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I was about to post this in another thread, but thought my reasons were different from OP since I only play offline.

I play this game to relax, not get frustrated that all my games are either 1 run/hit games (mostly this) or 15-0 blowouts.

There are usually some growing pains at the beginning of each year, but those should have been fixed by now. 3 innings of lazy fly balls to center and dribblers to second is insane and boring. There has to be a balance between realism and playing a video game. That used to be accomplished by changing difficulty. Grinding on Rookie takes the same time as grinding on all-star now, except for XP. I admit that I'm not as good as the arthritis in my hands progresses, but I'd like to still enjoy the game I've been playing since MLBTS19. The Arthritis isn't that bad. I thought it was an adjustment to Directional hitting, but seeing multiple posts like this tells me it's not. As all sports games are, the grind is the game. Earn this player by hitting 50 home runs, that's fine, play the CPU vs the White Sox at Costco Field. Might take several times, but the grind is the game. This grind isn't fun. The balance went way too far to realism. To me, it feels like like being on the seesaw with my big brother and he just jumped off, slamming me to the ground.

I even find myself moving the sliders in RTTS and MTO. I've never had to do that before. Beginner with moved sliders so I can hit HRs on a regular basis while getting my player to where I actually want to play is now tedious. I'm back to always pressing up on the left joystick like I did when first starting out. I went through a lot of controllers that way, I'm not going to do that much longer because the controllers, I now use to accommodate my aging hands, are much more expensive.

I love what they did with the content this year. The creep is amazing! They finally use odd numbered cards instead of always going up by 2. I'm still using LS cards over a month into the baseball season. Most importantly, I get to team build every day I play, like I did in MLBTS 2021. Except for TA, which I'm reserving judgement until TA2, the programs are better than they've ever been. A decent amount of decent cards that can be earned. Yes, too many cards that have to be bought, but you can get a good team without buying a bunch. We're already on our 3rd mini season, and finally have had a good number of conquest maps. Diamond quest is a great addition, plus gives good cards. The changes made to RTTS are true improvements. I didn't see any changes to MTO, but we can't expect everything in one year.

I do have to say I don't like the changes to fielding and pitching though. The CPU still has common "gold gloves," while my diamond fielders miss easy ground balls and have errors in every game. That added to poor pitch control with 80+ control pitchers is laughable when you throw a 4 seam well above the zone and it gets hit out of the park because it ended up middle/middle. Add that to boring hitting and the gameplay sucks. This is a game, treat it like a game. RPGs have story mode, FPSs have easy, and other sports games have rookie that plays like it's for rookies. Shouldn't MLBTS?

You want true realism, cool, play on legend and be alright with some of your players having .176 batting averages. Make me play Rookie instead of Veteran, that's fine. But please don't take the fun from the game.

I posted this as my response to another thread and think it's a valid thought others might appreciate.

After years of Madden, I'm happy I get to still use the cards after completing the set. Any game is the same thing with new clothes. Heck, COD hasn't been much different in 25 years. Just new clothes. I love the game of baseball. This game brings it closer to me. Building my team with my favorite players? Awesome. It also adds history. Before the NBL program, which is great, we got players like Honus Wagner. Heard the name, Knew the card value, but didn't know a thing about him. After enjoying his play, I looked him up online. Now I know more about him and really appreciate his role in baseball history. There is so much more than Babe Ruth and I love discovering it. DD makes that possible.

@The_Joneser_PSN said in Hitting is not fun:

@capardo_MLBTS said in Hitting is not fun:

Other titles (FIFA, Madden,NHL) get “rookie mode” right. I’ve played those games. Eventually, you score so many goals, TDs, etc. that you WANT to try a higher difficulty

I hear what you're saying, but someone else pretty much hit that nail on the head; people have abused that in the past and ruined it for everyone else.

The developers do not seem to want players capable of success at higher levels switching down to Rookie and Veteran to pad their stats and move through programs at preternatural speed, gobbling up the rewards too quickly, or selling them at inflated prices to those who don't have the time or inclination to do that. But, people being people, they try to game the system and that either means that the devs throw the desired reward-path pace out the window, or make it so Rookie and Veteran aren't abused as the easy path to rewards.

