Once you see the system under MLB The Show’s engine, there is no going back
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If they made the outfield realistic and dropped HR by 50 percent this game would play better, plus turn down fouls by 60 percent.
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There’s def something going on towards the end of games against cpu where no matter what/where pitch is thrown the cpu is making contact. I hadn’t considered that it’s fowling on purpose to wear you down. I assumed some hidden clutch type attribute was being activated or something to shake things up in the last few outs. I usually notice it on batters that are 7th or 8th in the order and have no business being clutch heros. Whatever the case - something for sure is going on there. I still have t quite figured out what the difference is with all the settings. I play all Star, that seems “normal” but there’s times I’ll choose veteran to see if I notice a difference and I end up losing.
I’ve never tinkered with the sliders before. I thought they didn’t effect diamond dynasty… they’ve added in so many variables on this old code that tweaking one thing throws off 10 other things and the slightest change to something makes very noticeable differences for other things.
Most recent most likely unintended change that seems way off is line drives and hard hit ground balls losing speed quickly. Not bouncing and rolling to the fence or even close. I’m hitting 114 exit velocity hits that stop rolling before getting to where the out fielder is. Like the ball is slamming on the brakes or something. I figure they tried to change something to keep play similar to how it’s been so all the higher power/contact cards don’t constantly hit it out of the park but ended up making exit velocity kind of meaningless. It’s like 50mph wind slowing the ball down after it’s hit. -
And somehow it never helps YOU at all. It only hurts you. Amazing.
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@PriorFir4383355_XBL Yeah, you’re right. The articulation is messy, and that’s on me.
It looked cleaner while I was writing it, but once I posted it here, it came out way messier than I wanted. So yeah, my bad on that part.
But the point of the post wasn’t to make something pretty. The point was to call out SDS and the problems I’m seeing under the engine: foul logic, confidence, stamina, sliders not fully controlling outcomes, and the same patterns showing up across DD, Mini Seasons, Ranked, Online Rated, and Franchise.
Challenge isn’t the problem. I don’t want the CPU easy. I want the game to feel honest.
When the engine starts using foul balls, confidence, stamina, weak contact, fielding animations, and late-game pressure to create artificial difficulty, it stops feeling like baseball and starts feeling like I’m fighting the engine.
So I’ll own the messy wording, but I’m not backing off the point.
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These conspiracies about vs. CPU stuff are so strange to me. You can literally throw the same 3 pitches to every single CPU batter and strike out 95% of them, but we're supposed to believe there is some secret behind the scenes code forcing all kinds of things like forced foul balls, confidence drops, pitch input not mattering, etc. etc. etc. Makes no sense at all.
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These conspiracies about vs. CPU stuff are so strange to me. You can literally throw the same 3 pitches to every single CPU batter and strike out 95% of them, but we're supposed to believe there is some secret behind the scenes code forcing all kinds of things like forced foul balls, confidence drops, pitch input not mattering, etc. etc. etc. Makes no sense at all.
They love to make up random things.
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UPDATE / CLARIFICATION:
Since some people are grabbing only the CPU part and missing the bigger point, I want to explain why I used the CPU so much for stress-testing.
The reason I used the CPU so much to stress-test the game’s engine is because against the CPU, I have full control over more variables.
I can control the difficulty, sliders, modes, players, player attributes, rosters, umpire settings, PCI settings, pitch speeds, fielding, stamina, confidence, animations, and everything else around the test. That is how you stress-test a system. You control as many variables as possible, push certain systems hard, and then watch what keeps happening.
And yes, I can beat the CPU on GOAT difficulty with pitch speeds all the way up. This is not about me not being able to beat the CPU.
I also messed with my own sliders. I changed CPU sliders. I changed human sliders. I changed player attributes. I mixed up rosters. I tested different modes and different difficulties. I tested games where I let the CPU jump ahead on purpose to see how the engine reacted. I tested games where I got ahead on purpose to see how the engine reacted. I even quit out or simmed parts of games to see if the game had predetermined win tendencies and outcome pulls, and yes, at times, it did.
That is my point.
This is not just one CPU game. I tested this in DD, Mini Seasons, Franchise, Online Rated, and Ranked Seasons. Some of those are against the CPU. Some are against real players. The same kind of engine behavior shows up across the game.
In Ranked Seasons and Online Rated, the game still feels like it changes gears around the 5th or 6th inning. All of a sudden, both sides start getting runs, foul balls, weak hits, bad animations, pitcher confidence swings, and nonsense outcomes no matter what you throw or do. It stops feeling like clean baseball and starts feeling like the engine is trying to create a game moment.
