@Gabriel do you have GM contracts off? I’ve sold pieces off to intentionally tank my first season and have been fired after one last place finish.

Or are the expectations in Toronto so low that they don’t mind?  

[Maxx]

Hey friend, we're just really happy to have the chance to compete, eh?

[Gabriel]

7 minutes ago, Meacon said:

@Gabriel do you have GM contracts off? I’ve sold pieces off to intentionally tank my first season and have been fired after one last place finish.

Or are the expectations in Toronto so low that they don’t mind?  

I turned them off for this game because it's my "Experiment with Franchise to see what's new" game.

Sometimes I turn them on, but other times I don't. Really depends on how badly I want to stick with the Blue Jays in that particular save. In 16, I had them on, left the Jays for Seattle and won the World Series with a team that was worse than the one I left.

[Meacon Keaton]

2 hours ago, Maxx said:

Hey friend, we're just really happy to have the chance to compete, eh?

At the end of the day, it’s all about how much fun ya had, ya know.

[Toe]

I've just started a franchise as the Pirates. I intend to play at least one game per series, since I tend to usually get too excited for the offseason and sim ahead in most games. 

They are a strange team. They lack power and outside of Starling Marte, are just a collection of OK players with a few intriguing prospects mixed it. I was surprised to see just how "meh" Gregory Polanco is. Of course, in the first game, he went 3-4 with an RBI double and made 2 amazing catches late in the game to help secure the win.

[Meacon Keaton]

6 minutes ago, Toe said:

I've just started a franchise as the Pirates. I intend to play at least one game per series, since I tend to usually get too excited for the offseason and sim ahead in most games. 

They are a strange team. They lack power and outside of Starling Marte, are just a collection of OK players with a few intriguing prospects mixed it. I was surprised to see just how "meh" Gregory Polanco is. Of course, in the first game, he went 3-4 with an RBI double and made 2 amazing catches late in the game to help secure the win.

I went Pirates too! We managed a wildcard birth in the first year after a few mid season moves. The Cubs were too good to catch for the division. But the first year and halfway through year two, we’ve been dead last in home runs. Corey Dickerson hit 32 for me, but that was pretty much it. But Adam Frazier hit .322 for me and Josh Harrison hit over .300 too. Josh Bell sucked major wee wees though. I hope he does better for you than for me.

[Meacon Keaton]

I just got home and turned this on to check. I remembered the Cubs being much better than me in Year 2, but we're 45-40 as of July 3rd and already 11.5 games behind them. 

After finishing dead last in home runs last season, I made an effort to get a home run hitter in free agency but struck out on those that I could afford. I brought in Matt Duffy, who is anything BUT a home run hitter to play every day at 3rd base, Chase Headley to play first base (Josh Bell got hurt for a really long time in Spring Training and isn't due back until...August? I think) and Freddy Galvis to be my utility infielder. 

Since none of those guys are home run hitters, I went into the season failing to address the one thing I set out to fix. By the beginning of June though, the A's appeared to be in sell mode, because they had Sean Maenea and Kris Davis on the block. I traded, I think two C prospects for Kris Davis, so I finally got my home run hitter. 

He had hit 16 homers in the first three months for Oakland. He's hit 2 homers in the month I've had him. Maybe it's just our franchise that drains the homers from the players. But then again Corey Dickerson already has 22 home runs in the beginning of July, so I don't know. 

Adam Frazier is hitting around .285-ish, while Harrison is hitting .290. Cervelli is still my catcher, but his contract is up after this season (2019) and I drafted an almost ready catcher in the 2018 draft, and he'll likely be my opening day catcher next season. 

I got Ben Gamel in the Rule-5 draft and he's my every day either center fielder or right fielder depending on the match-up. Rule-5 and he's currently hitting .303 playing every day. I can't complain about that.

Jameson Tallion is my ace and he's been decent enough. He's struggling a bit this season, but last year he was one of the best in the National League. 

I think Kris Davis's contract is up after this season so I'll be on Mission: Home Run Hitter again this off-season and maybe even before I get to the trade deadline. I'm going to have to wait and see if Davis turns things on eventually or not. 

[Toe]

19 hours ago, Meacon said:

I just got home and turned this on to check. I remembered the Cubs being much better than me in Year 2, but we're 45-40 as of July 3rd and already 11.5 games behind them. 

After finishing dead last in home runs last season, I made an effort to get a home run hitter in free agency but struck out on those that I could afford. I brought in Matt Duffy, who is anything BUT a home run hitter to play every day at 3rd base, Chase Headley to play first base (Josh Bell got hurt for a really long time in Spring Training and isn't due back until...August? I think) and Freddy Galvis to be my utility infielder. 

Since none of those guys are home run hitters, I went into the season failing to address the one thing I set out to fix. By the beginning of June though, the A's appeared to be in sell mode, because they had Sean Maenea and Kris Davis on the block. I traded, I think two C prospects for Kris Davis, so I finally got my home run hitter. 