While I wouldn't say it's backwards thinking, they could, perhaps, severely tamp down the level of XP and PXP you earn from those levels, instead, and turn it into batting practice again. It would definitely slow progress for those who can't find success on AS, but that's probably the only way they can truly be "easy" again.

I understand the "gobbling up the rewards too quickly" argument, but the easy way to proceed is "fine." Once you're done, you're done. They can, and will, wait until next week or play online like they probably want to do anyway. Isn't ranked a form of dynamic difficulty? Make that harder, and while you're at it make the other online modes dynamic as well. That might even help with bad matchmaking. Heck, I might even play ranked if the dynamic started with rookie.

They already tamp down the XP for lower difficulties and PXP is %50 greater in online play. I feel those are fine. What I don't get, is who cares how quickly someone finishes a program? Make a finite amount of rewards capable of being earned. For the most part, they already do.

Good conversation, thank you.

I love this game, but the only way to change things is with our pocketbooks. Or, their pocketbooks.

I don't know about Xbox, but PS5 has a starred rating system. I just changed my rating from three to one. I urge those that are as frustrated in this years game to give your honest assessment as well. Currently 2/3 of ratings are 5 stars. I'll change it back if fixed, so should you. They don't want to listen to us. OK.

Yesterday was the most exciting day in baseball I have ever witnessed in my life. Forget calling them games. They were five possible movie scripts made out of four games. It was a beautiful thing to watch. From "Field of Dreams" to "The Natural," I always get emotional when I see a good baseball story. I wrote some treatments for fun. They're a little melodramatic, but it was fun to write. But really, how can you not be sentimental about baseball? I hope you enjoy.

A scrappy team comes out of nowhere in a "rebuilding year" to just miss the playoffs. The next year on the back of a rookie, that shouldn't be ready yet, they make the playoffs for the first time in twenty years. Then they come from a seven run deficit to clinch a spot in the second round. Surprising the team that was predicted to win it all at the beginning of the season.

One of the greatest pitchers of the age falls from their former glory, horribly falling from the heights of his earlier talent. Under the leadership of an injured hero, a team comes back from a disastrous first game to tie up the series.

Two future hall of famers play their last game after a season of success no one thought they would be able to achieve. Just short of their quest for one last championship, they take in their former glory and thank the people that supported them though the years.

This was supposed to be his year. The reigning MVP was ready to lead his team to the promised land. Struggling to win games the manager was fired, then a bad swing at a bad pitch puts his season in jeopardy. Behind their pitchers, the team comes back to secure the last spot in the playoffs. Our MVP, maybe too soon, comes back in time to defeat a seasoned contending team in the first round.

One game to win. The opponent is a team known to be able to face adversity and win. For the fourth year in a row they weren't supposed to make the playoffs. For the fourth year in a row, they came out of nowhere to play where they never should have been. The home team was up one game to none, but this opponent hasn't missed the second round in the last three seasons. Made from the pitchers duel of legend, fifteen innings of a scoreless game finally broken up by a young rookie from a small town in the Dominican Republic. One swing changes fate.

@MRAD2010_XBL said in quick poll of what I should do:

@ItsShotimee_MLBTS said in quick poll of what I should do:

I’m currently flipping vida blue — he’s going for 21k and selling for 31k.

That’s a great flip if he’s moving. Sometimes the quicker flips are where it’s at. I’ve bought cards to flip and they end up dipping and price and I barely break even. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

I was flipping yankee golds the other day and made 100k in no time. finished my rollins collection finally.

@SuntLacrimae50 said in New Blog Post: MLB THE SHOW 24 UNVEILS ROAD TO THE SHOW: WOMEN PAVE THEIR WAY:

@BJDUBBYAH said in New Blog Post: MLB THE SHOW 24 UNVEILS ROAD TO THE SHOW: WOMEN PAVE THEIR WAY:

@SuntLacrimae50 said in New Blog Post: MLB THE SHOW 24 UNVEILS ROAD TO THE SHOW: WOMEN PAVE THEIR WAY:

@BJDUBBYAH said in New Blog Post: MLB THE SHOW 24 UNVEILS ROAD TO THE SHOW: WOMEN PAVE THEIR WAY:

I can’t imagine what it’s like, to consider the inclusion of Women, Women, who make up half of the world’s population, into literally anything as “woke”. That sounds like an awful life.

