Community Forum

UPDATE / CLARIFICATION:

Since some people are grabbing only the CPU part and missing the bigger point, I want to explain why I used the CPU so much for stress-testing.

The reason I used the CPU so much to stress-test the game’s engine is because against the CPU, I have full control over more variables.

I can control the difficulty, sliders, modes, players, player attributes, rosters, umpire settings, PCI settings, pitch speeds, fielding, stamina, confidence, animations, and everything else around the test. That is how you stress-test a system. You control as many variables as possible, push certain systems hard, and then watch what keeps happening.

And yes, I can beat the CPU on GOAT difficulty with pitch speeds all the way up. This is not about me not being able to beat the CPU.

I also messed with my own sliders. I changed CPU sliders. I changed human sliders. I changed player attributes. I mixed up rosters. I tested different modes and different difficulties. I tested games where I let the CPU jump ahead on purpose to see how the engine reacted. I tested games where I got ahead on purpose to see how the engine reacted. I even quit out or simmed parts of games to see if the game had predetermined win tendencies and outcome pulls, and yes, at times, it did.

That is my point.

This is not just one CPU game. I tested this in DD, Mini Seasons, Franchise, Online Rated, and Ranked Seasons. Some of those are against the CPU. Some are against real players. The same kind of engine behavior shows up across the game.

In Ranked Seasons and Online Rated, the game still feels like it changes gears around the 5th or 6th inning. All of a sudden, both sides start getting runs, foul balls, weak hits, bad animations, pitcher confidence swings, and nonsense outcomes no matter what you throw or do. It stops feeling like clean baseball and starts feeling like the engine is trying to create a game moment.

The biggest problem is that there is so much going on under the engine and under the coding that I don’t think SDS themselves know what is even going on anymore, how to explain it, or how to actually fix the problems.

That is why we keep getting band-aid fixes.

The foul-ball problem has been around forever. Instead of fixing the foul-ball logic, they put PCI shrinkage in the game because they didn’t know how to fix the foul-ball problem. Then to counter PCI shrinkage, they started throwing switch hitters all over the game because same-side matchups became worse. Then to counter the switch hitter problem, they started giving pitchers reverse splits. Then they added more modifiers, quirks, captain boosts, and attribute nerfs. That is why you have 98 overall cards looking and playing more like 93s.

It feels like every fix creates another problem because the engine itself is the problem.

The defense makes it worse too. Player defensive attributes and fielding animations do not always line up. A 90+ defender should not suddenly move like the game picked the wrong animation at the worst possible time. Catchers should not randomly forget how to throw runners out. Outfielders should not take broken routes or jump straight up on routine plays just because the game needs a rally.

That is why I keep saying it feels like I am fighting the engine more than I am playing baseball.

The game has foul-ball survival, confidence swings, stamina drain, weak-contact hits, fielding animation problems, PCI weirdness, late-game outcome pressure, and predetermined tendencies stacked on top of each other. And when all of those systems start firing together, it does not feel organic. It feels artificial.

Hard baseball is fine. Losing is fine. The CPU beating me is fine. A real player beating me is fine.

The problem is when the game stops feeling like baseball and starts feeling like the engine is steering the outcome.

SDS needs to rebuild this game engine from the ground up. Not add another band-aid. Not add another modifier. Not add another hidden tuning layer. Rebuild it so ratings, timing, PCI, stamina, confidence, defense, and animations all make sense again.

Because once you see the system under the engine, there is no going back.

@PriorFir4383355_XBL Yeah, you’re right. The articulation is messy, and that’s on me.

It looked cleaner while I was writing it, but once I posted it here, it came out way messier than I wanted. So yeah, my bad on that part.

But the point of the post wasn’t to make something pretty. The point was to call out SDS and the problems I’m seeing under the engine: foul logic, confidence, stamina, sliders not fully controlling outcomes, and the same patterns showing up across DD, Mini Seasons, Ranked, Online Rated, and Franchise.

Challenge isn’t the problem. I don’t want the CPU easy. I want the game to feel honest.

When the engine starts using foul balls, confidence, stamina, weak contact, fielding animations, and late-game pressure to create artificial difficulty, it stops feeling like baseball and starts feeling like I’m fighting the engine.

So I’ll own the messy wording, but I’m not backing off the point.

