MLB 15 : Road to the Show Thread

[kmoser]

Re: MLB 15 : Road to the Show Thread

Does anyone have any advice on how to draw walks? My BA is very high but my OBP is only a couple of points higher than the BA. I'm starting to be more patient at the plate but even if I get to a 3-2 count I'm forced to put the ball in play unless it's an obvious ball. Somehow I can foul away balls close to the plate when I'm in an 0-2 count and work my way up to 3-2 and then I can't foul away the ball anymore. I don't get it. Fortunately I get a lot of XBH in those situations but I just want to draw some walks for a change.


In my 2015 season with the Cardinals I had 500+ ABs and I drew no more than 15 walks, 20 tops.

Ouch at those stats, but I feel you man. In past years of the The Show I was horrible at drawing walks but this year I've been very good at it. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with a rating, like eye or discipline because my eye is a 99 and my discipline I believe is a 85. In my first yeah in the Majors I led the league in walks but I only hit .238 so I tried really hard to get on base anyway I could. But I've never hit below .290 since, but I also have been more aggressive since my contact and power ratings have increased, leading to less walks however.
For tips I would say just be patient. The thing I do is on the first pitch, unless it's right down the middle, I usually take it. Sometimes just take it anyways because I have and it looked hittable but I took and it was just outside for a ball. I'm not on right now but I think I may have adjusted some sliders to help out, if you want those just let me know.

[Reed1417]

Re: Official MLB 15 : Road to the Show Thread

Does anyone had any advice for getting better at recognizing a pitch's location? In real life it's never a problem obviously and I know it's part of the game to get fooled into swinging at a bad pitch or two. But I have trouble waiting out certain types of locations of pitches....I hope that made SOME sense xD


Reed is comin' atcha!!

[DirectFX]

Re: MLB 15 : Road to the Show Thread

Got a couple questions for pitchers.
Does your team defense suck? Seems any ball hit gets under infielders and any fly ball lands they take forever to get the ball and throw it back in? Just had one game ready to give up as catcher dropped a strike 3 pitch then over threw first base real bad and runner ended up at 3rd then 2 batters later a innocent fly ball center fielder dove and missed it and guy hit an inside the park homer. Never had such bad defense in previous years. Sliders are at default and I'm only about 10 games into career at AA.

Do you shake off catchers pitch calling? If you do is there a penalty? Seems every pitch he wants me to throw in the strike zone no matter the count . Seems majority of pitches end up 85-90% strikes at end of each game and only balls are when I miss corner targets. Shouldn't catchers call for some outside pitches especially with lots of 0-2 counts try to get batter to chase a ball instead of everything over the plate? Just thinking when promoted to AAA n MLB hitters going to feast if everything over plate..

How often should you train?

When would you add another pitch ? 4th one

Thx

[rollerpig79]

Re: MLB 15 : Road to the Show Thread

Ouch at those stats, but I feel you man. In past years of the The Show I was horrible at drawing walks but this year I've been very good at it. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with a rating, like eye or discipline because my eye is a 99 and my discipline I believe is a 85. In my first yeah in the Majors I led the league in walks but I only hit .238 so I tried really hard to get on base anyway I could. But I've never hit below .290 since, but I also have been more aggressive since my contact and power ratings have increased, leading to less walks however.
For tips I would say just be patient. The thing I do is on the first pitch, unless it's right down the middle, I usually take it. Sometimes just take it anyways because I have and it looked hittable but I took and it was just outside for a ball. I'm not on right now but I think I may have adjusted some sliders to help out, if you want those just let me know.

Thanks for the advice. I should say that as a result of not being patient I almost never strike out, so I have that going for me I'm in late May of the 2016 season and my BA is .358 and my OBP is .374. Pitch speed and contact sliders are set a couple of notches to my advantage. My eye is at 97 and my discipline at 99.


Last night I did exactly what you said and I actually got a walk! Runner on first with one out and all I was thinking was "no double play, no double play". I got two pitches that had homerun written all over them but I missed. On the 3-2 pitch I guessed fastball and when I didn't hear the blip I just let it go. It was a slider right on the outer line of the plate and it might as well have been a strike. It all depends on the situation of course but I will try and have that approach in the future. I will strike out more in the beginning but that's something I can live with.

[pittguy2]

Re: MLB 15 : Road to the Show Thread

To you guys that are seasons in, how do you play so many games? What parts of the game do you play?

