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Just popping in to be the devil's advocate here. I don't know about how long he's been making these kinds of posts and won't fault him for it... but here's one thing I would suggest for the makers of the game. Instead of expecting players to come to San Diego, why doesn't SDS go meet with the players where they're at, and get updated face scans there? I'm sure people will list some logistical things, but I think the number 1 reason is SDS isn't interested in giving players quality of life things / updates that show they care about the general user experience. Now, on the other hand... if they could use the new face scan to try and sell us another 99 card, I could see them being interested. There's gotta be some monetary gain or they won't bother.

@yankblan_PSN

That I can concur with. Kinda also my point in regards to the dad. Scrambling / competing for a ball is a young person thing. I also don't think anyone would describe it as civil. I think there's a fair amount of people who would have been irritated if they were the woman who it did happen to. Though, the vast majority of adults wouldn't have pursued the situation and demand the ball back upon seeing it went to a kid.

I'll throw in a few variables

1. I have been going to baseball games since I was kid. I have never once caught a baseball. Closest I got was a screamer coming at my face in right field during batting practice as a kid, which was thankfully caught by the guy in front of me. If I go to a game after all my years of going to games and catch a ball, there's a chance I might want to keep it as it has never happened before. I'm sure I'm not alone in this.
2. That's not a rule. It has become the "good-look" thing to do, as there have been a lot of viral videos of it happening. It's more of a peer pressure thing than anything else. That's not to say I don't get the thought behind this new unwritten tradition, I would have been happy if anyone gave me a ball as a kid... but I can't agree with the idea that anyone who catches a ball should immediately forfeit it to a random kid. If giving a ball to a kid is what's in your heart, that's amazing... but pressuring people to do so is not the way to go about it, imo.
3. What if this lady had a young child or grandchild that wasn't in attendance? People are assuming she just wanted it for herself (which is entirely possible) but what if she wanted to give the ball to a child in her life?

Once again, she seems to be a very unpleasant person and not someone I would get along with in real life... but I understand her initial frustration with the dad. How she dealt with said frustration is where she went wrong... I just think people are oversimplifying the whole interaction.

It reminds me of the YouTube series "Cart Narcs" where the Cart Narc guy gets in people's business about not returning their shopping cart / leaving it in the middle of a space. Sure, he's focusing a lot of his energy into something many people don't view as a pressing and important need... however I'm glad someone is willing to shame people for not being a responsible member of society. It's not against the law to leave your cart out and people do it all the time... but it does say a lot about said people. Society operates a lot more smoothly when people act as they should.

She showed a lot of who she was that day, baseball or not. I get her initial anger, but I can't think of too many people who would continue to pursue that conflict once they see a kid was involved. People generally agree you don't mess with kids or pets. If it was "Bark at the Park" and a dog scrambled to the ball first and she went after the dog, she'd probably receive the same level of hate. Frankly even if he was a single guy only there with his friends and she did that, it would still generate a lot of heat. 'Karen' is too hot of an insult right now, and her doing that on a big stage, with that haircut... people were going to go hard.

I hate being sucked into fad news stories like this and the almost forgotten Coldplay story. There are so many other things to talk about and people want to express their mundane opinions about how this lady was wrong and they feel bad for the kid but are glad he got to meet Harrison Bader + get a bat. Groundbreaking stuff... I think it's more interesting to talk about what happened to adults + dads. He ran to the ball like a 14 year old, snatched it while a lady who was right there was about to grab it and then folded like a lawn chair when she got in his face. I get setting an example of maturity for your kids, but you also have to show strength in moments like that. I just see a story about two people I really don't think I'd like or have a ton of respect for. I can't imagine any of the men in my life growing up lowering themselves to a mad dash for a baseball. Seeing class and decorum make a comeback would be amazing. Simple things like that go a long way to avoid problems with people. That said, I don't think this behavior for her is unusual at all. She seems like she'd be just awful to have around and definitely deserves the shaming. I just hate falling for this kind of "news."

@PAinPA_PSN

It says a lot of her that she kept the ball too once she had a little time to calm down and think about what she had actually done.

