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I second this whole post; great advice!

I'm in the exact same boat as you; pre-ordered the game (Jackie Robinson edition, not digital deluxe) and have also spent no additional money on the game, and no crazy flipping either. Just by grinding the game and saving stubs, I was able to buy Trout about 2 weeks ago for 370,000.

I was lucky enough to pull Gerrit Cole and Cody Bellinger in packs so far; I sold Cole so that I could finish the NL West to get Steve Finley, and I also locked in Trout to finish the AL West.

I spent at least a few hundred dollars on the game last year buying stubs (mostly when they had the stub sales where you could get 150,000 stubs for half price a few times) but I'm happy to say that I am committed to going No Money Spent this year, as it makes the grind more rewarding. I did finish the Live Series Collection in MLB 20 around August (I think?) but this year I'm taking my time to finish the collection, as I like playing with a lot of the early season cards that I wouldn't normally use if I already had Ortiz, Soriano, Chipper, etc.

@raienez_psn said in Annoying issue with a freeze off at 1st base:

@supremeloser_psn said in Annoying issue with a freeze off at 1st base:

For the 2nd day in a row, I've had a game lock up on me when a line drive was hit right at the 1st baseman.
He catches it and then just stands there with the ball instead of throwing it back to the pitcher.

It happened to me yesterday in a 0-0 Battle Royale game so I just quit and went on to the next one (I was only on a 2-0 BR streak). However, today it just happened to me again while I was up 8-1 in the 8th inning of a Ranked game. Thankfully my opponent quit after a few minutes instead of dragging it out, as I wasn't going to leave my PS5 on all day just for a ranked win in January (I'm only at 516 rank anyway).

Anyone else had this specific freeze off issue with a 1st baseman recently?

Oh [censored] the freeze is taking over first .... lately freezing happend to many players when they hit a groundball to second...... ridiculous at this point it’s like a big F-U to the costumer.

Yeah I had heard about the recurring freeze issues with the groundballs to 2nd, but I haven't had that happen yet, thankfully.

I hope the 1st base one doesn't become frequent, but having it happen on back to back days is not reassuring.

@write-to-shawn_psn said in Annoying issue with a freeze off at 1st base:

@supremeloser_psn said in Annoying issue with a freeze off at 1st base:

@raienez_psn said in Annoying issue with a freeze off at 1st base:

@supremeloser_psn said in Annoying issue with a freeze off at 1st base:

For the 2nd day in a row, I've had a game lock up on me when a line drive was hit right at the 1st baseman.
He catches it and then just stands there with the ball instead of throwing it back to the pitcher.

It happened to me yesterday in a 0-0 Battle Royale game so I just quit and went on to the next one (I was only on a 2-0 BR streak). However, today it just happened to me again while I was up 8-1 in the 8th inning of a Ranked game. Thankfully my opponent quit after a few minutes instead of dragging it out, as I wasn't going to leave my PS5 on all day just for a ranked win in January (I'm only at 516 rank anyway).

Anyone else had this specific freeze off issue with a 1st baseman recently?

Oh [censored] the freeze is taking over first .... lately freezing happend to many players when they hit a groundball to second...... ridiculous at this point it’s like a big F-U to the costumer.

Yeah I had heard about the recurring freeze issues with the groundballs to 2nd, but I haven't had that happen yet, thankfully.

I hope the 1st base one doesn't become frequent, but having it happen on back to back days is not reassuring.

Yes, it happened to me at 1st base as well in an event game recently. It froze on me after my first baseman made the putout to end the game. It showed the final score and everything, yet froze before it registered lol

I normally would’ve just quit out of a freeze-off in an event game, but I just couldn’t let him have it when he was waiting it out knowing that the entire game had finished before the freeze.

Man that's so bizarre...I'm glad you still got the win though! I'm terrified everytime a line drive is hit at my first baseman now haha.

I'm just glad I already finished up the BR program recently, I would hate to have a good run messed up because of a weird freeze like that.

Orel Hershiser
Gerrit Cole (pulled him in a pack)
Pedro Martinez
German Marquez (42 TA Card)

My 5th starter is either the Topps Now Carlos Rodon, or the Topps Now Joe Musgrove.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my rotation right now.

2 hits with Hank Aaron, and 1 extra base hit. Veteran difficulty.

@raesone_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@supremeloser_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

Thanks for the replies! I thought Kluber had a slightly better pitch mix when I compared the 2 cards earlier, but I think Arrieta had slightly better per 9's.

Honestly, you can keep guys off balance for 9 innings with Arrieta's sinker/slider alone. Mix in the occasional curveballs to keep people honest and they'll look silly if they swing on that pitch because it looks exactly like the sinker coming out of his hand. And his slider acts more like a cutter, it's thrown hard and breaks really hard at the last second. If you pound that pitch low and in against batters hitting lefty, it's almost impossible to make good contact on that pitch if they swing. And they will swing.