The biggest problem is that there is so much going on under the engine and under the coding that I don’t think SDS themselves know what is even going on anymore, how to explain it, or how to actually fix the problems.
That is why we keep getting band-aid fixes.
The foul-ball problem has been around forever. Instead of fixing the foul-ball logic, they put PCI shrinkage in the game because they didn’t know how to fix the foul-ball problem. Then to counter PCI shrinkage, they started throwing switch hitters all over the game because same-side matchups became worse. Then to counter the switch hitter problem, they started giving pitchers reverse splits. Then they added more modifiers, quirks, captain boosts, and attribute nerfs. That is why you have 98 overall cards looking and playing more like 93s.
It feels like every fix creates another problem because the engine itself is the problem.
The defense makes it worse too. Player defensive attributes and fielding animations do not always line up. A 90+ defender should not suddenly move like the game picked the wrong animation at the worst possible time. Catchers should not randomly forget how to throw runners out. Outfielders should not take broken routes or jump straight up on routine plays just because the game needs a rally.
That is why I keep saying it feels like I am fighting the engine more than I am playing baseball.
The game has foul-ball survival, confidence swings, stamina drain, weak-contact hits, fielding animation problems, PCI weirdness, late-game outcome pressure, and predetermined tendencies stacked on top of each other. And when all of those systems start firing together, it does not feel organic. It feels artificial.
Hard baseball is fine. Losing is fine. The CPU beating me is fine. A real player beating me is fine.
The problem is when the game stops feeling like baseball and starts feeling like the engine is steering the outcome.
SDS needs to rebuild this game engine from the ground up. Not add another band-aid. Not add another modifier. Not add another hidden tuning layer. Rebuild it so ratings, timing, PCI, stamina, confidence, defense, and animations all make sense again.
Because once you see the system under the engine, there is no going back.
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@Player99_MLBTS There's some stuff that's out there for sure, but other stuff like improperly scaled fields, CPU not having the "human mistake" factor anymore(always taking the perfect routes with zero hesitation, always making the perfect reads for bounces). I don't like the grander conspiracies but the stuff I talk about should be done properly.
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@virusts_PSN I thought it was Pepe Alazar? Lol
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@MoeBuug68_XBL I have observed this hundreds of times this year alone.
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I’m going to call it what it is: this game has comeback logic, outcome steering, and hidden engine pressure, and it shows up in DD, Mini Seasons, and Franchise.
I am not saying this because I lost one game. I am not saying this because I want the CPU to be easy. I play on high difficulties. I have played Ranked Seasons, DD, Online Rated, Mini Seasons, Franchise, and offline CPU games for years. I know the difference between getting beat and the game deciding it is time for nonsense.
And right now, too many games feel like I am not playing baseball. I am fighting the engine.
I stress-tested this across multiple modes, multiple difficulties, and multiple slider setups. I tested Simulation. I tested GOAT. I tested Legend. I tested DD modes. I tested Franchise. I changed CPU contact, timing, foul frequency, solid hits, power, pitching control, pitching consistency, stamina, fielding, human hitting, human pitching, everything.
I even turned CPU contact, timing, and foul frequency all the way down to zero just to see what would happen.
And the CPU still fouled off pitches it had no business touching.
Pitches way off the plate still got fouled off. Low junk still got protected. Bad timing still turned into contact. Weak contact still found grass. Balls with 58 to 80 mph exit velocity still floated into gaps or barely over infielders’ heads. That is not real baseball. That is the engine protecting the at-bat.
The biggest problem is the foul-ball system. The CPU does not always feel like it is trying to beat you with baseball. It feels like the game turns on foul survival to drain your pitcher.
The loop is obvious once you see it:
CPU fouls off everything
pitch count goes up
energy drops
confidence drops
perfect input starts mattering less
pitcher misses worse
pitcher hangs something
CPU gets the hit, double, or homer
That is not smart baseball. That is the game using foul balls as a weapon against pitcher confidence and stamina.
And confidence is one of the biggest hidden problems in this game. Pitcher confidence has too much power. Once it swings one way, it starts overriding ratings, input, and common sense. CPU pitchers turn into Greg Maddux no matter who is on the mound. They throw dots, dots, and balls barely off the plate. Meanwhile my pitcher can have good energy, good confidence, and perfect input, and suddenly the ball still misses, hangs, or gets fouled off until the CPU gets what it wants.
There needs to be a Pitcher Confidence Effect slider. Period.
Because right now confidence feels like a hidden momentum system.
I have also seen what looks like predetermined outcome tendency. I am not saying every pitch is scripted. I am saying some games clearly have a strong outcome pull. I have played games into the 5th, 6th, or 7th inning while testing this. Different pitchers. Different locations. Different strategies. Different sliders. Same pattern.
