MLB The Show - General Discussion

[Malenko]

I've been waiting for one since MLB 2k11/12/13 can't remember which but it's been a long time.

NHL would be nice too but people have been releasing yearly updates on older versions every year so I'm ok with that.

I really hope someone's able to make any half decent MLB game though because I really can't enjoy 2013 rosters anymore. 

 

[GhostMachine]

I just hate that there are hardly any decent sports games for PC anymore. OOTP is just not something I'm interested in. 

Incidentally, when I did play baseball games, I usually made myself a pitcher or outfielder (LF or CF). If I was a pitcher, it was sidearm motion, and I always gave myself whatever the game called their split-finger fastball. And I'm a lefty. 

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by GhostMachine

[FLiam]

When I first starting playing this year, I enjoyed the new commentary team because it felt fresh even though the game itself didn’t really. 

However, I now see what the reviews meant by repeated lines. Almost every time I step up to the plate in my RTTS I hear “A throwback, no gloves”. It’s painful.

Upon typing this, I realise an obvious solution is to wear gloves…but I’m sure that line will be replaced by something else equally annoying.

[Toe]

1 hour ago, FLiam said:

When I first starting playing this year, I enjoyed the new commentary team because it felt fresh even though the game itself didn’t really. 

However, I now see what the reviews meant by repeated lines. Almost every time I step up to the plate in my RTTS I hear “A throwback, no gloves”. It’s painful.

Upon typing this, I realise an obvious solution is to wear gloves…but I’m sure that line will be replaced by something else equally annoying.

Yup, I hear the same lines about insurance and scouting the umps over and over. 

[Krabby]

1 hour ago, FLiam said:

When I first starting playing this year, I enjoyed the new commentary team because it felt fresh even though the game itself didn’t really. 

However, I now see what the reviews meant by repeated lines. Almost every time I step up to the plate in my RTTS I hear “A throwback, no gloves”. It’s painful.

Upon typing this, I realise an obvious solution is to wear gloves…but I’m sure that line will be replaced by something else equally annoying.

"How modern, gloves!"

[Your Mom]

On 16/04/2022 at 15:01, Your Mom said:

I know everyone was worried about this  But fear not! Villar hit HR number 100 in game 9 and gets to remain a Cub!  

I have 2 more players with 99 homeruns now 

[Gabriel]

I finally made the jump to MLB 22. It was on sale for $12.50 for Black Friday on the Playstation Store, and my partner was very adamant that I buy myself something nice after working so hard lately. Bank account being what it is, $12.50 for hundreds of hours of gameplay was a solid deal.

After skipping over 21, it definitely feels different and is taking some getting used to, but I'm really digging it so far. Everything seems slower, which isn't a bad thing, except for the pitching. Default pitch speeds had me feeling like I was right ripped out of my mind at first.

Started an Oakland Athletics franchise to give myself something a little different. I am going to come up with some financial rules for myself and try to keep the budget low in Beane-town while also fielding a competitive team.

[Gabriel]

Entering year 2 with the Athletics now, still in the bottom 5 teams in regards to payroll.

MLB roster is:

Sean Murphy and JJ Schwarz at catcher. Schwarz had a really good season with me and ended up playing way more than I expected, given that Murphy is my long-term catcher.

Seth Brown is still manning first base, having hit 20 dingers in year one, despite a low .200's batting average. I was hoping to replace him, but didn't like my other options through trade or free agency, and nobody in the system stepped up to challenge him.

Cavan Biggio is my every day second baseman, with Vimael Machin having played his way onto the opening day roster as a back-up, utility guy. Machin made the roster in year one, but ended up getting demoted to AAA, where he struggled, then to AA Midland where he recovered. Let's see if he sticks with the A's this season.

I traded for Matt Chapman in the off-season, to be my third baseman. I had Brandon Crawford playing short in year one, and he did well, but I wanted to spread out his $16 million and included him in a package to the Jays to bring back Chappy. Chapman is in a contract year, making just north of $9 million.

I signed Charlie Culberson to a cheap deal to take over at short.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr is my left fielder, having come over in a mid-season deal that also included Anthony Bass and Nate Pearson. I sent Ramon Laureano to Toronto.

Cristian Pache is my center fielder. He's been serviceable, but doesn't have a stranglehold on the position.

Hunter Renfroe was acquired to play in right field after I lost out on Joey Gallo in free agency.

Outfielders Bubba Thompson, Cal Stevenson and Luis Barrera are my additional bench option. Barrera had a really good year one, but I needed to shore up the position after a bad season from the team.

My rotation is James Kaprielian, Cole Irvin, Kwang Hyun Kim, Adam Oller and Nate Pearson. Kim was a cheap free agent add at the end of the off-season, and didn't pitch in the majors in year one. Pearson had a cup of coffee at the end of the season and performed well. I traded Paul Blackburn in the off-season, despite him being my best performing starter in year one, because he's regressing and I wanted to save some cash. Only $2.9 million, but I managed to snag a decent return in two prospects off the 40-man.

Aaron Ashby, Ryan Weathers, Sam Selman, Yunior Marte, Austin Pruitt and Genesis Cabrera make up my bullpen... gone quite young and cheap there, but everyone had good years in year one, whether at the major league level or otherwise. Anthony Bass is my high leverage guy, and AJ Puk broke out with 40 saves in year one as my closer. The team only won 70ish games, so his importance cannot be understated.

The fact that more than half our wins came in closing situations made me really focus on trying to add offense in the off-season,  hence the additions of Chapman, Culberson and Renfroe... and the retaining of Seth Brown. All four guys should challenge for 20 homers if they play enough, while Chappy and Culberson should be able to improve on the team batting average from last season.