And yes, I know how fly balls and foul balls in the stands go. Just because something is the way it is, doesn't mean it should be that way. It's a bad look, imo. Comes off as immature and something I expect of kids and young people. The fact that no one is considering what made her so angry is also a problem. Yes... she went further than I've ever seen anyone go in that situation... it wasn't exactly McGwire's 70th... but people need to recognize how their behavior affects others too. Even if it wasn't meant in malice.

@sbchamps17_NSW said in Devil's Advocate: "Phillies Karen":

that family didn't leave empty handed

That was my first thought. Anytime something happens to / upsets a kid when cameras are on them, they always get something 10x better.

Once again, I'm not on her side and the definitely not defending the way she handled it, however I do understand how someone can be annoyed by that. If a ball landed right in front of me, maybe even touched my hand and someone ran over to grab it as I'm reaching for it (and they weren't a kid / young person) I can't imagine I'd have a positive reaction or no reaction at all. Maybe if the dad stood his ground, I'd be more firmly on his side... but he just came off as weak and emasculated. The interview cemented it for me.

@yankblan_PSN said in Devil's Advocate: "Phillies Karen":

Yeah you lost me at « you could tell he lost respect for his dad »

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/phillies-karen-caught-2-more-191136147.html

Watch the video starting around the 2:15 mark. I think the kid was more disappointed by his dad than losing the ball.

I normally don't like mundane subjects like this. There's too many dumb stories that get the world's attention and I feel like a sucker for paying any attention to it. That said, I'm curious to see what people here think about it. I have a little bit of a devil's advocate viewpoint on it, personally.

Off the top, I wouldn't have done what she did and think she comes off looking worse here than anybody. That said, I just got done watching the dad give some kind of interview and was cringing really hard about the whole thing and now I think my stance is that I don't like either party. I can understand the lady's irritation about a grown man running over from another section and snatching a ball she thought she was about to get. I recently went to a Double A game and during the t-shirt toss, I had one coming to me and the guy behind me reached over my head to grab it. I found that irritating and it did make me a little angry in the moment. Did I confront him about it? No, but I can imagine that's how that lady felt. As someone who has gone to all sorts of baseball games in my life, I've never caught a home run ball, a foul ball, a batting practice ball, a player tossing a ball into the stands. I think people go into their caveman brain a little and getting that ball is a huge deal in the moment. Where she messed up, of course, was walking up to the dad and son after she can see that's who the ball went to. She's the worst person in this story. However...

The interview with the dad rubbed me the wrong way, and the more I thought about it, I don't really like him either. Going to a ballgame with your son is great as it is. I'm sure the kid had a hotdog, a soda, maybe got a hat or jersey... who knows? A souvenir ball would be the cherry on top, sure, but I cringe when I see a grown adult run to a ball that is a different section than the one his family is in. There's something more likable, to me, about a man mature enough to let that ball go, since it's closer to the people it landed by and you have to run to get to it. This guy does the opposite, sprints to the ball and then buckles to a random lady yelling at him. In that moment and during the interview, he came off really weak. You could tell his son lost respect for him. In that unusual situation, giving her the ball was probably the most mature thing to do, because do you really want to be the person who is more possessive over a random baseball? But the whole situation could've been avoided if he didn't sprint to the ball like a middle schooler. What I saw is a story about 2 people lacking in class and decorum.

One discovery I think I've made this year is this: The people who defend The Show and seem to like it more overall do not play the game as much as people who feel the opposite. Sure, they might get the game every year, as they tend to be casual video game players and The Show is all they play... but that doesn't mean they play the game a lot. My one friend I play with most has a job, wife and daughter which keeps him busy and he only gets a game in every so often. Of course, when screwy things happen, I call it out (both ways). He is very quick to tell me how he buys the game every year and that I'm wrong and all sorts of that nonsense, without actually backing it up. He likes to think everything good that happens to him in the game is because of how skilled he is and is completely unaware / in denial of RNG, game scripting and comeback logic. Although, after two 9 inning games, where he accumulated 2-3 hits total (and spent most of the games hitting the ball directly to my fielders) he might be agreeing with me a little bit more now, though he'd never admit it.

