All the Way, Again: A Chicago Cubs Franchise.

[Gagnon39]

A little background...

While MLB 21 isn't what I'd consider a bad game by any stretch of the imagination, MLB 20 is just simply better in my opinion for franchise mode. With that being said, I'm going to continue my MLB 20 franchise for the foreseeable future. Maybe when MLB 22 drops next year I'll make the switch, but for now, I'm sticking with MLB 20.

I'm a long-time sports gamer pre-dating even RBI Baseball on the Nintendo Entertainment Center. I can recall playing video games on the original Atari and baseball games on computers that were nothing more than black screens with green blobs that didn't even really resemble baseball players. As I have grown older my love for baseball and baseball video games has never faded. And over the years I, like many of us on Operation Sports, have seen an amazing evolution in sports video games. I can still recall Sports Talk Baseball on SEGA Genesis, the first time that there was an actual audible announcer. And Baseball Stars, the first game I remember where you could edit players names. Needless to say, it's been incredible to see how far the games have come.

I used to do my own, "franchise mode," before it ever existed. I kept a large box of index cards, one card for each player and grouped by teams. On each card I'd have the players' age, which I would add a hash mark for each year, their jersey number, and any relevant information about the player such as championships, MVP awards, etc. So as one could imagine, when franchise mode began to appear in sports games I was in heaven. And while online modes like Diamond Dynasty have unfortunately resulted in the neglect of franchise mode, it's still there, and functions much better than a box of index cards. Sure, it has many issues and it could be better in so many ways, but for the most part, it's exactly what I always wanted when I was growing up.

I have played just about every baseball video game that's every been released and I had thought that no game could ever top EA's MVP Baseball 2005. I was heartbroken when I heard that 2K Sports purchased the exclusive rights to third-party MLB games in 2006 because it meant an end to what I considered the greatest sports game ever made, MVP Baseball. I reluctantly tried MLB 2K6, but it was just not on par with what I was used to. For a couple years I did not play a baseball game, and I definitely had a void in my gaming world.

In 2008 I decided that although I had been a long-time XBox fan-boy, I was going to buy a Playstation 3 in hopes that MLB The Show was even half as good as MVP Baseball. When I first started playing it I wasn't necessarily overly impressed. It was good, but I just wasn't quite sure it was as good as MVP Baseball. But the more I played it, the more it grew on me. I bought and played MLB 09, and then MLB 10, and before long my beloved MVP Baseball was a distant (albeit very good) memory.

Now, 13 years after first playing MLB 08 I am as much of a fan of MLB The Show as anyone. It's a game I log many hours in every year and each year seems to get better.

As much as I am a fan of baseball video games and franchise mode, I also love the statistical side of the game. I have always been artistically inclined as well and I (at least somewhat) enjoy writing. Those things considered, I used to be heavily involved in Dynasty Manager and then Dynasty Nation. These were sites where you could essentially create your own site for your franchise team, post stories, keep up with rosters, transactions, etc. While these sites were amazing and I miss running my own franchise page on Dynasty Nation, the community was just never quite there. Eventually Dynasty Manager shut down, and then some years later so did Dynasty Nation.

In an effort to continue what I love I'll be using Operation Sports, where I've been a member since 2003. I will post a variety of updates on key games throughout the year but on the main pages I'll likely keep my current roster any transactions and some type of historical records.

I also stream many of my games on Twitch, the link is down below in my signature.

Stay tuned, and Go Cubs.


GENERAL GAMEPLAY SETTINGS

I play with Armor&Sword's sliders and use the clean screen approach. I get great results with this and play on Hall of Fame for both hitting and pitching.

[Gagnon39]

Testing

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[Gagnon39]

Reserved for future content.

[OldHossRadbourn]

Following

[Gagnon39]

[mlblover15]

The man, the myth, and the legend.. still in top form I see even after a decade-plus later!!! :Appl: