MLB The Show - General Discussion

[Toe]

I'm hoping to sign him long term in the off-season. I'm also probably going to let Bichette stay in AAA for the season since I've always liked Freddy Galvis in The Show. 

[Gabriel]

1 minute ago, Toe said:

I'm hoping to sign him long term in the off-season. I'm also probably going to let Bichette stay in AAA for the season since I've always liked Freddy Galvis in The Show. 

Sign him during the trade deadline prep period. I love that they added contract extensions to the game this year, because you can get a better idea of what kind of room you have for the off-season by signing the guys that you know you want to keep prior to then. It's definitely going to make my trade deadlines more interesting. I typically try to make one major league "upgrade" trade to get my least productive player off the roster, but when I pick up this year's game, I'll be able to re-sign my guys during Spring Training and the Trade Deadline Prep time, have a better idea of what my roster looks like for the next season and how much room I have under my budget, and move out big contracts that I don't think are necessary, or guys who are blocking big-league ready prospects from making the jump.

[Maxx]

I was on an absolute tear in my RTTS 2nd baseman career, played a bunch of Triple A games this week and was batting like .365 with 24 HRs.  This weekend I’ve lost it entirely, dropped my average down to .300, then got called up to Orioles and I’m hitting below .200, don’t know what happened, difficulty hasn’t changed.

 

also the Orioles are god awful and are usually down by double digit runs in 4 out of 5 games I play.

[Your Mom]

Is it possible to play as another team if I have already started my franchise? Like I don't want to start a new Franchise but my Cubs are a juggernaut right now so while I still want to play as them I'd like the challenge of taking the worst AL team and building them up too

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

22 minutes ago, The Chiksrara Special said:

Is it possible to play as another team if I have already started my franchise? Like I don't want to start a new Franchise but my Cubs are a juggernaut right now so while I still want to play as them I'd like the challenge of taking the worst AL team and building them up too

No, other than ending your contract (if you have GM contracts on) and picking another team. 

The only way to do something like this would be to control all the teams but set them to a different profile. The other profile would have everything set to Auto so that they actually make roster moves and trades. But you have to set this up at the beginning of the Franchise. 

[Gabriel]

In a first for me with The Show, still on 18, I came up to bat with a 3-0 count (quick counts on), and proceeded to swing and whiff on a nasty slider that had more movement than I anticipated... and apparently struck out.

The screen said 3-0, but as soon as I missed the pitch, the strikeout registered. Very weird.

[Toe]

I've started a franchise as the White Sox with the rosters being out, and in the first season we overperformed and made the playoffs. We lost the wild card game to the Red Sox. My only change was adding Bradley Zimmer and Danny Salazar to the team, and trading Yonder Alonso for Eric Thames (I just couldn't hit anything with Alonso, and Thames was a better bench player since he could play 1B and the outfield). I definitely expected to at least have season one be a rebuilding season. 

Going into season 2, Eloy and Moncada have become very solid middle-of-the-order bats. Tim Anderson is still not great at the plate, but his defence and speed make him useful. And in free agency, I added Marcell Ozuna and Gerrit Cole. My team isn't as deep or good as the Yankees, but I think it's the best in the division by a wide margin.

[Meacon Keaton]

I’m in my second season with the Marlins. I summed the first year so I could get the roster more to my liking. I signed Brian Anderson to a cheap contract through his arbitration years, but hell if I can’t hit with that guy. Even when my timing is perfect and I square up on the ball, it just never ever finds the gap. 

I also utilized the Rule5 draft to the extreme, as I currently have 7 Rule 5 guys on my 25-man roster. Our payroll is a whopping $44 million.  

[Toe]

48 minutes ago, Meacon said:

I’m in my second season with the Marlins. I summed the first year so I could get the roster more to my liking. I signed Brian Anderson to a cheap contract through his arbitration years, but hell if I can’t hit with that guy. Even when my timing is perfect and I square up on the ball, it just never ever finds the gap. 

I also utilized the Rule5 draft to the extreme, as I currently have 7 Rule 5 guys on my 25-man roster. Our payroll is a whopping $44 million.  

I've seen some pretty good players go in the Rule 5. I was one of only a handful of teams to not take someone in my game.

[The Buscher]

One thing I didn't like about previous games is that seemingly 90% of the league had 3 option year at the start of the game, so you could actually stash guys in the minors far longer than you could in real life and on top of that there was no way to set the option years for created players so a hotshot prospect you know needed to go on the 40 in real life doesn't necessarily need to go on in the game.

I know I always added Mets guys to the 40 based on when they'd have to in real life just to add an extra layer of challenge in terms of limiting what I could do with my roster.