This is great advice, thanks! I heard Arrieta had a really good slider, so I'm glad that seems to be the case.

I can't decide now haha maybe I should just sell him and buy another guy off the market? Who's your favorite 99 pitcher to use? I already have Verlander as well.

@raesone_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@supremeloser_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@raesone_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@supremeloser_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

Thanks for the replies! I thought Kluber had a slightly better pitch mix when I compared the 2 cards earlier, but I think Arrieta had slightly better per 9's.

Honestly, you can keep guys off balance for 9 innings with Arrieta's sinker/slider alone. Mix in the occasional curveballs to keep people honest and they'll look silly if they swing on that pitch because it looks exactly like the sinker coming out of his hand. And his slider acts more like a cutter, it's thrown hard and breaks really hard at the last second. If you pound that pitch low and in against batters hitting lefty, it's almost impossible to make good contact on that pitch if they swing. And they will swing.

This is great advice, thanks! I heard Arrieta had a really good slider, so I'm glad that seems to be the case.

I can't decide now haha maybe I should just sell him and buy another guy off the market? Who's your favorite 99 pitcher to use? I already have Verlander as well.

I use the DeGrom, Ohtani, Verlander, Kershaw and Arrieta. But let me tell you one thing, if you're going to face a really good player like the other guy mentioned above, it does not matter who you'll have on the mound. If he would've had Kluber instead of Arrieta, his opponent would probably still have succes. Because good players can hit every pitcher. But again, I don't think you can buy a better option than either Kluber or Arrieta and you really can't go wrong with either.

What also weighed in on my decision to go with Arrieta is that I know a lot of people love throwing cutters inside. But what I've noticed is that a cutter that is thrown inside and not in the strike zone, can still get hit hard for a home run. Which is actually what happens a lot of the times, because most people will pull their PCI in when they face a cutter heavy pitcher on an opposite handed match up. Factor in that almost everyone plays at Shippett, where the ball will fly, and those inside cutters are a liability in my experience. You have to throw it like REALLY far inside and that makes it an obvious read to not swing. The heavy slider on the other hand is way harder to make good contact on and it has the coding of a breaking ball instead of a fastball like the cutter, which means the PCI placement is less forgivable in comparison to fastballs (you can have poor PCI placement and still hit a fastball hard if your timing is good, that's much harder (though not impossible) to do with offspeed).

Good insight, thanks! I know what you guys are saying about how it sometimes doesn't matter who you have on the mound if your opponent is locked in, but I'm usually only around the 500-600 ranking each season anyway, so I don't mind trying out different rotations once in a while.

I do like your rotation setup that you mentioned above; if I got Arrieta I could run that same lineup of 5 guys.

@mrad2010_xbl said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@supremeloser_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@raesone_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@supremeloser_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

Thanks for the replies! I thought Kluber had a slightly better pitch mix when I compared the 2 cards earlier, but I think Arrieta had slightly better per 9's.

Honestly, you can keep guys off balance for 9 innings with Arrieta's sinker/slider alone. Mix in the occasional curveballs to keep people honest and they'll look silly if they swing on that pitch because it looks exactly like the sinker coming out of his hand. And his slider acts more like a cutter, it's thrown hard and breaks really hard at the last second. If you pound that pitch low and in against batters hitting lefty, it's almost impossible to make good contact on that pitch if they swing. And they will swing.

This is great advice, thanks! I heard Arrieta had a really good slider, so I'm glad that seems to be the case.

I can't decide now haha maybe I should just sell him and buy another guy off the market? Who's your favorite 99 pitcher to use? I already have Verlander as well.

Klubers curve/slider is filthy. Arrieta is really good but Klubers stuff is one of the best in the game.

The few times I have had to face Kluber, the opponent made me look silly. I couldn't lay off that Slurve.

Does Kluber have a similar pitch mix to Corbin Burnes? I feel like they are similar (minus the Slurve).

@raesone_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@supremeloser_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@raesone_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@supremeloser_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@raesone_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@supremeloser_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

Thanks for the replies! I thought Kluber had a slightly better pitch mix when I compared the 2 cards earlier, but I think Arrieta had slightly better per 9's.

Honestly, you can keep guys off balance for 9 innings with Arrieta's sinker/slider alone. Mix in the occasional curveballs to keep people honest and they'll look silly if they swing on that pitch because it looks exactly like the sinker coming out of his hand. And his slider acts more like a cutter, it's thrown hard and breaks really hard at the last second. If you pound that pitch low and in against batters hitting lefty, it's almost impossible to make good contact on that pitch if they swing. And they will swing.

This is great advice, thanks! I heard Arrieta had a really good slider, so I'm glad that seems to be the case.

I can't decide now haha maybe I should just sell him and buy another guy off the market? Who's your favorite 99 pitcher to use? I already have Verlander as well.