And then I think to myself. If I take an extended absence from The Show and come back, the first 3 games back always seem to play a lot better. It's because I've greatly decreased my sample size and when I do that, what I'm playing has the appearance of a much better baseball game. I'm no longer seeing the patterns/flaws that come into play the more ranked seasons games I participate in. It's kind of a sad revelation, but it's easier to enjoy The Show a lot more, the less you play it.

Here's another addition while we wait on others to chime in:

21. It takes forever to exchange cards / list them on community marketplace. With the marketplace, the only thing I can think of is they don't want people spamming 600 cards on sale to drive down the market value... but it extends over to exchanging cards as well. I do enjoy pack opening, but even my friend (who tends to defend The Show with his life) acknowledged how time consuming that is as well.

@PriorFir4383355_XBL

You're right. Same lip service as Madden every year. If the exclusivity and lack of competition remains, I won't return (until I start forgetting why I left in the first place and begin jonesing for a baseball game again) They're banking on that, the young generation and on people to apologize for / deny the game is even bad.

I thought of a few more points to add to "What I Don't Like About The Show"

16. Completing live series rosters is a grind. For the top 2 guys, you're still paying like 700,000+ for them. And the rewards are low diamonds. I assume most people complete the collections late in the year, so it feels underwhelming to get rewarded with cards you'll never use for a pretty big accomplishment. Which brings me to my next point...
17. No reason to use many of your cards. There's so many 87's, 90's, 92's I'm getting when there were 98's available mid season. When am I going to use them? Outside of challenges or choosing to do something outside Ranked Seasons, never. I can't afford to play a team of 99's with my low 90's team. I'm probably in the minority here, but I'd love to see (if only on some occasions a'la Weekend Classic) a cap set on your team. Like keep your team overall at a 90 or whatever... force you to use a "budget" like real baseball and see how good of a team builder you are. I just have so many diamonds I'll never use.
18. No sell duplicates. What am I supposed to do with three 85 Dontrelle Willis'?
19. Another thing which I might be in the minority in, as I understand its purpose to speed up the game... but having relievers warm from the jump sucks a little strategy out of the game imo. And I know MLB did this too, but I kinda miss having pitchers bat in ranked seasons. You had to use your bench or perhaps pull a pitcher early. Again, more strategy albeit having DH's is objectively more fun.
20. Pitch meter inconsistencies. I don't want to use pinpoint which is likely what SDS would reply. But I shouldn't have a well to good released pitch land somewhere completely random to where I placed it. I hit the yellow line perfectly, yet there are times where it lands a foot off the mark? If I aim a curveball as low as I can and am slightly early with a release, why does it usually hang the pitch? It lands almost somewhere completely different almost inviting my opponent to hit a homer.

Great news! I'm back from vacation and have some more time to contribute to the message boards than I have these past few weeks. As one of the most brutally honest voices on The Show forums, I know my presence has been missed and I'm honestly happy to be back. As someone who has played this game a lot, I have a lot to say... but I will try to keep it as brief as possible. That said, I still expect this to be longer than your average post. Here's 3 things I'm looking to tackle in my return post: Rundown of my first Ranked Seasons game(s) back, Listing the problems with The Show AND as a change of pace, I'm going to focus more on what I like about The Show.

Detailing a Few of My First Game(s) Back
As many of you know, I'm fair and honest in my critiques of the game. I've been known to call the game out, even when I win. Well... my first game back was a walk-off grand slam win in the 10th. My opponent, admittedly, didn't play a great game. He had a solid first inning and showed flashes of being a good player... but he ultimately lacked discipline at the plate and perhaps didn't prioritize defense. It was a decently fun game, overall. I had rust to shake off and didn't feel the matchmaking threw me to the wolves. That said, I still felt the game was setting me up for the late game heroics. I was the home team and found myself down 0-2 for the majority of the game, despite outhitting him 10 to 3. Without getting too deep into it, let's just say I was hitting the ball hard several times throughout the game, resulting in a hard ground ball out, warning track fly outs, deep flies that went just foul... but in innings 8, 9 and 10, suddenly I'm hitting the ball fair and over the wall. It's not the most blatant example of "game scripting" I've come across, but I did find it convenient.