@SaveFarris_PSN I'm waiting for the FBI SDS agents to show up as we speak

I’m going to call it what it is: this game has comeback logic, outcome steering, and hidden engine pressure, and it shows up in DD, Mini Seasons, and Franchise.
I am not saying this because I lost one game. I am not saying this because I want the CPU to be easy. I play on high difficulties. I have played Ranked Seasons, DD, Online Rated, Mini Seasons, Franchise, and offline CPU games for years. I know the difference between getting beat and the game deciding it is time for nonsense.
And right now, too many games feel like I am not playing baseball. I am fighting the engine.
I stress-tested this across multiple modes, multiple difficulties, and multiple slider setups. I tested Simulation. I tested GOAT. I tested Legend. I tested DD modes. I tested Franchise. I changed CPU contact, timing, foul frequency, solid hits, power, pitching control, pitching consistency, stamina, fielding, human hitting, human pitching, everything.
I even turned CPU contact, timing, and foul frequency all the way down to zero just to see what would happen.
And the CPU still fouled off pitches it had no business touching.
Pitches way off the plate still got fouled off. Low junk still got protected. Bad timing still turned into contact. Weak contact still found grass. Balls with 58 to 80 mph exit velocity still floated into gaps or barely over infielders’ heads. That is not real baseball. That is the engine protecting the at-bat.
The biggest problem is the foul-ball system. The CPU does not always feel like it is trying to beat you with baseball. It feels like the game turns on foul survival to drain your pitcher.
The loop is obvious once you see it:
CPU fouls off everything
pitch count goes up
energy drops
confidence drops
perfect input starts mattering less
pitcher misses worse
pitcher hangs something
CPU gets the hit, double, or homer
That is not smart baseball. That is the game using foul balls as a weapon against pitcher confidence and stamina.
And confidence is one of the biggest hidden problems in this game. Pitcher confidence has too much power. Once it swings one way, it starts overriding ratings, input, and common sense. CPU pitchers turn into Greg Maddux no matter who is on the mound. They throw dots, dots, and balls barely off the plate. Meanwhile my pitcher can have good energy, good confidence, and perfect input, and suddenly the ball still misses, hangs, or gets fouled off until the CPU gets what it wants.
There needs to be a Pitcher Confidence Effect slider. Period.
Because right now confidence feels like a hidden momentum system.
I have also seen what looks like predetermined outcome tendency. I am not saying every pitch is scripted. I am saying some games clearly have a strong outcome pull. I have played games into the 5th, 6th, or 7th inning while testing this. Different pitchers. Different locations. Different strategies. Different sliders. Same pattern.
The other team is going to get its moment no matter what.
You can pitch smart. You can mix speeds. You can throw chase pitches. You can hit perfect input. It does not matter. The game says no, no, no, foul, foul, weak hit, gapper, error, tie game.
Then the same thing can flip the other way. I have had games where the CPU gets nonsense early, then later the game gives me nonsense. The CPU suddenly makes errors. Outfielders take stupid routes. A center fielder jumps straight up on a routine play. Infielders miss balls they should field. I get hits I know I should not be getting. Then I hit a walk-off homer.
And no, that does not make it better.
A walk-off should feel earned. It should feel like I won. Instead it feels like the engine decided it was time for a movie ending.
That is the problem. Even when I win, I can see the strings.
This is not just DD either. People love to say “that is just Diamond Dynasty.” No. I have seen the same engine behavior in Franchise. I have seen it in Mini Seasons. I have seen it with sliders changed hard against the CPU. I have seen it with CPU hitting sliders almost buried. I have seen it when the CPU is using almost the same cards I am using.
That tells me this is deeper than one mode.
The game has hidden systems under the hood that the sliders do not fully control.
These are the systems that need to be exposed or toned down:
Pitcher Confidence Effect
Two-Strike Foul Protection
Foul Ball Pitcher Drain
Comeback / Momentum Logic
Late-Inning Outcome Pressure
Fielding Animation Override
CPU Contact Floor
Mode-Specific DD Tuning Bleeding Into Offline
Simulation should not feel like Ranked Seasons World Series pressure. Franchise should not feel like offline DD sweat mode. Mini Seasons should not feel like I am playing against the engine instead of the CPU.
Hard baseball is fine.
A good CPU is fine.
Losing is fine.
But I should not have to fight like I am playing a World Series Ranked player when I am offline against the CPU. Every hitter should not turn into prime Pete Rose with two strikes. Every CPU