He had hit 16 homers in the first three months for Oakland. He's hit 2 homers in the month I've had him. Maybe it's just our franchise that drains the homers from the players. But then again Corey Dickerson already has 22 home runs in the beginning of July, so I don't know. 

Adam Frazier is hitting around .285-ish, while Harrison is hitting .290. Cervelli is still my catcher, but his contract is up after this season (2019) and I drafted an almost ready catcher in the 2018 draft, and he'll likely be my opening day catcher next season. 

I got Ben Gamel in the Rule-5 draft and he's my every day either center fielder or right fielder depending on the match-up. Rule-5 and he's currently hitting .303 playing every day. I can't complain about that.

Jameson Tallion is my ace and he's been decent enough. He's struggling a bit this season, but last year he was one of the best in the National League. 

I think Kris Davis's contract is up after this season so I'll be on Mission: Home Run Hitter again this off-season and maybe even before I get to the trade deadline. I'm going to have to wait and see if Davis turns things on eventually or not. 

I'm only 8 games into the season, but power hitting is a definite issue. In 8 games, we've hit 4 doubles and 1 home run. I've had a few games were I've had double-digit hits, but only scored 2 or 3 runs. 

I'm hitting OK with Bell so far. I use quick counts usually, and his good discipline means I start in a good count most of the time. OBP is always important for me, and so far he's been pretty good at that. 

[Meacon Keaton]

13 minutes ago, Toe said:

I'm only 8 games into the season, but power hitting is a definite issue. In 8 games, we've hit 4 doubles and 1 home run. I've had a few games were I've had double-digit hits, but only scored 2 or 3 runs. 

I'm hitting OK with Bell so far. I use quick counts usually, and his good discipline means I start in a good count most of the time. OBP is always important for me, and so far he's been pretty good at that. 

On the contrary, Harrison’s discipline is so crap that he walks like 20 times a year.

[Meacon Keaton]

More people should share their Show stories. :/

[Maxx]

Okay here’s one; I just got completely fucked over by the awful fielding in this game.  Took a no hitter to the last out in the 9th, and it got blown because the second baseman just ran past a routine ground ball.

Well that sucks, but at least I can probably escape with a win right?  Wrong.  3 fucking plays in a row, my fielders run up to the ball and refuse to pick it up, thus the bases are loaded and then I lose on a bloop single.

Fucking garbage.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

I was doing a SS RTTS but I think I am way better and prefer pitching so I started a new one as a SP. 

Got drafted by the Phillies, which should mean I have a decent shot at making it to the majors sooner. But I don't know how quickly you can progress with the new training point system. I am so used to getting called up in my first or second season. 

[Meacon Keaton]

I'm a third baseman that was drafted by the Mets, and traded to the Rangers halfway through the year. It's nearing the end of the Double-A season, and I'm killing the ball and am quite the good fielder and I haven't been called up. I think I'm a 71 overall too. So they definitely keep you in the minors longer, which I like since my guy is still only 18. 

[Maxx]

Had more fielding bullshit cost me another win.  It’s ridiculous because it’s entirely out of my control, as soon as the ball is hit either my infielders won’t move towards it intially, making it impossible to stop little dribblers, or my outfielders will automatically start taking a bad angle and ruin any chance I have of running it down.

Really considering ditching this game for God of War or something.

[Bobfoc]

I hear the fielding AI in God of War is even worse.

[Meacon Keaton]

Is this happening in RTTS, @Maxx? I've played tons in franchise and there's the occasional over-running a groundball but nothing as bad as what you're going through. 

Also are you in Double-A? The fielders are suppose to be worse in the lower level minors as they're young and their ratings are much lower than that of guys in the bigs. 

So I'm in season 3 and we're finally ahead of the Cubs at the All-Star break. 

I love how in this game, there's just some guys I can't hit with and there's some guys that are middle of the road that I kill the ball with. 

Francisco Cervelli is a decent hitter, but I can slap the ball all over the place with him.

I traded for Trea Turner in the off-season and he's awesome in the games I simulate, but I can't hit with him worth shit. I drag his average down, because for whatever reason (his stance and swing I guess?) I just can not get a basehit with him. Matt Duffy is the same way. He's got like 79 contact vs RHP and 77 contact vs LHP but I can't get the damn ball out of the infield with him. Yangervis Solarte? I think I've had two or three multi-home run games with him.  

[Maxx]

It’s franchise, with sliders slightly tweaked to have less fielding errors too

[Meacon Keaton]

Maybe your fielders just stink? I've not messed with fielding sliders and I've hardly had any fielding issues, let alone anywhere near as many as you.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

My roommate and I used to play a Franchise and he would get far more errors than I would for seemingly no reason. 

One thing I've learned is that if you pre-set a throw before a fielder catches the ball, you're less likely to commit an error.