Fast forward to a game I'm playing right now (it's in a freeze-off... good job SDS) I was blanking my opponent ALL GAME. Then magically in the 8th inning, with only 55 pitches under my belt, I give up consecutive gap hits with my fielders fumbling for the ball like little leaguers / making singles doubles and triples. That cuts my lead to 3-1. Then a game tying home run. Then another gapper where my fielders fumble for the ball again (something I've been seeing a lot of since I've come back. In my favor and in my opponent's favor) Then a diamond fielding 2nd baseman Chase Utley error on a ground ball gives my opponent the lead... now I'm down 5-3. I was up 3-0, racking up K's like nobody's business... then that magical 8th inning switch was flipped and I lose my lead. Now, I know this is a game mechanic. It often doesn't matter what your pitch count is. When you keep a pitcher in for the 7th and 8th innings, expect your opponent to have buffed bats. Down 5-3 with 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th, the game freezes and that's where we currently stand.

What I Like About The Show

1. Supercharged Players. It keeps Live Series cards relevant.
2. More card diversity: I remember everyone's team looking virtually the same in past Shows, with easily obtainable diamonds that were better/cheaper than most cards on the market.
3. As much as Ultimate Team modes steal the focus of game developers who make money their priority, I still believe DD makes it relatively easy to get good cards and stay competitive without spending a dime.
4. I'm probably in the minority here, but I like that a lot of cards have less alternate positions. This creates more diversity in lineups and requires some strategy.
5. Flaws aside (this will be listed in the negative section too) Create a Stadium gives players a lot of options to mess around with and create a unique ballpark. That and you can use them at night (which should've been a given from the jump... but I digress)
6. Me personally, I could do with a ton more 90's / early 00's cards... but in general, they release plenty of cards from all different eras, which is sure to satisfy all ages.
7. The throw meter in fielding puts more pressure on the defense as opposed to just pushing a button. Just wish it was required versus one button press.
8. The first time I heard this game's soundtrack, I thought it was pretty good.
9. I like the crack of the bat addition when you get a perfect-perfect.
10. First time playing ranked Co-Op this year and that was a lot of fun.
11. I feel like ambush hitting is decently balanced.
12. I'm happy to see steroid era / steroid using players in the game.