We had a really good spring training, especially after I trimmed the roster down to the final cuts, so I'm hopeful for year 2 to see vast improvement. I'm not aiming for the post-season, but I'd like to get the record above .500 and continue the development of some of my younger stars before making a playoff push in year 3.

EDIT: My rules to keep the payroll low are pretty simple. Once the season starts, I have a personal budget of $0. Every two dollars out in players leaving will add one dollar to my internal budget. So if I can trade away $10 million, my budget for additions becomes $5 million.

In the off-season, I look at what remaining budget I had at the end of the year, divide it in half, and that's the money I have for free agents and re-signings.

In regards to contract extensions, at the beginning of the year, I will re-sign anyone willing to take a pay cut. If I keep them, they're staying on less money. Mid-season extensions, I only choose one guy and I will sign him to whatever it is that he wants, because I've determined he's the most important potential off-season loss.

[Bobfoc]

The next game is going to be on Game Pass at launch, just as the previous two were.

[Gabriel]

19 hours ago, Bobfoc said:

The next game is going to be on Game Pass at launch, just as the previous two were.

Great for Xbox players. Another hard slap in the face to the Playstation faithful.

Between stuff like this and the cost/ease of getting PS5's or the Xbox Series X/S, it's looking more and more likely that when I do eventually upgrade, it's going to be the Microsoft system.

Sony wants me to pay twice as much for a console, and the same price for a subscription service that, while good, is still lacking in comparison to its' competitor... all the while making the only game I pick up regularly free on their competitor's service, but an additional $80 if I want it on their own console.

[Your Mom]

Yeah that kinda sucks for PS owners. I would always get it for PS but aint no way now that I get it for free.

 

Speaking of the next game do we know if Franchise carries over yet? Like I'm just starting Season 2 on mine but I don't want to bother getting too into it if I'm going to have to start over anyway

[Gabriel]

21 minutes ago, Your Mom said:

Yeah that kinda sucks for PS owners. I would always get it for PS but aint no way now that I get it for free.

 

Speaking of the next game do we know if Franchise carries over yet? Like I'm just starting Season 2 on mine but I don't want to bother getting too into it if I'm going to have to start over anyway

No year-to-year saves this game.

It sounds like the plan is for it to return at some point, but I wouldn't expect it until the major overhaul for franchise is complete.

[Your Mom]

I'm really enjoying my franchise maybe I'll just skip the next game? I generally only play Franchise and some RTTS anyway

[Gabriel]

17 hours ago, Your Mom said:

I'm really enjoying my franchise maybe I'll just skip the next game? I generally only play Franchise and some RTTS anyway

I played MLB 20 until November when a PS Store sale had MLB 22 at $12.50

As a franchise-first player, I don't regret that at all. I will probably keep playing 22 until there is a sale for the new game under $20 at a time when I can afford to spend that amount of money.

[The Buscher]

I got MLB 22 last year just because I wanted a baseball game for my new PS5.  Don't see myself getting MLB 23 without a big franchise overhaul, and I'm always leery that there won't ever be more than incremental upgrades to that mode because, like all sports games, they'd rather pump their money into microtransaction game modes.

[Maxx]

Yeah the lack of franchise mode updates sucks, but as a gamepass subscriber I can't really complain too much about a free game.   Not sure I played 22 at all though.

[The Buscher]

In their defense, franchise is pretty solid as is.  Obviously there are things that could be tweaked, but at least the mode is playable.  Unlike some other games that just leave their franchise a broken mess (looking at you, Madden).

The type of overhauls that would make me run out to get the next game are things like what NBA2k did with their eras mode.  Imagine being able to go way back in baseball history and rewrite it right up to the modern day?  Or on the other side of it, being able to expand the league to 32, 36 etc teams.  I mean franchise mode in-game lasts forever but without the ability to evolve the league, you're just running in circles eventually.  Basically, think of OOTP but a playable version.

But considering these devs couldn't even add rotating year to year schedules in franchise, claiming that it would completely break their programming, it's all a fruitless pipe dream.

[JasonM]

I just kind of would like a PC port, at this point if they can release it consistently on Xbox systems and not on PC it feels like they just straight up don't want to do so rather than hardware limitations. The current gen of Xbox is about as close to a desktop PC as consoles have ever been, in terms of code.

 

[Your Mom]

1 hour ago, Justin Buschlander said:

In their defense, franchise is pretty solid as is.  Obviously there are things that could be tweaked, but at least the mode is playable.  Unlike some other games that just leave their franchise a broken mess (looking at you, Madden).

The type of overhauls that would make me run out to get the next game are things like what NBA2k did with their eras mode.  Imagine being able to go way back in baseball history and rewrite it right up to the modern day?  Or on the other side of it, being able to expand the league to 32, 36 etc teams.  I mean franchise mode in-game lasts forever but without the ability to evolve the league, you're just running in circles eventually.  Basically, think of OOTP but a playable version.

But considering these devs couldn't even add rotating year to year schedules in franchise, claiming that it would completely break their programming, it's all a fruitless pipe dream.

Franchise is by no means bad at all. I could play it as is forever if they could just put back the ability to carry it over to the new games.

Your idea of going back and playing as the old timers is cool as hell though. I wonder if they could ever pull it off. Instant buy from me if they do though

[Gabriel]

There is an expected franchise overhaul coming. They stated a year or two ago that the current franchise mode is based on coding so old, that a lot of what they wanted to add to it would actually break it. So they've been giving us these small little additions each year while they work on March to October, which is actually supposed to feature a lot of what they're wanting to do with the next iteration of franchise.

I haven't played M2O at all, if only because I'm perfectly happy playing my franchise mode and the first year it was introduced, it was a one-season and done mode. I hear there have been some changes and you can do multiple years now, but I still haven't tried it.

Anyways, long-story short, M2O is the foundation of what the next generation of Franchise will be in The Show.