The confidence and energy system is one of the biggest giveaways.
My pitchers lose confidence and energy faster than the CPU does. The CPU can foul off pitch after pitch, and every foul still helps drain my pitcher. Then a strike, a foul, or a strikeout seems to give the CPU pitcher confidence bumps, but my pitcher does not get the same kind of reward back.
It feels uneven.
The CPU pitcher can throw a strike, get a foul, get a strikeout, and the confidence bar starts getting stronger fast. Then that pitcher starts dotting corners, getting weak contact, and living just off the plate.
But when I do the same thing, it does not feel like my pitcher gets the same protection. My pitcher can have more energy, more confidence, better input, and still suddenly lose command, hang pitches, or get hit around like none of it matters.
And the relievers make it even worse.
The CPU can leave a starter or reliever in with almost no energy and half confidence, and I still can’t buy a hit. The pitcher still paints corners. Still gets foul balls. Still gets weak contact. Still survives.
But if I leave my pitcher in with the same low energy and half confidence, the CPU starts getting hits, doubles, and home runs like the engine already decided that pitcher is done.
Even when my pitcher has more energy and more confidence than the CPU pitcher, the outcome can still feel the same. The CPU still gets its foul balls. The CPU still gets its hit. The CPU still gets the rally.
That tells me the confidence and energy meters are not being applied evenly between the player and CPU.
If confidence and stamina are going to control command, PCI results, weak contact, strikeouts, foul balls, and pitcher survival, then we need sliders for them.
Pitcher Confidence Effect
Human Pitcher Confidence Gain
CPU Pitcher Confidence Gain
Human Pitcher Confidence Drain
CPU Pitcher Confidence Drain
Foul Ball Energy Drain
Foul Ball Confidence Drain
Fatigue Penalty Strength
CPU Fatigue Penalty
Human Fatigue Penalty
Because right now it feels like the CPU gets confidence armor, and the player gets confidence punishment.
The visible bars are lying by omission.
Energy and confidence do not feel equal for both sides. A tired CPU pitcher can still pitch like Greg Maddux. A tired user pitcher gets treated like batting practice. A CPU pitcher with low confidence can still survive. A user pitcher with higher confidence can still get hit around because the engine wants the other team to have its moment.
That is not baseball. That is hidden engine pressure.
That is the part that makes your argument sharper, KC. You’re not just saying “CPU fouls too much.” You’re saying:
The CPU uses fouls to drain my pitcher.
The CPU gains confidence faster.
My pitcher loses confidence faster.
CPU fatigue does not punish them the same way.
Human fatigue gets punished hard.
The outcome still happens even when my pitcher has the better meter.
That’s the real callout. Not “make CPU easier.”
Make the [censored] systems apply evenly.

Dam, SDS suck boys are out strong today

Dam, i feel sorry for you all having YFK rent free in all your heads and acting like you all work for SDS. It just a dam game and a youtuber get over it. I'm so glad this game and some youtuber don't run my life or get in my head. Like i said more than once on here if this game disappeared tomorrow so what it's not going to change my life out all.

Well let it put it this way they have been doing this since 20 or 21. And It took this long for this community, youtubers and SDS to figure it all out. And a lot of other players have been complaining about it for years now. So how long do you think it going to take them to fix IDK 2040? I'm definitely not going to hold my breath waiting for them to fix it.

So, players have been complaining for years there has been cheating and bots in the game. And SDS and youtubers where saying nooo there isn't and nobody can't cheat in mlb the show because it is to hard. Well now here we are because SDS and youtubers kept sweeping it under the rug. Me right now

@Teak2112_MLBTS “Yeah I agree with you on that. That’s kind of my point too, it’s not just this game, it’s the industry as a whole now. It’s like unfinished releases have become normal and we just accept patches later. That doesn’t mean it should be though.
I remember when Cyberpunk 2077 dropped, it was a total mess. Even No Man’s Sky was rough at launch.
I guess what I’m trying to say is companies should just come out and be honest from the start, like ‘hey, we messed up and overpromised, we’re going to fix it over time.’ Instead of silence or the usual ‘we’re looking into it.’
But yeah… it really has become the new norm.”

@SavageSteve74_PSN “I actually agree with you on that. Once everything went digital it definitely turned into ‘here’s a broken game’… and the answer is ‘yeah but we’ll fix it later… maybe’
I honestly can’t remember the last time a game dropped and didn’t have issues at launch either.”“That’s kind of the problem though… it’s become normal.”

