It’s more of a head game online. The CPU is quite basic. A few tips that really help me online would are
Figure out tendencies. Even the better players struggle with one type of pitch or one location. It can even be LHP or RHP. If you find something they struggle with don’t feel bad, keep going back till they prove you wrong. Not that I’m amazing, but I can put up an insane amount of runs until Miller, Hader, Chapman come in and the person I’m playing probably wonders if I just had a stroke.
Same idea with something they do well…which 95% of the time is hitting the fastball, just try to not throw it. I know it’s crazy, but there are people that bat like .800 vs the fastball and .006 vs any other pitch.
Stop pitching to the corners everytime. The analog stick basically locks into place in the 4 corners of the zone. If you move the ball two inches down, or left or right, they now have to have the analog input in the exact position needed instead of just jamming it directly to the corner. It is infinitely harder to be in the perfect spot without the analog basically being a bumper pad you can’t go past.
Play how you enjoy. If you like small ball, play small ball, if you like moonshots have a team with power. You’ll enjoy the game more and get better when you actually enjoy how you play. I truly miss Edwin and Bautista being in the game because I enjoyed playing with them and as a result played better with them than almost anyone else every year.
If you don’t use zone hitting, try to practice and start. And honestly this is probably the biggest thing to improve unfortunately. What worked REALLY WELL for me was playing about half the game on directional, then when I had figured out tendencies from step one, I knew where he was going for the strike out pitch and by the 5th or 5th inning you can just sit and wait. It’s actually crazy how often if you look at the last at bats pitches with R2, the opponent your playing will throw those same 4 or 5 pitches in the same four spots like clockwork. The hard part is certainly waiting on the pitch and not moving the PCI, but seriously, the satisfaction you get from figuring it all out and sending it deep is amazing.
Is very niche but it’s the only trick I have against good hitters and the success rate is high but limited. When you play a great hitter, who can see the zone better than you ever wish, save this exact pitch, for the most important part of the game. FB, low, and away, on the corner. I throw this MAYBE 3-4 times a game, and a player that’s looked off 15/15 changes up just below the zone, and 20/20 sliders just off the edge away, get caught looking the first time you throw it almost every single time. You get this ONCE a game, it’s a two on two out in a tied game type of pitch. But it works, it doesn’t work against average/lower players, only the ones with the insane eye.
This manifesto is all pitching because all you can do in this game is try to out score them, by trying to contain them.
J