What I Don't Like About The Show

1. Game Scripting / Comeback Logic: I'll preface this by saying, I've played 150+ ranked season games just this year alone. Every year I buy The Show, I play it wayyyyy too much. 25 has been no different. I see this all the time. The magical switch in the 7th / 8th inning. Blatant buffing or nerfing. It benefits me at times and it benefits my opponent at times. It's happened far too often for me to ignore. Anyone who played NBA Jam back in the day should be aware of the game mechanic that keeps a game close and competitive. The player still has to capitalize, but the game basically gives the player they're buffing every opportunity to come back and take the lead.
2. Create-A-Stadium is broken. It's hard to use, uploading stadiums is confusing and difficult... and now it straight up doesn't work. I chose my custom stadium for a few games recently, and instead they just choose Dodger Stadium or Coors Field.
3. SDS and their EA Like Complacency. There's been very little done with the game from year to year. Animations, graphics, customization options, RTTS, Franchise, Broken Create a Stadium etc. No jersey patches, alternate uniforms and so on. The biggest changes we get in this game are features being removed Sounds of the Show or create a player in DD, anyone? This extends to no tattoos to further add realism and things such as Indians Andrew Miller being number 48 (it was actually 24) and Reds Ken Griffey Jr. being number 24 (when it was 30 and then 3) This reeks of laziness. But hey... at least the homerun derby cards have the accurate jersey numbers lol.
4. Excessive homeruns. I look at real life box scores and Ranked Seasons box scores. They're quite different. The Show would have you believe 40-50% of hits are homeruns every. single. game.
5. Inconsistencies. Whether that's the amount of check swings going in my favor or my opponents favor, balls and strike calls, my opponent getting early timed home runs while I'm recording perfect perfect outs... what makes me successful one game doesn't mean a thing in the next.
6. Identity Crisis. The game can't decide if it wants to be arcade or simulation. Excessive homeruns signals arcade whereas random baseball things like errors, bad calls, well hit outs and the like signal simulation.
7. Diving catches / diving infield stops are wonky and often times looks like the glove has a vacuum, sucking the balls in. Feels quite unrealistic.
8. Random pickoffs. I really don't see pickoffs follow any kind of logic. Increasing your lead by 1 step without calling for a steal won't result in an out 99/100 times. I haven't been able to pick someone with the speed of Jim Thome in these cases. Yet, I've been picked off as Elly De La Cruz numerous times. Didn't try to steal or anything. Seems entirely random.
9. Random check swings. Once again, a check swing is just random. Sometimes you'll get lucky, sometimes you won't. Doesn't seem like it really has to do with the amount of pressure you use with the swing button. I could understand it more if a contact check swing results in more checked swings than a normal or power swing... but I don't think it follows any kind of logic outside of pure randomness.
10. Stealing: Random, again. Sometimes jumps are absolutely perfect, other times you're caught in mud. Does it follow any kind of game mechanic or is it just more randomness? Pretty sure it's the latter.
11. Wonky animations: Whether that's Elly De La Cruz throwing the 2nd baseman a pop fly when you're looking to turn two, your right fielder standing there when commanded to throw to the cutoff man or seeing your man run to first and slow down / begin to round like he's going to second, when it's a bang bang play and you need him to run through the bag to be called safe. I've seen it happen to me and I've seen it happen to my opponents.
12. Freeze-Offs. This has been happening since at least 2017... maybe before then (if anyone can confirm?) 8 years later and no fix?
13. Ultimate Team fixation. EA and 2K fell victim to it a while ago and now SDS has as well. The game should be renamed MLB: Diamond Dynasty. That's what they care about. Look at the amount of updates that gets (things for you to spend money on like cards and bat skins... not fixing long-standing issues)
14. Removing players and then re-introducing / marketing them years later as a new addition to the game. Carlos Beltran, Adrian Beltre and many more. Rinse and repeat. Then you have obvious names being omitted year after year. The only player I know of that won't allow for their likeness is Barry Bonds. So maybe I'm a little uniformed here... but in the years I've been playing Diamond Dynasty, I've never seen Jeff Kent, Curt Schilling, Alex Rodriguez to name a few that come to mind almost immediately. (I'd say Pete Rose too, but I think we all know why). Speaking as someone who enjoyed Eastbound and Down, I'd love to see John Rocker too lol. Considering all SDS cares about is DD, It would be amazing to see them just add cards... never take them away. I'm waiting for Ichiro to be the centerpiece of 26 or 27, as if he wasn't in the game a few years prior. But it's about the money and being able to sell people a nearly identical game year after year. If they didn't have "new things" each year, people might not line their pockets. So we'll get 6 new-ish names next year while losing 10 other names.
15. Yearly Iterations. Once again, this is the model for all sports games, but that's outdated and needs to go the way of the dinosaur. Create an end all be all game, perfect the gameplay and then just charge people for yearly roster updates, jerseys, bat skins and so on.

I can keep adding to this list, for sure and might do that over time... but I've already written plenty. Would love to hear what other people think, even if you want to focus in on one or two of my points. I find this game to be a lot of fun, but maddeningly inconsistent and following the same formula that has dragged Madden and NBA 2K down in the last 10-15 years. I just want the same amount of love to be poured into this game back when game developers were hungry to put out a great game and not hungry for our money.

7 hours with no reply, so I'll keep adding on to the list of real world MLB games and their hits to homeruns ratio. I'll do all of this real time so I'm giving all the data and not just what backs up my case.

July 28th:
First I'll do the Braves vs Royals game. Braves defeat Royals 10-7. Between the two teams, there were 17 runs, 21 hits and 4 homeruns.

Next I'll do another high scoring affair. Orioles vs Blue Jays. Orioles win 11 to 4. Total runs between the teams: 15. Total hits: 27. Total homeruns: 6

Third and final for this run let's go with the Brewers vs the Cubs. Brewers win 8 to 4. Total runs: 12, Total hits: 16, Total homeruns: 3.

As promised, I was completely unbiased and I chose 3 random high scoring games from today. The 6 homers is admittedly a higher number... but I have yet to find a single game where 40-50% plus of the hits are homeruns, despite what MLB The Show and it's "real baseball" would have you believe.