[WelshDragon69]

Re: MLB 15 : Road to the Show Thread

Hi all, long time lurker, new poster here. I just wanted to say thanks for the many tips and also how much fun I’m having paying RTTS in MLB 15! This is the first baseball sim I’ve tried in about 8 years, usually just play NCAA or Madden, but I’ve rediscovered my love of baseball the last few years and picked up the game recently. It’s the BEST sports sim I’ve personally ever seen though it has it’s flaws, still very fun.After re-starting a few RTTS players, I settled on a switch hitting CF for the Blue Jays (playing on All Star, drafted in Round 1 after a pretty good showcase). I’m a Nats fan and always an NL guy, so I wanted to try the AL, and it’s like a whole new ballgame - literally. Mostly a contact / speed guy with a little pop, got called up after the AS break to replace a struggling Pillar in a lineup that is leading the majors in runs and HRs, and wow, Rogers Center is a GREAT place to hit ,and it’s been a blast hitting 2nd in that lineup! Thanks to setting a custom cam close to the place and slightly offset behind the hitter, I’ve gotten much better this go around though I’m still not walking a whole lot. With a few weeks left in the season, the Jays have already clinched the AL East and cruising into the playoffs on fire. I’m currently batting .308 with 11 HRs and 27 SBs, playing a pretty good CF (3 assists and 3 errors so far), and really excited for the playoffs!Anyway, thanks for all the tips, the only hole in my game so far is drawing more walks by being patient. Thinking of trying a starting pitcher next once this season is over, any suggestions for a NL team that needs SP that’s still decent all around, young team? I was thinking the Cubs or DBacks.

[rollerpig79]

Re: MLB 15 : Road to the Show Thread

To you guys that are seasons in, how do you play so many games? What parts of the game do you play?

A game usually lasts 8-10 minutes for me, maybe a couple of minutes more if I get a base hit with no outs. As a shortstop I don't get that many fielding opportunities, sadly. I think the average is about 2 assists/game and 1 putout every other game. It's way below league average so if I want a shot at a Gold Glove I have to be perfect, which I fortunately was the 2015 season.


Anyway, playing a whole season takes 2-3 weeks for me depending on work and boring everyday stuff like that. I have tinkered with two SP and three SS. Had I just settled on one of each I would've been in the 2019/2020 season with both of them.

[rollerpig79]

Re: MLB 15 : Road to the Show Thread

Hi all, long time lurker, new poster here. I just wanted to say thanks for the many tips and also how much fun I’m having paying RTTS in MLB 15! This is the first baseball sim I’ve tried in about 8 years, usually just play NCAA or Madden, but I’ve rediscovered my love of baseball the last few years and picked up the game recently. It’s the BEST sports sim I’ve personally ever seen though it has it’s flaws, still very fun.After re-starting a few RTTS players, I settled on a switch hitting CF for the Blue Jays (playing on All Star, drafted in Round 1 after a pretty good showcase). I’m a Nats fan and always an NL guy, so I wanted to try the AL, and it’s like a whole new ballgame - literally. Mostly a contact / speed guy with a little pop, got called up after the AS break to replace a struggling Pillar in a lineup that is leading the majors in runs and HRs, and wow, Rogers Center is a GREAT place to hit ,and it’s been a blast hitting 2nd in that lineup! Thanks to setting a custom cam close to the place and slightly offset behind the hitter, I’ve gotten much better this go around though I’m still not walking a whole lot. With a few weeks left in the season, the Jays have already clinched the AL East and cruising into the playoffs on fire. I’m currently batting .308 with 11 HRs and 27 SBs, playing a pretty good CF (3 assists and 3 errors so far), and really excited for the playoffs!Anyway, thanks for all the tips, the only hole in my game so far is drawing more walks by being patient. Thinking of trying a starting pitcher next once this season is over, any suggestions for a NL team that needs SP that’s still decent all around, young team? I was thinking the Cubs or DBacks.

I agree, this is the best sports sim ever. I've played almost every day for over three months now and that's the most I've ever played any game. The only game that comes close to that is the GTA series and I play them for about two months before I get bored.


As for a SP, I think you're right on with Cubs and DBacks. I don't know what the roster looks like in the game for the Cardinals but they have a young pitching staff and Wong, Grichuk, Piscotty and Heyward are pretty young as well. Good luck!

[Madden's Jowels]

Re: Official MLB 15 : Road to the Show Thread

Is there some sort of crowd attendance bug in RTTs? 2022 I'm on the Mets 40 games over .500 in September nobody at the ballpark. Seems like they go off of like 2014 attendance or something and not the current season you are playing

I'm having the same issue.

Coming off a division title, where we played to empty crowds all season. I thought "maybe next season it will take into account our success last year and the crowds will go up." Nope. Currently in September, on pace for 110 wins and still playing to half empty stadiums.

[WelshDragon69]

Re: MLB 15 : Road to the Show Thread

Since I was called up half way through the season, I was thinking of re-starting my Blue Jays CF and holding off increasing my stats once I hit AAA so that I hopefully won't get to the Show until the rosters expand, leaving a shot for RotY next season... Has anyone else tried this? Obviously an injury to Pillar would derail this plan, but I want to see if it's a good gameplan. Cheers.