@Onix_Savage22_PSN I know right

@Teak2112_MLBTS Fair enough on the analogy, but the point still stands. Delivering something unfinished and fixing it later isn’t a great experience for customers, no matter what industry it is.

@Teak2112_MLBTS I'm, glad you are liking the game and having fun.
Im sorry, but I have to full disagree with you on this. If you own your own business which I do. Do you go to there houses and after your done working on it leave it a mess half painted and tell them oh, we will be back and update it over time and you can make monthly payments on it too. No, it bad business and bad faith and your company will not survive. Does chevy, Ford, Toyota ship there vehicles out with a half broken engine and tell there customers it ok, we do updates over it and you can keep paying us monthly too. Does companies sell you toilet paper that make your a$$ itch??? No because everyone would complain and it bad faith and there company will not survive. And all of these companies fix their Products so it wouldn't happen again. But with SDS it the same bugs same problems every year in every game they said the have fix but they haven't. And no this isn't the best release ever. It one of the worst ever they had. And again this just proves my point all sports game should release every 2 years. Just look at madden,2k, NHL, mlb the show, what do they all have in common???? Nothing changes, some bugs, some problems In every years game. And Hiring more staffing wouldn't helped the problems. Hiring better coders and people who understands the customers and the game would.

@PAinPA_PSN I'm glad it work for you but it didn't work for me and it sounds like It didn't work for others either. My whole bullpen is out of stamina because of this issue. And they all had full stamina too. I only have two starting pitchers with full stamina and a dead bullpen to play the next game with. I was playing the new threads mini seasons.

How is this game still this broken even after updates, or somehow worse?

Mini Seasons pitching stamina is still a mess. Before the update, starting pitchers in a 9-inning game could barely make it 3 innings and relievers about 2–3. Now it feels even worse. Starters are struggling to get through 2 innings and relievers sometimes barely last 1–2.

Menus are still lagging and slow to load at times.

Hitting feels off again too. I’m getting more non-PCI home runs and hits than perfect-perfect contact, which makes no sense and isn’t rewarding at all.

Servers are still shaky, the 20-card max issue , and balls and strikes are inconsistent. Pitches clearly in the zone get called balls, and SDS still promotes this as a “perfect strike zone” when it doesn’t play like one.

Freeze-offs are still in the game and should’ve been fixed years ago. PCI shrinking still feels like a problem even after being “fixed.”

There are so many issues I could keep going, but the point is this game needed more time. It feels like it should’ve been delayed and properly tested before release.

This is exactly why sports games shouldn’t come out every single year. Give it more time and actually fix things instead of pushing it out broken. Honestly, it shows sports games as a whole should be released every two years.

@DoIHearBossMusic_PSN it would probably be the PS 4,000 before they fix there servers and gameplay issues LMFAO

@DeleteyourTTVBTW_MLBTS I play offline on hall of fame and legend buddy nice try though. And looking up people's records to just win a augment too good luck with that. Because my feelings is not tie to this game. And if this game disappears tomorrow so be it. I just call out things like they are. And i have been playing this game for years. I love baseball just as much as the next person does but I'm not going to let it or this game run my life. But hey, there are people on here defending this game like there life depends on it and like they are getting pay by SDS themselves but what do I know.

@Jacob151167_XBL people really don't want to meant how bad the menu lag is or the servers are slow and leggy. How hitting is still a dice roll. Pitching is still a hit and miss. Where a ball can be throwing right on the middle of the line in a strike zone and be call a ball where the cpu is called a strike. The cpu hitting is a mess still and they sell out now on fast balls and cutters. And they still go from hitting like new kids on the block to hitting like a top player. Cpu pitching is still a mess too and the cpu is throwing so many balls I can literally sit my controller down and load the bases up just by getting walk. The menu ui is cool and all but it confusing as hell to new players and some veteran players to and hate it. Now mini seasons is having problems to. So ya, this should of been place on steam early access for the first four or five days and released on a later date but it has almost the same problems as last year's game. But nobody wants to talk about that because they are still in mlb the show and MLB fomo mode LOL

@NWOStunna_PSN They should but they would give us 5 show pack saying we are sorry for the inconvenience but here is 4
common players and one bronze player for you guys LOL that is SDS for you.

Sds should just put their game on steam early access for the first four days before releasing it and after the four days say hey we have left early access now the game is in full release