Okay, just played a game that reminded me how trash The Show is. Usual setup, I'm playing a guy right around my skill level. Playing him super well and then next thing I know SDS is hanging my pitches like it was going out of style. I'd throw my sinker down and in, hitting the yellow bar on the meter. The sinker ended up down and away. Wasn't penalized there, but then they started hanging my changeups and slurves and now I find myself in a pretty big hole. Realizing I was being set up to lose by the game's engine, I decided to leave my SP in there so not to waste my RP's energy for future games... so the final score ballooned to 9-3. But here's the stat that I see WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too often. 15 hits, 7 of them were homeruns. He got his 15th hit in the 9th inning, so prior to that it was 14 hits and 7 homeruns.

The guy ends up sending me a party chat and reminds me of a lot of people who make excuses for the game playing poorly. I told him what I thought and then backed it up with real data. He defended all the random BS in the game with the generic "it's real baseball" excuse. Then I gave him some real baseball data from games that happened only yesterday. The two I pointed out. The Rangers beat the Braves 8-1. The Rangers had 10 hits and guess how many homeruns? Only 1. Then I looked at the box score for the Padres vs Cardinals game. The Padres beat the Cardinals 9-2 and had 16 hits! Surely they hit between 6-9 homeruns, right? Nope... just one. Two different games, 17 runs and 26 hits between the winning teams and only 2 homeruns hit. And people will be dead serious when they say they don't see a problem lol. Naturally he left the chat because that's how people who can't think or debate avoid feeling like a loser. His only play was to act like he didn't understand what I was saying and when I made it so clear he couldn't ignore it, he bolted.

I'll look up one more game in real time while I write this so it's not just me pigeon-holing those 2 games as an example. I'm going to look at the box score of the A's vs Astros game. The A's won 7-1 and had 11 hits. Clicking on the box score now... the A's had 2 homeruns this game. 11 hits, 2 were home runs. The winning team in the game I JUST played? 15 hits, 7 homeruns. This is not real baseball. Do away with excessive homeruns or do away with the randomness. The game having both is the kiss of death.

Man, that's rough to be wired that way haha. I wish I liked the over saturation of Marvel movies, but alas I only care about a handful of heroes and only need to see a movie about them once every 10 years.

Just a quick experience from a game last night. Usually I share when something goes AGAINST me, but since I've always done my best to be fair and impartial, I'll include a small example of when something worked FOR me. The game played out like so many do. There's one inning where a pitch I throw lands somewhere completely opposite of where I placed it. I threw a ball on the outside edge against Pete Alonso, only to have it followed with a no doubt homerun. The pitch landed right in the middle of the plate. My timing and everything with the pitch was fine, so why oh why did it need to land on a tee for my opponent? Then we have a few dinky hits and control issues from my pitcher (nothing related to my inputs, just randomness) next BS thing that happens is a grounder to Chipper with a man on third. Man runs home, I throw the ball home, Chipper stands there looking pretty and not moving a muscle. Now I'm down 2-0. To say my bat was hitting like a wet noodle this game would be disrespectful to wet noodles. Every single pop fly died halfway in the outfield. Good contact ceased to have meaning. This goes on for 8 innings. He has a no hitter going with John Donaldson. Then in the 9th inning, he removed Donaldson and puts in 97 Josh Hader. I'm pretty irritated in all honesty. I feel my chances have just taken a nose dive. A lefty ran through my lineup for 8 innings and now a fresh one was on the mound at a full 7 points higher in overall rating. While Donaldson was around 80 pitches and I understood why he took him out, I wanted to send the guy a message that he just chickened out on his own no-hitter. Well guess what. After getting up on me with 2 strikes, he starts having inexplicable command issues and Elly gets walked. Then I get a dinky hit and another. Then lefty on lefty, Jazz Chisolm walks up to the plate and bam... it's 4-2. I close it down in the bottom of the 9th after a few questionable hits from my opponent put my back against the wall.

