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I made peace with the game by not buying it this year.

I logged in after thinking about why we don’t get it for free on PS+... It should be at some point, they’d surely make it up by selling stubs.

Trying to research this, came across this top 10 list published 2 days ago…

https://www.cbr.com/best-sports-video-games-realism-ranked/

EA is in, SDS not…

This is just a collateral complaint from having unrealistic ball physics and animations all around.

@hoboadam_psn said in Ppl who swing at every single pitch:

@domebay33_psn said in Ppl who swing at every single pitch:

@hoboadam_psn said in Ppl who swing at every single pitch:

@go4stros25_psn said in Ppl who swing at every single pitch:

@hoboadam_psn said in Ppl who swing at every single pitch:

@aam34_psn said in Ppl who swing at every single pitch:

@hoboadam_psn said in Ppl who swing at every single pitch:

Context please. Probably events.

Ranked on HOF and above, this strategy never works.

Got any tips?

Well people that swing at every pitch, won't succeed on HOF and above. I haven't played much H2H this year on HOF outside of our private league, but don't get too predictable.

From previous experience, I think like a pitcher. Notice patterns of opponent swing timing and location. Make sure that you are comfortable throwing any pitch to any location on any count, early in the game.

Just like batters hit R2, you can also. You can see where you threw stuff last time to that batter, and make sure to do the opposite for the second AB
By the time you see that hitter a third time, you should be very successful.

More people are aggressive hitters than anything else. It's about speed and getting to their next game. Exploit human nature and alternate locations, time between pitches etc. Not saying to quick pitch or wait until the timer is up every pitch, but hitting is rhythmic. Break up their rhythm.

Lastly, I generally don't throw the same pitch two times in a row. If I do, I switch location unless they are very very late or early.

What is a private league?

A league where we guys play against each other.

The visibility and viability of leagues seems non existent. On purpose I guess.

I should look into it but discord, signup/tryout processes will probably keep me from doing it.

I wish the game itself had a better platform for leagues.

Our group had CL before CL was available. We didn't play franchise. We literally roll out in friendly games with a spreadsheet of unique DD rosters. We moved last year to CL and it was okay. We're back to friendly format though.

That’s like a lot of work but sounds like it pays off.

I was in a similar hand tracked league a while back but it was hard to follow/stay engaged and fell apart shortly after.

@hoboadam_psn said in Ppl who swing at every single pitch:

@go4stros25_psn said in Ppl who swing at every single pitch:

@hoboadam_psn said in Ppl who swing at every single pitch:

@aam34_psn said in Ppl who swing at every single pitch:

@hoboadam_psn said in Ppl who swing at every single pitch:

Context please. Probably events.

Ranked on HOF and above, this strategy never works.

Got any tips?

Well people that swing at every pitch, won't succeed on HOF and above. I haven't played much H2H this year on HOF outside of our private league, but don't get too predictable.

From previous experience, I think like a pitcher. Notice patterns of opponent swing timing and location. Make sure that you are comfortable throwing any pitch to any location on any count, early in the game.

Just like batters hit R2, you can also. You can see where you threw stuff last time to that batter, and make sure to do the opposite for the second AB
By the time you see that hitter a third time, you should be very successful.

More people are aggressive hitters than anything else. It's about speed and getting to their next game. Exploit human nature and alternate locations, time between pitches etc. Not saying to quick pitch or wait until the timer is up every pitch, but hitting is rhythmic. Break up their rhythm.

Lastly, I generally don't throw the same pitch two times in a row. If I do, I switch location unless they are very very late or early.

What is a private league?

A league where we guys play against each other.

The visibility and viability of leagues seems non existent. On purpose I guess.

I should look into it but discord, signup/tryout processes will probably keep me from doing it.

I wish the game itself had a better platform for leagues.

It’s batting 1.000 oh, and congrats!

U [censored] right, the last 2 years solely on PS3 were the GOAT.

Too true. It’s been like this for a few years already, don’t blame the Switch launch. The game is just not worth the competitive energy, sweat or stress.

You’re right OP, can’t worry about any of those things because there is no learning curve to actually improve fundamentally and it’s all random.

I don’t care about my 1-5 record in RS or 4-2 record in Online Rated. It’s all BS.

PAR is the new PCI. It doesn’t work as intended or flawed by design, pick one.

Explanations and excuses for results seeming random are so convoluted to the point that the community splits in two, meanwhile while SDS disappears in the background only to come out with a half baked improvement in the pre launch streams.

Someone offering up elevation as to why the PAR doesn’t work as stated… Next, the moon’s gravitational pull and time of the month will be used as excuses.

I suggest we now use the term Baby Billy… He's not a baby, he's a slender silver haired man in his late 60's. And he would equally suck at playing the Show online!

@raesone_psn said in How to tell you're gonna lose a game:

@domebay33_psn said in How to tell you're gonna lose a game:

@ibonafidescrub_ said in How to tell you're gonna lose a game:

@domebay33_psn said in How to tell you're gonna lose a game:

Op, you haven’t figured out that is the balance for you spamming pitches in the dirt?

Didn’t SDS say last year they were gonna punish spamming the same pitch too much?

Have you tried pitching to contact? Keeping them off balance with location/speed mixups?

Bold to complain about cheese tactics not working.

Why would I pitch for contact if my opponent can’t lay off anything? I’d rather strike him out on 3 pitches instead of giving him a chance to run into a lucky homerun

I can’t argue with that, but it further proves that the game is not competitive or even realistic at this point. Which I think is the same argument from OP.

