MLB The Show - General Discussion

[Gabriel]

As far as I know, they still haven't patched the issues in regards to Franchise, so I'll probably just skip this year's version entirely and come back for The Show 20. I feel like it's more likely they fix those issues before shipping a new game than it is for them to fix them via patch at this point, and the issues they were having would be aggravating as all hell for me as a franchise player.

[Meacon Keaton]

What were the issues again? I’m already four years into my Fantasy Draft Yankees long term sim game and I’ve not really come across any.

We have won the East all four seasons, won over 100 games two of those four years, but have been eliminated in the ALDS twice and the ALCS twice .  

[Gabriel]

11 minutes ago, Meacon said:

What were the issues again? I’m already four years into my Fantasy Draft Yankees long term sim game and I’ve not really come across any.

We have won the East all four seasons, won over 100 games two of those four years, but have been eliminated in the ALDS twice and the ALCS twice .  

The two big ones that were keeping me from purchasing were happening to about half of all players. #1: due to the contracts now reflecting real life values, the entire financial section of the game is out of whack. Payrolls go up insanely to the point where there really are no "small market" teams left, just teams with endless money that have less money than other teams with endless money... to go along with that, Arbitration wasn't being simmed properly. You'd be able to re-sign your arb-eligible players for less money than they made the previous season. Because of the real life contract values being added, but the budgets otherwise being untouched, it messed up some other parts of that.

#2, pitchers were quite often being used as a DH, draining their stamina so that when their starts come around, they may be able to pitch an inning or two, but then they're done. They broke the coding for that by trying to make it work so that Ohtani could DH in the game. Instead of just leaving it so that Ohtani could only pitch, they added coding that allows some pitchers to have secondary positions so that they can DH, but I'm told that it's hard to tell who can do what, and more than that, that teams will use their pitcher to DH even if they've got someone like Giancarlo Stanton sitting on the bench.

These issues aren't affecting everyone, but over on the Operation Sports forums, it seems like more than half of dedicated franchise players have had to deal with it, and for me, with my long-term game still going in MLB 18, it just doesn't make sense to take the chance on not experiencing those issues, when so many people still are.

EDIT: And there was another issue that a lot of people are seeing due to the screwy budgets... is that teams aren't making trades based on their franchise strategy. Sellers and Buyers should be coming together to swap prospects for MLB upgrades, but apparently the only trades most people see involving major league talents are MLB Player for MLB Player, money out for money in, type of deals. So, teams aren't slashing their payroll at the deadline when they're obviously out of it.

Edited July 4, 2019 by Gabriel

[Toe]

Only issue I saw in season 1 (but not season 2) was that for half my roster, no defensive stats were tracked in simmed. So Moncada and Abreu won Gold Gloves, but my best defender (Bradley Zimmer) recorded zero put-outs in games I simmed, so he was not eligible for a Gold Glove himself. 

I haven't seen this in season 2, but I haven't gone through the rest of the league yet. 

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

32 minutes ago, Gabriel said:

The two big ones that were keeping me from purchasing were happening to about half of all players. #1: due to the contracts now reflecting real life values, the entire financial section of the game is out of whack. Payrolls go up insanely to the point where there really are no "small market" teams left, just teams with endless money that have less money than other teams with endless money... to go along with that, Arbitration wasn't being simmed properly. You'd be able to re-sign your arb-eligible players for less money than they made the previous season. Because of the real life contract values being added, but the budgets otherwise being untouched, it messed up some other parts of that.

#2, pitchers were quite often being used as a DH, draining their stamina so that when their starts come around, they may be able to pitch an inning or two, but then they're done. They broke the coding for that by trying to make it work so that Ohtani could DH in the game. Instead of just leaving it so that Ohtani could only pitch, they added coding that allows some pitchers to have secondary positions so that they can DH, but I'm told that it's hard to tell who can do what, and more than that, that teams will use their pitcher to DH even if they've got someone like Giancarlo Stanton sitting on the bench.