This worked out in my favor, but how am I supposed to look at that and not think of game-scripting, RNG and pure randomness deciding the outcomes? I could NOT touch this guy all game, then when I needed it most my bats start working? I wasn't seeing him any better, I was truthfully frustrated which never helps my odds.... but I went from maybe like 1 or 2 baserunners all game to 4 in one inning as well as a home run? I don't think it had anything to do with him falling apart or me rising to the occasion... I think the game did everything in its power to help me come back and ultimately win. A win feels good, I'm glad I won... but I'd be lying if I credited that to my skill and resolve.

@fubar2k7_PSN I think that's what I am playing with. So the better I get, the harder the minor leagues get haha. I've kind of begun to move off The Show with College Football being out (although, my big complaint for offline dynasty is that my DE and DT's always win player of the year and break tackle for loss / sack records each season... so have to figure out how to tone that way down) College Football to Madden, even though they're both EA, is the closest sports gamers have in the way of competition. The Show could definitely use that.

@fubar2k7_PSN

Sounds like something specific to him, honestly... but kudos to pops for playing and texting! What I'm talking about has to do with modern sports video games in general. NBA 2K is one game I got so good at, I was beating people with the LeBron-less Cavs regularly (The Mo Williams and JJ Hickson team and later the Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters team) Then around 2017/2018 I inexplicably became a .500 to sub .500 player. I think this has a lot to do with the RNG and Game Scripting elements people talk about. It's supposed to make the game seem more true to life, but in reality it just takes the control out of the player's hands to varying degrees. These games do not change enough for me to lose my abilities. There's more there and that's why I and many others seem to have constant problems. When it's fun it's a lot of fun. When it's not fun, it's infuriating and feels downright unfair.

@fubar2k7_PSN

I get it, but I don't get it lol. I Googled "competitive mode mlb the show" and the AI response sounded a lot like how a Developer would talk up a game before release. However, some things felt contradictory and there was subtle admission the people who see random nonsense or skill not being taken into account were correct. Such as:

Benefits of Competitive Mode:
More realistic outcomes: Offers a more authentic baseball experience, with fewer lucky hits and more emphasis on skill.

Fairer online experience: Ensures that player skill is the primary factor in determining success in online modes.

What that says to me is they're going to dial back the randomness, but it's still in the game and can still determine the outcome. If skill is the "primary factor" but my opponent and I are of a similar skillset, does this mean there are other factors that will determine the winner? On paper it sounds like they're giving the players more control, but they're also retaining some control and reserve the right to give me a random costly error that costs me a game.

It also said that competitive is the mode that gives players most control and puts their skill to the test. Simulation and Casual were using the ratings of players to determine success. So would that explain my struggles in Road to the Show? I'm an 80 or so and feel like I'm being nerfed with a sub .200 average after hitting like .240 the year prior. Is my rating what's costing me hits? If I switch to competitive, will the pitches I barrel up become hits and not line outs? Like I said, I kind of understand the difference in modes, but really, I don't. I feel The Show is one big inconsistent contradiction.

@x-814-x-MAFIA-x_PSN

I was thinking an option similar to turning off cross play. There would also be the option to play anyone with any setting, but for anyone who is like me, I would be able to select "catcher batter view and pitching meter." There might be more to this such as research and finances, but what I have in mind seems fairly simple. I wouldn't necessarily have to be paired up with someone who chose to filter out players with different settings, but someone who just happens to use the settings I do. But it does give me more to consider overall, so thank you for the examples.

It might not be a clear advantage like your power attributes become inflated, but I believe it makes it easier to distinguish balls and strikes and get the bat on the ball. I used it for a few innings and was fouling off pitches I previously would miss and was having an easier time seeing balls and strikes. Did I change my settings and instantly hit loads of home runs? No... but I did notice a slight difference in my success and imagine if I would have continued and worked at it, I'd only get better. However, I just don't enjoy the aesthetic of it. For me, the best analogy I can come up with was the argument Mark McGwire used to justify his juicing. His stance was essentially that while steroids made him stronger, they don't affect the timing of his swings, the placement of his bat, reading pitches and so on. I wouldn't say that these two things are completely related, but I think the comparison sticks. I personally haven't seen a point made yet that would have me reconsider my stance, but I'm open to it.

The majority of YouTubers and top players do use it. I think the fact that people use it is a Freudian admission that it makes hitting easier. Why would anyone switch to a less aesthetically pleasing view? I don't use it for that very reason. I like the batting stances and stadiums so I stick with the default view which for me was Catcher.