I use the DeGrom, Ohtani, Verlander, Kershaw and Arrieta. But let me tell you one thing, if you're going to face a really good player like the other guy mentioned above, it does not matter who you'll have on the mound. If he would've had Kluber instead of Arrieta, his opponent would probably still have succes. Because good players can hit every pitcher. But again, I don't think you can buy a better option than either Kluber or Arrieta and you really can't go wrong with either.

What also weighed in on my decision to go with Arrieta is that I know a lot of people love throwing cutters inside. But what I've noticed is that a cutter that is thrown inside and not in the strike zone, can still get hit hard for a home run. Which is actually what happens a lot of the times, because most people will pull their PCI in when they face a cutter heavy pitcher on an opposite handed match up. Factor in that almost everyone plays at Shippett, where the ball will fly, and those inside cutters are a liability in my experience. You have to throw it like REALLY far inside and that makes it an obvious read to not swing. The heavy slider on the other hand is way harder to make good contact on and it has the coding of a breaking ball instead of a fastball like the cutter, which means the PCI placement is less forgivable in comparison to fastballs (you can have poor PCI placement and still hit a fastball hard if your timing is good, that's much harder (though not impossible) to do with offspeed).

Good insight, thanks! I know what you guys are saying about how it sometimes doesn't matter who you have on the mound if your opponent is locked in, but I'm usually only around the 500-600 ranking each season anyway, so I don't mind trying out different rotations once in a while.

I do like your rotation setup that you mentioned above; if I got Arrieta I could run that same lineup of 5 guys.

You could always just try one of the 2 and then sell him and buy the other and see who you personally prefer most. They cost about the same so you'll only end up paying the tax on the market, but who cares at this point? Most people are loaded with stubs anyway, so I assume you are too.

That's a fair point; maybe I will try one out and sell for the other guy if I get lit up haha.

I did have just over a million stubs recently but then I put a buy order in for the 99 Trout as I didn't have time to get up to 30 wins this season like I planned. I'm still sitting around 200,000 stubs though, so I don't mind losing a few at this point.

@raesone_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@mrad2010_xbl said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@supremeloser_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@mrad2010_xbl said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@supremeloser_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@raesone_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

@supremeloser_psn said in Kluber or Arrieta?:

Thanks for the replies! I thought Kluber had a slightly better pitch mix when I compared the 2 cards earlier, but I think Arrieta had slightly better per 9's.

Honestly, you can keep guys off balance for 9 innings with Arrieta's sinker/slider alone. Mix in the occasional curveballs to keep people honest and they'll look silly if they swing on that pitch because it looks exactly like the sinker coming out of his hand. And his slider acts more like a cutter, it's thrown hard and breaks really hard at the last second. If you pound that pitch low and in against batters hitting lefty, it's almost impossible to make good contact on that pitch if they swing. And they will swing.

This is great advice, thanks! I heard Arrieta had a really good slider, so I'm glad that seems to be the case.

I can't decide now haha maybe I should just sell him and buy another guy off the market? Who's your favorite 99 pitcher to use? I already have Verlander as well.

Klubers curve/slider is filthy. Arrieta is really good but Klubers stuff is one of the best in the game.

The few times I have had to face Kluber, the opponent made me look silly. I couldn't lay off that Slurve.

Does Kluber have a similar pitch mix to Corbin Burnes? I feel like they are similar (minus the Slurve).

Kluber has Sinker,cutter,slurve,4 seam and change up. Pretty much the perfect pitch mix imo. The thing I really prefer him over Arrieta is his control. I don’t know what their controls stats are off the top of my head but I do know Arrieta has a tendency of throwing pitches down the middle randomly.

Kluber control:
Sinker 90
Cutter 87
Slurve 99
4seam 85
Changeup 82

Arrieta control:
Sinker 99
Slider 92
4seam 90
Curveball 92
Changeup 80

Kluber break:
Sinker 85
Cutter 92
Slurve 99
4seam 88
Changeup 92

Arrieta break:
Sinker 99
Slider 97
4seam 80
Curveball 99
Changeup 99

I appreciate the breakdown! Both pitchers look great on paper, so I think I'll just try them both out and see what happens.

For the 2nd day in a row, I've had a game lock up on me when a line drive was hit right at the 1st baseman.
He catches it and then just stands there with the ball instead of throwing it back to the pitcher.

It happened to me yesterday in a 0-0 Battle Royale game so I just quit and went on to the next one (I was only on a 2-0 BR streak). However, today it just happened to me again while I was up 8-1 in the 8th inning of a Ranked game. Thankfully my opponent quit after a few minutes instead of dragging it out, as I wasn't going to leave my PS5 on all day just for a ranked win in January (I'm only at 516 rank anyway).

Anyone else had this specific freeze off issue with a 1st baseman recently?