These issues aren't affecting everyone, but over on the Operation Sports forums, it seems like more than half of dedicated franchise players have had to deal with it, and for me, with my long-term game still going in MLB 18, it just doesn't make sense to take the chance on not experiencing those issues, when so many people still are.

EDIT: And there was another issue that a lot of people are seeing due to the screwy budgets... is that teams aren't making trades based on their franchise strategy. Sellers and Buyers should be coming together to swap prospects for MLB upgrades, but apparently the only trades most people see involving major league talents are MLB Player for MLB Player, money out for money in, type of deals. So, teams aren't slashing their payroll at the deadline when they're obviously out of it.

Every once and a while I get a weird contract thing when I do a fantasy draft. Like, I had Max Kepler on a $45M contract and was unable to move him. But other than that, I haven't seen any real issues with the budgets.

The arbitration thing has been like that in every version of the game I've played. If the guys attributes drop a bit, you can submit an arb offer that is a percentage less than their previous salary. Most guys sign for roughly around what they ask for in arbitration anyway, so I never find myself going to arbitration unless I am trying to re-sign a player to a long term deal. But now I can just give him whatever contract he'll accept, then sign him long term in Spring Training. 

I have never seen the pitchers as DH thing be a problem. 

The game is great and the gameplay is way smoother than any other game. I definitely think it's worth the pick-up, especially if it's on sale. 

[Gabriel]

That's good to hear. I'm not a member of the Operation Sports forums because it's basically all complaining, but it's the best place to keep up on The Show news, so I check it regularly.

Since all of you don't seem to be experiencing any of that, I might end up picking this up at some point. I just shelled out for Mario Maker 2 though, so I should probably wait a bit. It always goes back on sale during the post-season anyways.

EDIT: And I love the addition of in-season contract extensions. It's something I love about the NHL series, and having it here is great. It makes it so much easier to plan out roster moves and trades, knowing who I have sticking around and how much money I should be trying to shed if someone wants a big pay increase.

Edited July 4, 2019 by Gabriel

[Toe]

4 minutes ago, Gabriel said:

That's good to hear. I'm not a member of the Operation Sports forums because it's basically all complaining, but it's the best place to keep up on The Show news, so I check it regularly.

Since all of you don't seem to be experiencing any of that, I might end up picking this up at some point. I just shelled out for Mario Maker 2 though, so I should probably wait a bit. It always goes back on sale during the post-season anyways.

EDIT: And I love the addition of in-season contract extensions. It's something I love about the NHL series, and having it here is great. It makes it so much easier to plan out roster moves and trades, knowing who I have sticking around and how much money I should be trying to shed if someone wants a big pay increase.

Yeah, and locking up guys during the season can also boost their morale if they are out-performing their old deal. 

[Your Mom]

Maybe I'll rent 19 just so I can continue my franchise into 20 then?

[The Buscher]

1 hour ago, Gabriel said:

That's good to hear. I'm not a member of the Operation Sports forums because it's basically all complaining, but it's the best place to keep up on The Show news, so I check it regularly.

I've been a lurker on the forums for years and it used to be mostly optimism and good comments about the game, and now it's just flooded with complaints.  With the Show I almost wonder if it's just a case of them complaining because "nothing's changed" but failing to recognize that nothing really needs to change when the game has been good for a decade.

[Gabriel]

2 minutes ago, Trent Buschetta said:

I've been a lurker on the forums for years and it used to be mostly optimism and good comments about the game, and now it's just flooded with complaints.  With the Show I almost wonder if it's just a case of them complaining because "nothing's changed" but failing to recognize that nothing really needs to change when the game has been good for a decade.

That's my stance on The Show, basically. There are little things can be added to Franchise every year (like the extensions), but for the most part, the game plays as well as a baseball video game possibly can. My chief complaint is just that as online modes continue to grow, the time dedicated to things like the Franchise Mode is depleted. There are things that can be fixed every year, or improved a little bit, and then there are the smaller new features that can be added. So for me, the major complaint is that they don't dedicate enough time or man-power to catching bugs or issues in franchise... but that's a major complaint that I have about any game that features offline and online components. Work gets put into the online side of things more so, because it's easier to milk micro-transaction dollars out of a customer that way.