I'll admit, I have been having a bit more fun recently... albeit 2 out of my last 3 games have been ugly examples of why I've been calling out The Show. These games are a reminder that The Show still has lots of problems keeping it from being consistently fun. The problems aren't consistent (nothing with this game is consistent). I can play 10 games and sometimes 7 of them will be quite fun... other times I'm lucky if I get 1 or 2 fun games. Anyway...

First game I'm pitching, there's 1 out and Pete Crow-Armstrong on third. Opponent hits a hard grounder to Third and I make sure to look the runner back. He stays on third, I throw to first and get the man out. Thinking this guy is going to be stupid and try to run home, I input for Freddie Freeman to throw home almost instantly. Low and behold, the idiot takes off and I see Freddie Freeman stand there looking dumb. After about a second or two, Freddie Freeman finally throws home... but obviously it's too late and the guy scores the run. That basically decided the game. An unresponsive, wonky animation cost me the game. Yes, we're playing to have fun, but at a certain point late in the game, you're invested in winning. To see something like that throw out all the good things you did in the 30-60 minutes it takes to finish a game, it's a tough pill to swallow.

Second game was just nerfing me the whole time. I had 1 home run.... which to be honest wasn't a well hit ball... but that was the last thing I was given. Three perfect-perfect line outs to the short stop, Good contact hits being lazy pop flys. Hard hit balls that are "just late" are going way foul, so on and so forth. On the flip side, I'm pitching really well. High strikeout numbers, low pitch count. He can't seem to get contact for a good 5-6 innings. Then randomly, I give up a home run to someone who doesn't have great power numbers on a pitch that wasn't in a juicy location in the slightest. That ended up happening yet again a few innings later. It's one of those games where I don't know what I did to lose. I was seeing the ball well, working the count etc... just wasn't allowed to get a hit.

The second game to me is where SDS takes the "well, that's real baseball" thing too far. This is ultimately a video game and when people do things well they want to be rewarded as such and when they mess up, then they'll understand why something went wrong. I've been playing the game quite a bit recently, for better or worse. A lot of times I get the feeling the game is buffing me or nerfing me. The way I was seeing the ball/swinging the bat in the second game, would have lead me to having 3 to 5 runs in a different game, but as it went, I only had 2 hits.

Truth be told, I've noticed this big time in NBA 2K. I bought that game every single year. Now, much like The Show, I take breaks from it for years at a time. NBA 2K was one game I was POSITIVE I was good at. Keeping a cool head, taking smart shots, making smart passes, playing hard and controlled defense etc. I played every year and A LOT. I don't recall what my record was, but I was definitely winning 3/4's of my games. That started changing around 2k17 or 2k18. All of a sudden I'm a .500 player. It started feeling like the game was more in control than me. Smart shots with good releases are not falling, my opponent hitting shots he shouldn't be hitting with the level of defense I'm playing and so on. Then I'd play a few games where things felt the way they used to again, but it would always revert back. Call this RNG, game scripting or whatever. I just know there's something to that. I want to be in total control of my wins and my losses even if it sacrifices a little of those "that happens in real baseball" things.

The best way for me to handle The Show when it's more Hyde than Jekyll is to use those games to rest my relievers. Even if my SP is getting jacked up... I have some level of control in my loss and maybe a mercy gets it over with sooner. I also have to remind myself The Show is a bad game. This is not to troll, it just that works for me. I can't call it game a good game until it is that way consistently. Even if some of my reasonings didn't work for you, I'm sure we can all agree that being cost a game with unresponsive animations is not acceptable. I don't care if it has something to do with Freddie Freeman not being as strong a defender or something... I as the player anticipated and saw the runner going home and would have thrown him out if Freddie didn't take that 2 second pause. I don't believe I'm bad at this game and that it's not meant to be. Then again I wouldn't say I'm good at this game and that it is meant for me. I don't know what I am. My methods for winning also lose me games.

@xsdert34_PSN
And the great thing about what I'm proposing is, it doesn't take your choice away! Reading comprehension is huge. A lot of the heat I have coming my way is from people who fundamentally misunderstand what I'm saying.