It very much is if it's a new feature added at the expense of real substantive improvements when women -- WOMEN -- have accounted for literally 0% of MLB gameday rosters, ever.

Here’s some light reading for you, from the MLB HOF

https://baseballhall.org/women-in-baseball

And? You really should take a class in debate or basic argumentation.

Nothing -- literally nothing -- in that timeline refutes what I wrote, that no woman has ever been on an actual MLB roster in any competitively meaningful way.

I don't really care about this that much. But for you to see people who question SDS's motivation for or implementation of this feature as miserable people or as woman-haters (lol, seriously) says way more about you than about me.

The game is called....?

MLB the Show.

NOT -- "Baseball in Society" or "Baseball and Social Change" or "Baseball for Everyone."

And before you bring up the Negro Leagues not being MLB, that's an entirely different thing. Many of those players would have been superstars in MLB had the racial landscape been just. NO WOMAN would have made an MLB roster, let alone become a star.

Make an NCAA softball game! Make a LLWS game! All good, and I'd probably check them out....

I've already spent way more time going back and forth with a person who lacks basic emotional maturity ("yer a woman hater!") and basic reading/reasoning skills.

By the way, tonight I will go home to my wife and probably go to the park to give BP to my 11 yo and 15 yo daughters, who love softball. Woman-hating me...

Goof.

I think it was about a decade ago there was a television show called Pitch. It was a fictional story about the first female in the MLB. Wasn't bad until it became more about her intimate relationships instead of the hardships of breaking a barrier. One of the things I think the show got right is that it will happen. Chances are it will probably be a specialist. Maybe a contact hitting 2B or breaking ball throwing LRP. Most likely the latter. Maybe not for a long time, but, in my opinion, it will happen.

I have a problem of this supposition, "And before you bring up the Negro Leagues not being MLB, that's an entirely different thing. Many of those players would have been superstars in MLB had the racial landscape been just. NO WOMAN would have made an MLB roster, let alone become a star." You state your opinion here as fact and throw away any possibility of equivalence between female and pre-Robinson black players. With the exception of a wartime female league, women were seldom given the opportunity to even play baseball. Softball was sanctioned just for women. Women were taught to play only softball. That would be tantamount to keeping a sect of the population away from baseball by selective inclusion. Even the AAGPBL started as a hybrid of baseball and softball, and slowly went more towards baseball during it's eleven year tenure.

More recently, girls have been allowed to join little league and some high school and college baseball teams. The sheer number difference of women still playing softball instead of baseball is staggering. How many high schools would you have to go to, to find one girl playing baseball instead of softball? At that level, you should find some. However, those "girls are funneled from baseball into softball." (https://www.espn.com/espnw/culture/story/_/id/24943645/shutout-women-battle-play-baseball)

Yes, men are typically stronger, faster, and taller. The great thing about baseball is that those things don't always matter. If it did, we might have never heard the names Altuve, Kemp, or Betts. The best should be the ones playing. If that's a woman, I will cheer them on.

In the end, this is a video game. I'm not a ballplayer. Haven't picked up my glove since playing catch with my niece over a decade ago. I do get to play this game with my likeness and last name on an Angel's jersey. Kelsi Whitmore is closer to doing that in real life than I am. If I have the ability to do that, shouldn't she?

@RazorForte45_XBL said in SDS has answered prayers:

Did you take a look at that program.
It is gonna take you a month to unlock that card.

And have to play with players/cards I have zero interest in.

So i now move on to J Rollins.

I'm already almost done. It's only 150 pxp per and mostly pitchers and 500 pxp per team. Did a lot while doing the conquest and I'm finishing my June monthly awards at the same time.

@Mike__Honcho_361 said in How the bleep do you steal bases?:

@InigoMontoya_75 said in How the bleep do you steal bases?:

I am thrown out 90% of the time against the CPU, using guys with 90+ speed and steal against pitchers with slow windups and catchers with 60 arms. Surely I'm not doing this right....

You need to have 6 fingers on your right hand.

My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to die.

The colors impress me the most. On World of Warships, I have a dragon on the side of one ship. It looks like it's swimming the colors and contrast are so stark. Some colors look almost neon.

@Ericulous1_PSN said in Why I play and enjoy MLBTS.:

Solid post. I’m a baseball history nerd so I appreciate that about this game. Love playing with old legends.

