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Normally I’m not a hard critic of the game early on in the cycle before they work out the kinks, but the last RS I played holy $&@! was it infuriating. I had the 99 Kluber pitching and he was dominating as per usual, but come around the six the inning my opponent who had struck out eight times already turned into a foul ball and check swing machine. I couldn’t strike him out and he got four brutal hits that inning including one that was very early on a cutter in the left hand batters box that I don’t know how he physically made contact with. Then as soon as Kluber starts to lose confidence my pitches start floating. Slurve to Gallo down in with perfect input ends being an absolute floater that gets destroyed for a three run bomb. I wasn’t happy but I knew I got Degrom out of the game and I was only down one, so it could be overcome. Then a weak grounder up the middle that was very early on a cutter away and then the cutter in the other batters box that he pulls to left for a single and here comes Giambi. I decided to leave Kluber in (not my best decision) because he was coming up the next inning. My opponent precedes to foul off four pitches after getting him to two strikes and then a perfect input high and away sinker ends up over the middle and in the stands, at which point I decided I’d had enough of the show for one day.

Sorry for the rant, but I needed to vent after that disgrace. And yes I do know the foul balls aren’t as bad as last year and that many other things in this game need fixing (pitching), but this wasn’t right.

@CapnBob78 said in Yea I know I’m a complainer:

@AllStar2653 said in Yea I know I’m a complainer:

@CapnBob78 said in Yea I know I’m a complainer:

@skepple15 said in Yea I know I’m a complainer:

According to Major League Baseball the batting average on barrelled balls is .800...

Also per MLB only 5% of all plate appearances are barreled up and goes up slightly to 7% for all balls that end in play. The very best hitters are around 10%. 150 at bats leads to 15 barrels .... the hardest thing to do in any sport is hit a round ball with a round bat square.

A lot of balls that are smoked go right to someone... it evens out when you get those Texas leaguers that bloop into no mans land

The point that people are trying to make is that when you square it up in game, you should get rewarded because MLB players get rewarded pretty often when they do. They don't get rewarded all the time, but have an .800 average. If they don't want the game to be an arcade, then it's the pitching that needs addressing. If the pitching gets changed, then it'll make it harder to square up a ball, and therefore make it more realistic.

I agree that the pitching needs to be fixed... my comments were to someone saying in the real world MLB players have a .800 avg on barreled balls.... no one, real or video game should be hitting .800 overall, lol.

No one would be hitting .800 if they made it significantly harder to square balls up. Even the best of the best wouldn’t be able to do it nearly as consistently especially if they were playing on legend.

@SMASHED_THAT said in Seriously showdown:

@ejwik13 said in Seriously showdown:

@SMASHED_THAT said in Seriously showdown:

@ejwik13 said in Seriously showdown:

Oh my goodness. If one more terrible fielder makes a gold glove play in showdown that’s gonna be it. I swear. Players with less than 70 fielding consistently make driving plays to get me out. It’s so annoying. Like SDS you made them bad at fielding for a reason

And its consistently on the lower difficulties too

Idk what your point is. I’m hitting it good squared up each time and still getting out

My point is these cpu fielders are making remarkable plays that they definitely shouldnt be and it seems like it happens more on the lower difficulties i just played 2 play vs cpu 9 inning games on hall of fame and not once did the cpu attempt a diving catch on plays it probably would've on the lower difficulties

Comparatively it is far easier to put the ball in play in showdown because it's on an easier difficulty, so you're more likely to see more spectacular plays. I understand the frustration, but showdown is all about wearing the pitcher down and looking for your pitch.

@CapnBob78 said in Yea I know I’m a complainer:

@skepple15 said in Yea I know I’m a complainer:

According to Major League Baseball the batting average on barrelled balls is .800...

Also per MLB only 5% of all plate appearances are barreled up and goes up slightly to 7% for all balls that end in play. The very best hitters are around 10%. 150 at bats leads to 15 barrels .... the hardest thing to do in any sport is hit a round ball with a round bat square.

A lot of balls that are smoked go right to someone... it evens out when you get those Texas leaguers that bloop into no mans land

The point that people are trying to make is that when you square it up in game, you should get rewarded because MLB players get rewarded pretty often when they do. They don't get rewarded all the time, but have an .800 average. If they don't want the game to be an arcade, then it's the pitching that needs addressing. If the pitching gets changed, then it'll make it harder to square up a ball, and therefore make it more realistic.