The other team is going to get its moment no matter what.
You can pitch smart. You can mix speeds. You can throw chase pitches. You can hit perfect input. It does not matter. The game says no, no, no, foul, foul, weak hit, gapper, error, tie game.
Then the same thing can flip the other way. I have had games where the CPU gets nonsense early, then later the game gives me nonsense. The CPU suddenly makes errors. Outfielders take stupid routes. A center fielder jumps straight up on a routine play. Infielders miss balls they should field. I get hits I know I should not be getting. Then I hit a walk-off homer.
And no, that does not make it better.
A walk-off should feel earned. It should feel like I won. Instead it feels like the engine decided it was time for a movie ending.
That is the problem. Even when I win, I can see the strings.
This is not just DD either. People love to say “that is just Diamond Dynasty.” No. I have seen the same engine behavior in Franchise. I have seen it in Mini Seasons. I have seen it with sliders changed hard against the CPU. I have seen it with CPU hitting sliders almost buried. I have seen it when the CPU is using almost the same cards I am using.
That tells me this is deeper than one mode.
The game has hidden systems under the hood that the sliders do not fully control.
These are the systems that need to be exposed or toned down:
Pitcher Confidence Effect
Two-Strike Foul Protection
Foul Ball Pitcher Drain
Comeback / Momentum Logic
Late-Inning Outcome Pressure
Fielding Animation Override
CPU Contact Floor
Mode-Specific DD Tuning Bleeding Into Offline
Simulation should not feel like Ranked Seasons World Series pressure. Franchise should not feel like offline DD sweat mode. Mini Seasons should not feel like I am playing against the engine instead of the CPU.
Hard baseball is fine.
A good CPU is fine.
Losing is fine.
But I should not have to fight like I am playing a World Series Ranked player when I am offline against the CPU. Every hitter should not turn into prime Pete Rose with two strikes. Every CPUThe confidence and energy system is one of the biggest giveaways.
My pitchers lose confidence and energy faster than the CPU does. The CPU can foul off pitch after pitch, and every foul still helps drain my pitcher. Then a strike, a foul, or a strikeout seems to give the CPU pitcher confidence bumps, but my pitcher does not get the same kind of reward back.
It feels uneven.
The CPU pitcher can throw a strike, get a foul, get a strikeout, and the confidence bar starts getting stronger fast. Then that pitcher starts dotting corners, getting weak contact, and living just off the plate.
But when I do the same thing, it does not feel like my pitcher gets the same protection. My pitcher can have more energy, more confidence, better input, and still suddenly lose command, hang pitches, or get hit around like none of it matters.
And the relievers make it even worse.
The CPU can leave a starter or reliever in with almost no energy and half confidence, and I still can’t buy a hit. The pitcher still paints corners. Still gets foul balls. Still gets weak contact. Still survives.
But if I leave my pitcher in with the same low energy and half confidence, the CPU starts getting hits, doubles, and home runs like the engine already decided that pitcher is done.
Even when my pitcher has more energy and more confidence than the CPU pitcher, the outcome can still feel the same. The CPU still gets its foul balls. The CPU still gets its hit. The CPU still gets the rally.
That tells me the confidence and energy meters are not being applied evenly between the player and CPU.
If confidence and stamina are going to control command, PCI results, weak contact, strikeouts, foul balls, and pitcher survival, then we need sliders for them.
Pitcher Confidence Effect
Human Pitcher Confidence Gain
CPU Pitcher Confidence Gain
Human Pitcher Confidence Drain
CPU Pitcher Confidence Drain
Foul Ball Energy Drain
Foul Ball Confidence Drain
Fatigue Penalty Strength
CPU Fatigue Penalty
Human Fatigue Penalty
Because right now it feels like the CPU gets confidence armor, and the player gets confidence punishment.
The visible bars are lying by omission.
Energy and confidence do not feel equal for both sides. A tired CPU pitcher can still pitch like Greg Maddux. A tired user pitcher gets treated like batting practice. A CPU pitcher with low confidence can still survive. A user pitcher with higher confidence can still get hit around because the engine wants the other team to have its moment.
That is not baseball. That is hidden engine pressure.
That is the part that makes your argument sharper, KC. You’re not just saying “CPU fouls too much.” You’re saying:
The CPU uses fouls to drain my pitcher.
The CPU gains confidence faster.
My pitcher loses confidence faster.
CPU fatigue does not punish them the same way.
Human fatigue gets punished hard.
The outcome still happens even when my pitcher has the better meter.
That’s the real callout. Not “make CPU easier.”
Make the [censored] systems apply evenly.Spaced paragraphs are your, AND this forums friend!