[Meacon Keaton]

I'd like to see them implement the International signings somehow. I would imagine that's going to have to wait until the PS5, but that's one of the very few things I could think of that I'd like to see added to franchise. 

[Gabriel]

9 minutes ago, Meacon said:

I'd like to see them implement the International signings somehow. I would imagine that's going to have to wait until the PS5, but that's one of the very few things I could think of that I'd like to see added to franchise. 

That would be great. Expanded rosters would be awesome too. 90 guys is a lot, but including all minor league affiliates at the different levels, MLB franchises are allowed to have up to 290 players under contract at any given time. I'm not saying I want that many, necessarily, but giving us Class-A as a full roster of 25 (playable would be nice too) and an additional 15-25 slots would vastly expand the game world, and it would help to ensure that there aren't just a whole bunch of free agents floating around all the time.

Also, factoring in veteran minor leaguers to how the development of your players happens would be nice. So if you have a guy playing at Triple-A or Double-A who has been around a lot and is really good at one or two things, your younger players could benefit from having him there by seeing a boost to their similar stats. Would help to encourage gamers to not just load up their minor league affiliates with prospects... instead trying to focus on finding a good mix of prospects and veterans to play alongside each other.

[Meacon Keaton]

I've always been ok with 90 guys. Honestly, I usually only have 82-86 people signed anyway. I usually only have my Single-A with 7 or 11 people, usually my really low rated but high potential prospects (think those people in the 50's but A potential) who develop for a few years in A-ball. I'm very finicky with my minor leagues though. My buddy in our SharePlay franchise just signs guys as bodies in his system. I go through and analyze each prospect and how I want them trained and when they should move up or stay put and when it's time to accept they're never going to, or likely won't reach their potential until they're much much older and to move on while they still have value. I probably spend more time dealing with that then I do actually playing the games.  

[The Buscher]

I’ve always had trouble developing my young players, just seems like they hover around the same ratings wherever even with them being trained.

So I end up with a bunch of underwhelming position player prospects, just like the Mets.

[Meacon Keaton]

Just now, Trent Buschetta said:

I’ve always had trouble developing my young players, just seems like they hover around the same ratings wherever even with them being trained.

So I end up with a bunch of underwhelming position player prospects, just like the Mets.

Other than the rare exceptions, you have prioritize what you want. I have all my fielders do batting cage training to improve their vision, patience, and clutch. That obviously slows their fielding and power development but my players always rank in the top ten in walks and fewest strikeouts. And since they’re so patient and have good vision, it usually means they’re at least .270 hitters too.

[Toe]

I lost in 7 games to the Dodgers. I do like my team, though, so the off-season was me bringing back nearly everyone (including Robbie Ray, who I originally envisioned as a rental only). I did make 2 changes to the team.

First, Ben Zobrist had declined and would have been OK, but I wanted to add a little more speed to the line-up. I was able to get Dee Gordon to replace him for a season. 

The bigger move was at short-stop. Tim Anderson is fine, but hadn't really grown. So I packaged him and my best RF prospect (mid 70s, A potential) to Colorado and brought in Trevor Story. It's a bit of a risk, since Story is a free agent at the end of the season and will need a HUGE deal. Still, he's an upgrade in every way from Anderson and adds more pop to a line-up that (outside of Daniel Palka) was more of a high-average team. I also added Yadier Molina as my back-up catcher. He was still decent, and James McCann needed a real contract so I couldn't keep him.

OH - I almost forgot. My closer (Alex Colome) was a free agent, and another team gave him a great contract that I didn't want to match, so I sent Danny Salazer (who had struggled and didn't start in the playoffs for me) to Texas for Jose Leclerc. 

So my starting line-up going into 2021 is this...