[Toe]

It's season two, just after the All-Star Break with my Chicago White Sox. I had 6 all-stars - Gerrit Cole was AL starter, while Juan Minaya and Alex Colome were both in the bullpen. Daniel Palka was the starting RF (he made it as DH, but the game was at Dodgers Stadium), while Wellington Castillo and Marcel Ozuna were also on the team.

After the break, my team has a 10 game lead on the division and leads the majors in wins. My only real weakness, in my mind, was the rotation. I had Cole, Reynaldo Lopen, and Carlos Rodon all pitching well, but Danny Salazar was struggling and Michael Kopech was just not ready. So I've added Robbie Ray from the Diamondbacks to really strengthen that group, sending them Yolmer Sanchez and an A level pitching prospect in return. Earlier, I had signed Ben Zobrist to a one-year deal, so Sanchez had been playing in Triple A for me. 

I've played a fair chunk of the games in season 2, but even when I sim this team just rakes. We aren't a big home run team, but we lead the majors in batting average and on-base percentage by a huge margin. With a strong pitching staff, I'm pretty confident that this team is set up to make a run in the postseason. 

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

I have been playing a Pittsburgh Pirates franchise where I did a fantasy draft. Had a miserable first season and unloaded a bunch of my expiring contracts for younger, MLB-ready guys. Was doing well in my second-year but needed some pitching. Got Jameson Taillon in a trade during year 1 that was proposed by the other team. Can't remember who I gave up but he was a similar overall guy but Taillon had more control. Traded for Carlos Carrasco at the deadline. We took the Central. Swept the Nationals, beat the Padres in 5 games and then won the World Series against Tampa in 5 games. 

I think I will probably sign with another team when the GM contract is up after Year 3 but hoping to go back-to-back. Zobrist had been my 2nd basemen but I traded him away after I was able to get Jurickson Profar. Had Gregory Polanco in right field but traded him for some prospects (in his last year before free agency) and signed Michael Brantley for a cheap 1 year deal with an option. My team probably isn't as good as last year but I can make some trades at the deadline with my prospects if need be.

[Toe]

Polanco is one of those guys that I just can't hit with, despite his stats being OK. 

Edited June 12, 2019 by Toe

[Meacon Keaton]

Where do you decide on your options? I can’t ever seem to find the screen and end up missing out on it at the end of the season. I just assumed it was a bug but surely they’ve fixed it at this point?

[Your Mom]

I have been tempted to upgrade to 19 because of the sale. But if I'm happy with 18 I should just wait until the all star break when it's even cheaper right? I mean there isn't anything super kick ass that I just need right this moment is there?

[Meacon Keaton]

Nope. Stick it out until the All-Star break sale. 

[The Buscher]

I feel like my fantasy draft strategy has always been the same.  My year one bullpen always ends up loaded with really good relievers who are 35+ years old so the CPU ignored them and I snagged them all 30-40 rounds deep.  Meanwhile my AAA team has a bunch of pitchers with high potential ratings developing with the idea that they'll be in my year two bullpen after the inevitable retirement purge happens in the offseason.

But it seems like I'll play as the fantasy team for a few months and then retreat back to my normal franchise mode, never to return.

[Gabriel]

49 minutes ago, The Chiksrara Special said:

I have been tempted to upgrade to 19 because of the sale. But if I'm happy with 18 I should just wait until the all star break when it's even cheaper right? I mean there isn't anything super kick ass that I just need right this moment is there?

I would hold out unless they fixed the major issues without telling anyone.

In Franchise, pitchers are being used as DH's by the AI (they broke the game for Ohtani), arbitration isn't working properly (you can re-sign your arbitration eligible guys for less than they were making, which doesn't happen in real life) and the whole contract structure has been screwy because they made the switch, last minute, to real life contract values, but never adjusted how the in-game finances work to make sure that it wouldn't cause any problems... and it's causing problems.

I know that SCEA said they were going to fix those things, but I haven't seen any of that addressed in any of the patch notes yet, so I'm still playing 18. For me specifically, as an almost strictly franchise mode player, those are game breaking issues. The pitchers as DH thing doesn't seem too bad, until you realize that them DHing takes away from their stamina, and thus, a lot of players have experienced issues where starting pitchers can't even make it to the fifth inning because they're too drained.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

2 hours ago, Meacon said:

Where do you decide on your options? I can’t ever seem to find the screen and end up missing out on it at the end of the season. I just assumed it was a bug but surely they’ve fixed it at this point?

What options are you referring to?

[Gabriel]

2 hours ago, Meacon said:

Where do you decide on your options? I can’t ever seem to find the screen and end up missing out on it at the end of the season. I just assumed it was a bug but surely they’ve fixed it at this point?

It's supposed to be automatic, so at the beginning of the off-season, any contract options that are available are presented as choices and you select yes or no.

It doesn't work though, didn't work in 18 and is unlikely to be fixed until the next time they decide to actually put some work into franchise beyond one or two things.