If you’re a baseball book enthusiast. There are so many solid ones, lately I’ve grabbed a biography of a player I’ve been using on the show or a book about that team and time period. I’m a nerd though haha.

When I was a kid my dad gave me "My Turn Up at Bat," by Ted Williams. He's from MA so he grew up a Sox fan. At 11 I started loving the stories behind the game. He told me stories of Williams and Yaz, and ditching school for a day game. We'd watch Boggs and Mattingly on TV and saw Gwynn play live in SD. This was all started by guys like Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, and Walter Johnson. Such a wonderful History.

@X-FREEZE-OFF-X said in Let's try to discuss this without getting the thread shut down.:

Wow. That lasted long. Third post and we're already off topic. Guess before this gets shutdown; I can at least thank @broken_toy1 for having a discussion.

Guess certain people want to watch the world burn.

everyone should block that joshjay guy. He's a troll with nothing positive or worthwhile to add. I've had him blocked for months and been better off for it. I don't just block anyone either.

I'm going to hold my full opinion until later. From what we've seen so far, it looks to me like, the new additions are only for the addition of women. The addition of women, cool. New scenes and interviews and more immersion into the development of your player, awesome. However, it seems as though you can't have one without the other. I hope I'm wrong.

I do want to add that I usually prefer to play as female characters. Female Eivor and Kassandra in AC or my hot chick pirate in Skull & Bones. So I will use this. I tend to make them look as close to my wife (who passed away) as possible and plan to do that here. Plus my last name will still look awesome on the back of an Angel's Jersey.

I'm pretty sure that's not coming out until the Christmas program. All I'll be able to pull is the 90 Holly Gennaro card.

@GoozeFn said in New Blog Post: MLB THE SHOW 24 UNVEILS ROAD TO THE SHOW: WOMEN PAVE THEIR WAY:

@BJDUBBYAH How many of them make up Major League Baseball? How about minor league baseball.

By that argument, you shouldn't be allowed to make a CAP. It's a false argument. Since you say women don't play in the MLB/MiLB, women can't be in MLB/MiLB games. I've never played pro ball, does that mean I can't make a CAP that looks like me?

Do all players have to have played in the MLB/MiLB to be in this game? Do all CAPs have to look exactly, and be named after, ballplayers that have played in the MLB/MiLB? That argument is also irrelevant because of the Negro league players. Most of the players from last years program never played in the MLB. Therefore they shouldn't be in the game? Not the same thing? I argue that it is. Women have been told since 1910 that they have to play softball instead of baseball. Look at my post above. Please read the article I posted on there.

If you don't want to use it, then don't. I do.

I bought a PS4 to get play this and get away from Madden. After 4 years, I tried M23 and couldn't play it for more than a month when I'd play it for hours every day before. When people refer to me as an SDS sycophant, I just have to say try playing Madden and you'll be thankful for SDS. SDS does have it's issues but they're nowhere near as bad as EA.

Coming from me this might sound weird, EA does one thing right. Start at a lower Ovr, and work up more slowly. First 99 being the WS MVP. No 90s to start Live series. First non collection 90+ in first program. Pretty much all 99s by Dec/Jan. Set restrictions hasn't worked. It's time to try something else. Put all cards in standard packs, people will buy if there is a chance they will get the current top card in the game and a guaranteed Diamond. All current programs can still be used. Just don't go overboard or use multiple currencies.

They went all in when they were three games down and two months to go. I was glad they tried. I can tell you the fans were tired of them always being sellers, never buyers. Add the possibility of resigning Ohtani. Trout in a generational player. Up there with Griffey, Mantle, and Rose. Ohtani could be more. Possibly the only player up in the stratosphere with Babe Ruth. It was a gamble that didn't pay off. I'm sad about it, but what if it worked out? Minasian would be the next Billy Bean. I'm still glad they tried.

Rangers and Diamondbacks

Gotta go for the underdogs. Considering the 3/4 of the DS winners were underdogs, it doesn't seem so odd. I also think the DBs are better than their record with the momentum to win. I still don't think the Astros should be in the AL, but they are a darn fine team. Just can't root for them though.

@X-FREEZE-OFF-X said in The 40/70 Acuña card:

I like pizza

No you don't! It is not the best food there is. I'm just stating a fact to correct you for not putting IMO.