You shouldn’t assume anything from a person’s lineup. Honestly, I have seen players with all gold teams that are far better than the players with stacked teams that pay money. Now those teams can have an advantage because they are so good but it doesn’t affect the player’s skill level.

The best tip I can offer is look for one pitch until you get to two strikes. I personally sit on inside fastballs a lot and don’t swing unless I get one or I think I got one. It helps me to lay-off pitches even ones in the zone that I can’t consistently hit. The more pitches you see the more you can see what pitches the opponent relies upon and then sit on those pitches. It’s all about understanding your opponent. As far as timing goes I watched mcgunskis video about timing the pitcher and it was very helpful. He can explain it far better than I can tho so I’d say watch that.

@SMASHED_THAT said in Holy %2amp;@!:

@AllStar2653 said in Holy %2amp;@!:

@Kid_Cutr said in Holy %2amp;@!:

If you’re throwing high sinkers then I have no sympathy for you lol.

You may not like them, but they sure are effective. I try not to spam them, but if you mix them in here and there it almost always catches an opponent off guard.

I have no problem with them this year it was last years 99 kershaw that drove me bonkers

I remember this time last year no one could touch Kershaw because of the sinker. It made him the best pitcher in the game all year.

Since the last update, I’ve noticed that this happens with a higher frequency. Players will stop and try and run back to a base whether it’s stealing or on a throw from the outfield and the fielder just sits there stuck at the bag waiting for a runner that never comes.

Idk if you played the game the first few days, but hitting hasn't felt that good since 17. When you made solid contact you were rewarded and that's the way it should be. The pitching was the issue because it was hard to locate and no borderline pitches were called strikes. Now, the pitching still sucks, but you don't get rewarded nearly as much for squaring up a ball. The timing window also feels off, but that could just be me.

Do showdown. It's the fastest way to get them because if you win you get 20 points towards any team in that division. Showdown really depends on skill level though. If you aren't a decent hitter, you will struggle in the mode. You can try to complete all the missions before the final boss to get as many runs as possible, but that is extremely time consuming. For me, the most effective showdown method is to complete up until the second boss and then skip ahead, but I would consider myself to be an above average hitter, so take that as you like. If showdown is a struggle, there are two other ways to do it. The first is to complete the exchange under missions, but this costs a lot of stubs. Second, you can fill a lineup with a bunch of players from said team and grind out games against the CPU to get points through the innings mission, but this is extremely time consuming. Most people have these cards from doing showdown a bunch or spending a significant amount of stubs,

That Angels collection is hella expensive, but trout is one of the best outfielders in the game and the billy Wagner will be one of the best lefty relievers for a while. I’d go for that first because it would be the most useful.

@branddiggity said in Fix pitching!!!!!:

This patch is trash. Instead of giving a ""slight"" increase on pitch accuracy on perfect releases, give it a CONSIDERABLE increase on pitch accuracy.. Come on SDS

I completely disagree so far this patch is great. I almost pitched a no hitter in last game with Snell, who is not easy to locate with and hitting feels a lot better now. In the three games I’ve played today, pitching has felt a lot better.

@DainRyder16 said in Seriously showdown:

It's the worst man. I saved a clip of thee most incredible diving catch I've ever seen by 72 OVR RF Harold Ramirez (57 fielding, 56 reaction) on veteran difficulty. As soon as the ball hit the bat he was at full speed and then managed to get up and rocket the ball to the cut off. Like why?

I know that a player like this shouldn’t make these levels of plays that often, but they can still happen. It’s not like bad defensive players never make amazing plays in the MLB. Also, I feel like people get worked up about one or two of their outs being taken away, when they have 15 or 20 to work with. They need to focus on some mistakes they made and not just that the computer robbed them of 5 or 10 percent of their outs.

Last year, you could definitely get away with playing on game mode on a TV, but a monitor was still better. I went from CS to WS last year when I made the switch. This year I could not imagine playing on a TV. On HOF on a monitor you have to sit dead red to hit fastballs and still you’ll be late sometimes. On a TV you must have to swing as the pitcher is releasing the ball to make up for the input delay.