C - Wellington Castillo

1B - Jose Abreu

2B - Dee Gordon

SS - Trevor Story

3B - Yoan Moncada

LF - Eloy Jimenez

CF - Bradley Zimmer

RF - Marcell Ozuna

Bench - Travis Jankowski, Leury Garcia, Yadier Molina, Eric Thames

Starting Pitchers - Gerrit Cole, Robbie Ray, Carlos Rodon, Reynaldo Lopez, Michael Kopech

Relief Pitchers - Jose Leclerc, Jeremy Jeffries, Juan Minaya, Alex Bummer, Jace Fry, Kelvin Herrera, guy I drafted who I can remember the name of for long relief

Edited July 10, 2019 by Toe

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

I won the World Series in 5 games against the Cubs. Was playing with a fantasy drafted Toronto team. My pitching was really what did it for me. deGrom, Paxton, Ryu were all tremendous. Won the World Series thanks to a 10th inning pinch hit home run from Eric Thames, the newest Toronto hero. 

[Gabriel]

Another thing that I'd like to see added to Franchise mode is the ability to see the average stats for each position, so that you can more easily compare your players to the rest of the league.

For instance, catchers rarely hit above the team batting average on a good team, but that doesn't mean that your catcher would be a liability at the plate in comparison to the rest of the league, right? So being able to see the average stats for that position (Batting Average, WAR, Home Runs, RBIs, etc) would be really nice. Then you could look at your catcher who is hitting something like .220, see that the league average at the position is .237 or something, and realize that you may be able to upgrade, but that if you can't, you're not in a horrible position as long as your catcher is defending well, posts a good WAR rating, draws a lot of walks, or whatever else.

I often find myself looking at specific players on my roster and thinking that they aren't performing as well as I want them to, but then I'll take a look around the league at who might be available as an upgrade and realize my guy's stat-line is similar, or in some cases, better, than most of the other guys at the position.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

2 minutes ago, Gabriel said:

Another thing that I'd like to see added to Franchise mode is the ability to see the average stats for each position, so that you can more easily compare your players to the rest of the league.

For instance, catchers rarely hit above the team batting average on a good team, but that doesn't mean that your catcher would be a liability at the plate in comparison to the rest of the league, right? So being able to see the average stats for that position (Batting Average, WAR, Home Runs, RBIs, etc) would be really nice. Then you could look at your catcher who is hitting something like .220, see that the league average at the position is .237 or something, and realize that you may be able to upgrade, but that if you can't, you're not in a horrible position as long as your catcher is defending well, posts a good WAR rating, draws a lot of walks, or whatever else.

I often find myself looking at specific players on my roster and thinking that they aren't performing as well as I want them to, but then I'll take a look around the league at who might be available as an upgrade and realize my guy's stat-line is similar, or in some cases, better, than most of the other guys at the position.

This goes hand in hand with team trade logic as well. If a team has a catcher who is out-performing every catcher, and they are in a playoff race, you shouldn't be able to trade for them. 

[Gabriel]

3 minutes ago, Ms. Canadian Destroyer said:

This goes hand in hand with team trade logic as well. If a team has a catcher who is out-performing every catcher, and they are in a playoff race, you shouldn't be able to trade for them. 

Absolutely, this.

A few years into my franchise, I had a catching platoon that was hitting well under my team average, and I went out and traded for Tyler Stephenson, who was leading all catchers in dingers and was hitting just under what my team's batting average was. (It was a pitching dominant season for my team.) So I pulled the trigger because he was on a cheap deal and had term left, which allowed me to drop one of my platoon catchers back into the minors for more development.

What I didn't realize until I made it to the post-season, was that the White Sox team that I acquired him from was actually first in their division, and I played them in the ALCS, where I got to see that their starting catcher was a 60-something overall scrub that hit just over .150 on the season.

There's no way they make that deal in real life, being in the playoff hunt and leaving them with no real replacement. I think, because Stephenson's batting average was still relatively low compared to the rest of their players, that they maybe accepted the deal because of that, with the AI assuming that he was under-performing, but his WAR numbers were good and he was a home run machine on a cheap contract, at a position where they had no depth.