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Does anyone know how the pitch com works and the pitches called throughout the game? Is it based off your pitchers usage of pitches or maybe the pitching coach?
I’m guessing it’s not anything in depth knowing Franchise Mode. I swear they just want me to throw 90% fastballs and just get nuked by the offense
I think we can all agree that Franchise is missing a ton of features. They sadly do not care about anything other than Diamond Dynasty and haven’t for years.. if you look at the comparison of franchise mode in MLB and NHL, it’s not even remotely close. Am I having fun with it, yes, because I love baseball and acting as a GM. I honestly have a set of rules I give myself that I cannot do to make it more realistic.
Two GLARING things they took out and because they did, it makes the mode so unrealistic:
-Contract options and front and back loading. Absolutely embarrassing not having these in the game. Modern day MLB contracts are so complex and this game gives you the most simple year by year contracts with same money AAV. This alone has lead me to not buy a new MLB game until something drastically changes in real life (new expansion team, etc..)
-player and team morale. This should 100% be in the game and you should have to keep your players happy. If you don’t, they could request trade or performance goes down. You should have to tell a player that he is going to be a starter when you sign him and if you back out on that, he should be pissed and there should be consequences.
A ton more they could do to the mode but these two are glaring and SDS should be ashamed of themselves for not having these types of features in a video game made in the year 2026
Yeah, that’s pretty terrible. They just don’t care about Franchise 
Adding ABS quickly into the game was awesome and I think it is a really good feature and plays well. I turned off strike zones all together so it makes it a bit harder. I think they did solid with the system though. It’s a fun and realistic feature.
Of course tho, when it comes to SDS, they did not think of adding more to it inside the franchise mode. I would love to see somewhere in my team stats how we are doing on challenges and how many we are getting right and wrong. That is a huge thing in real life that tells teams valuable information and how/when to use it.
Just normal ps5 console. Just can 100% see the lag when using meter pitching. Sad to see the most simple things are a struggle in this years game
I am an offline Franchise player. I have a pretty flexible remote job that allows me to play The Show a decent amount during the day. That being said, I do have to pause a decent amount as well for work stuff. I notice after a few in game pauses, I come back to the game to some lagging that is noticeable and annoying to play through.
Anyone else notice this and have some type of secret fix?
If I check swing with 2 strikes and do not go around, my runner at 1st randomly steals with no throw and goes to 2nd. I guess I shouldn’t complain but of course it’s not realistic.
Players in the field do not have their features until they touch the ball. This one terrible and makes the game look like a game from 2004.. My RF has long hair. A fly ball hit to him he looks like a generic player with short hair and the moment he catches the ball his long hair appears.
$100 video game and this is what they put out along with a mediocre Franchise Mode 
I will say this. Gameplay is very solid and a few new features are fun for sure. It’s a type of video game you buy every 2-3 years.
That would also confuse people though. MLB The Show 24 had front and back loading with options and the two new ones weirdly do not. Kind of a crazy mindset to take things OUT of a video game 
Weirdly the biggest issue so far is the lag and skipping around on the menus. At least Franchise is terrible. Makes it really annoying to get around the pages. Hopefully patched and updated very soon! Should be a simple fix
This is a weird complaint. Why would they at an ABS aspect of the game but leave the strike zone up so you know if you should challenge it or not… 🤨
This will be officially the last time I give SDS my money.. Prospect rankings are not even close to being accurate. Multiple guys in tens top 20 prospects with potentials as D.
My team, the Rays, are legit missing a handful of prospects in our top 30 and guys that are in spring training currently in real life. 3 starting pitchers are under relief pitchers..
This is only after 20 mins of going through the rosters and mostly the Rays
So bad!!!!
Being so lazy you can’t simply fix the strike zone and also you don’t have front/back loading and contract options in franchise is the reason this will be my last purchase from SDS
Really unfortunate if this is true. Has to be the most simple thing to fix in coding. If the ball touches the zone it’s a strike. Mind blowing they can’t figure that out
Does anyone know if the 2026 version is going to be accurate with pitches that touch the black being strikes? Previous games it seems like the entire or 50% of ball had to be inside the zone to be considered a strike.
Truly can’t be too difficult to put that into coding. Probably not gonna have front/back loading and contract options so I know SDS isn’t too fond on realism. Wonder if they fixed this after including ABS
Agreed. Not sure how they have the market completely alone but if EA sports or 2k ever came into MLB space…
Looks like no front/back loading contracts which I’m guessing that means no options as well.. small example to share from Franchise trailer.
Bo Bichette real life contract:
2026= 15mil
2027= 55mil with opt out
2028= 55mil with player option
MLB the show contract:
2026=42mil
2027=42mil
2028=42mil
This is with all players. They just take the average annually and put it as a base number for each season and I’m guessing no player/club options. Literally as unrealistic as you can possibly get
I’m honestly just want confirmation that contract options and front/back loading is going to be in 2026 game. It’s a huge part of contracts in real life and 2025 had simple the most simple contracts imaginable and it really took away from the realism. I would pre order right now if I know those facts @sds_joek_psn @sds_jax_psn @sds_adam_mlbts
Hey everyone. Just following up with this. I bought a PS portal to give it a try and worst comes to worst, I’ll return it. Cool concept but the reviews were correct. Actually playing the gameplay is very very hard with lagging. Tried MLB25 and CFB26. Both pretty bad timing. I could see using it to recruit in CFB and then do some franchise stuff and offseason stuff on The Show but that’s it. Gotta decide if $200 is worth that. Good thing is $200 is not a big number so I might keep it
They also HAVE to bring back contract options and front and back loading. Taking that out of 2025 was mind blowing and 100% opposite of realistic simulation
1020 hours here all on Offline Franchise. I know that’s not how a lot of people play but my dream job is GM of a baseball organization so it’s a cool hobby I do with The Show
Really hope they enhance the details of franchise and go more in-depth (NHL is super in-depth) I am praying they at least come back with backloading and front loading contracts and options. Would also love to see player moral back. Just so much they can do to make it better if they put in the effort
I thought mlb 25 gameplay was best yet, hopefully they just add to it. Maybe work on the AI. If you are patient enough, almost every count went to 3-2 and still glitches in CPU baserunning and pitching changes
@SDS_JoeK_PSN really appreciate your recommendation and opinion. Another guy on here said the same thing and I think that is what I am leaning to now. I am a PlayStation guy and I was trying not to lose that experience but gain a bit of flexibility as well. You telling me this double sold me on the portal so maybe you can tell Sony to give you commission 
only thing that worries me is that I have seen a lot of reviews on the lag in the gameplay but maybe they have fixed that