Ponder this, people get bailed out with foul tips on balls in the dirt… but what about the passed ball animation that flashes the ball going all the way to the backstop?? Only for the catcher to still have the ball and throw down to 1st for the out or preventing runners from advancing.

That is a total bailout to dirtballers, and obviously programmed into the game. Not necessarily to balance or bail anybody out, but in past years it was a requested fix due to complaints of too many passed balls.

So maybe this foul tip complaint was SDS’s fix the dirtball spam, the same way bloop hits and errors scored as hits address lack of production or hit variety lol.

One thing I think we all could agree on is this game is Frankenstein’s monster stitched together and needs a major overhaul or completely new engine and code.

Honestly I've never understood the people who say throwing low offspeed should be penalized. The penalty is giving up walks. Walk 4 times and you score a run. Trust me, those "dirtballers" won't throw in the dirt very long if they give up walk after walk after walk. And that's when they have to come into the zone to challenge and THAT'S when you punish them and score all those runners. In other words; baseball 101

But yeah you keep chasing? I'm gonna throw in the dirt all game long. As I should. Anyone who tries to even think otherwise needs to change hobbies.

Not penalized, but there should be risk… not only of walks, but also risking passed balls and occasionally a Vlad Guerrero Sr type hit from the ground/out of the strike zone to the bleachers.

https://youtu.be/3_3iRXtfbtY

Now every catcher is pudge with the blocking skills, and once top ranked players are complaining about foul tips on dirtballs. It’s all futile. This game isn’t competitive, and barely worth hobby status.

The ball going to the backstop on that split second animation is literally what the result of those pitches should be pretty often. But SDS bails you out just like the contact free swingers.

@ibonafidescrub_ said in How to tell you're gonna lose a game:

@domebay33_psn said in How to tell you're gonna lose a game:

Op, you haven’t figured out that is the balance for you spamming pitches in the dirt?

Didn’t SDS say last year they were gonna punish spamming the same pitch too much?

Have you tried pitching to contact? Keeping them off balance with location/speed mixups?

Bold to complain about cheese tactics not working.

Why would I pitch for contact if my opponent can’t lay off anything? I’d rather strike him out on 3 pitches instead of giving him a chance to run into a lucky homerun

I can’t argue with that, but it further proves that the game is not competitive or even realistic at this point. Which I think is the same argument from OP.

Ponder this, people get bailed out with foul tips on balls in the dirt… but what about the passed ball animation that flashes the ball going all the way to the backstop?? Only for the catcher to still have the ball and throw down to 1st for the out or preventing runners from advancing.

That is a total bailout to dirtballers, and obviously programmed into the game. Not necessarily to balance or bail anybody out, but in past years it was a requested fix due to complaints of too many passed balls.

So maybe this foul tip complaint was SDS’s fix the dirtball spam, the same way bloop hits and errors scored as hits address lack of production or hit variety lol.

One thing I think we all could agree on is this game is Frankenstein’s monster stitched together and needs a major overhaul or completely new engine and code.

Op, you haven’t figured out that is the balance for you spamming pitches in the dirt?

Didn’t SDS say last year they were gonna punish spamming the same pitch too much?

Have you tried pitching to contact? Keeping them off balance with location/speed mixups?

Bold to complain about cheese tactics not working.

This should be a little scary for SDS… just because the hitting AND pitching on SMB feels good. The engine probably is workable for a AAA baseball title.

Along with that, they make the EGO rating system (sliders/difficulty/balance) work to where it doesn’t feel too scripted or random. That is that games way to adjust difficulty and balance the competition online, but it doesn’t feel cheap or like you get cheated by RNG. The gameplay still feels realistic even though there is obvious slider tuning represented by the ego rating.

For the first time ever I’m playing more offline than online. Well I haven’t played much in general the last few years, which embracing offline will likely lead to more playtime this year overall.

When online was really good, I would play zero offline. When the game “changed” I would try to play offline to build my team but it was still boring to me. Now I am using the game as a game instead of my main hobby and competitive outlet.

Offline is much more relaxing, like playing Gran Turismo is for me. And I guess I do have skills to improve, and cards to acquire by playing offline. So looking to gain ground in both of those areas before fully diving into online play if at all really.

Ultimately I think that is the disconnect with the game nowadays, Online is not balanced enough to truly be competitive. In other words, it seems there is actually no skill curve and just a random game of Trouble with dice in the bubble.

Oh well, the paradigm has shifted, the glory days are over but it’s not the worst baseball game ever made.

LOL somebody in a different thread said it’s a glitch.

@domebay33_psn said in Everything Online Rated 2022:

I didn’t preorder, and seeing everybody scramble on the “content” chase in DD is eye opening…

At this rate I’ll wait for the first good sale and join you in Online Rated w/ regular teams. More clear than ever that they took away Online Leagues for the same reason Online Rated gets minimal love.

I broke down and bought the regular edition on my day off… enjoying it for what is to me now. A baseball game to mix in with my shooting games, fighting games and driving game.

@hustlinowl_psn said in I see that they still don't know how to code part of Showdown:

lol why surprised us online rated and co-op play in grey and white uniforms. No supercharged players for team variety

Supercharged players would be nice! Alternate Jerseys should be a gimme.

Hey, is DH rule in on Online Rated?

Edit: While we’re at it, can you play Co-Op with a party of 2 or just random/matchmaking?

I didn’t preorder, and seeing everybody scramble on the “content” chase in DD is eye opening…

At this rate I’ll wait for the first good sale and join you in Online Rated w/ regular teams. More clear than ever that they took away Online Leagues for the same reason Online Rated gets minimal love.