[nova91]

Re: MLB 15 : Road to the Show Thread

Has anybody ever gotten the manager to let them change their position to 1B? What do your ratings need to be in order to get the manager to agree to a change? I can change to any position but 1B. All of my fielding ratings are in the mid/high 90s and we are stacked in the OF. We are in desperate need of a quality 1B on the Red Sox since Carlos Santana retired at the end of the 2022 season because all of our other prospects are either in the low 60s in rating or mid 30s in age. It is now January of the offseason and we haven't even tried to address it and I don't have faith that we will.

SN: I think RTTS needs more realistic retirements. Santana retired at 36 after coming off his 5th straight 150+ hit, 30+ HR, 125+ RBI and 75+ run season all while batting .292 from the cleanup spot. His batting ratings have stayed about the same but his fielding ratings have taken a hit so I'm pretty sure IRL he would have just moved to the DH spot instead of retiring.

[ASUBoy93]

Re: MLB 15 : Road to the Show Thread

Has anybody ever gotten the manager to let them change their position to 1B? What do your ratings need to be in order to get the manager to agree to a change? I can change to any position but 1B. All of my fielding ratings are in the mid/high 90s and we are stacked in the OF. We are in desperate need of a quality 1B on the Red Sox since Carlos Santana retired at the end of the 2022 season because all of our other prospects are either in the low 60s in rating or mid 30s in age. It is now January of the offseason and we haven't even tried to address it and I don't have faith that we will.

SN: I think RTTS needs more realistic retirements. Santana retired at 36 after coming off his 5th straight 150+ hit, 30+ HR, 125+ RBI and 75+ run season all while batting .292 from the cleanup spot. His batting ratings have stayed about the same but his fielding ratings have taken a hit so I'm pretty sure IRL he would have just moved to the DH spot instead of retiring.

This game, like a lot of others, always fails to recognize that occasionally star players - and a few specialized role guys - stay very productive late in their careers and stave off retirement until they are 40 or so. Normally I see great hitters retiring at 34-36 despite still having great numbers at the dish. Sometimes a great hitter does retire early in real life, but the Show seems to think it happens to all.

[rollerpig79]

Re: MLB 15 : Road to the Show Thread

I made yet another SP. A hard throwing righty featuring a 4SFB (100 mph right out of the gate), a 2SFB with decent movement and a 12-6 curve for the strikeout.

The reason for starting this new career was that I wanted to spend time in the minors and really grind my way up. No extra training points, just equipment. I chose Detroit Tigers as my team because I wanted to play for Toledo Mud Hens but that didn't pan out. At the end of May I got called up to The Show when my OVR was just 71 (+10). In my very brief stint in AA my record was 3-1 with a 1.27 ERA. I get that the point of this game is to play in the big leagues but come on! I don't know how many careers I have started, but it's probably creeping towards 10 and none have played in AAA.

My first game in the big leagues was a win but I got hammered. In 6.1 IP I gave up 10 hits but only 3 runs thanks to the defense and an even worse starter in the other team. All those hits made me put all of my training points on H/9 but all that did was run my pitch count up because the batters kept fouling away every pitch instead. Now I'm stuck with an execellent AA (and probably AAA) pitcher who's in very deep water in the majors.

I realize now that I shouldn't have spent any of my training points when I was in AA but I think that's ridicolous. What's the point if you can't evolve as a pitcher just because you don't want to be called up after TWO MONTHS? I don't feel like starting over, going through the showcase again and I certainly don't want to play in the majors. I already have two SPs that are doing just that.

[WelshDragon69]

Re: MLB 15 : Road to the Show Thread

Created a new pitcher, drafted by the DBacks in Round 2. Throws a 4SFB, CIRCh, and Slider, added a 2SFB. Long story short, I got called up at 18 years old to the Show due to injury and after doing well in AA. I threw my first No-No, which was also a perfect game in my 6th start! I was awesome and I have to admit I was very sweaty and nervous the last few innings. Finny thing is that since I got called up late, no consideration for RotY, finished the season 11-4 with a 2.21 ERA.On to season 2!

[olig23]

Re: MLB 15 : Road to the Show Thread

*I write all of this for my own entertainment, so hope my long posts are not out of place here, if so I can move them.*

One upon a time, there was a plucky young Brit He made the trip to the a land where Trousers are Pants, Rocket is Arrugula, Eggs are refrigerated, and ordering food in a restaurant involves a 20 minute Q&A with a waitress over the heritage and cooking method of a potato. The purpose of that trip was to try his hand at their National Pastime – Baseball. His burgeoning career was chronicled as such in the biography of Oliver Thornton, Centre Fielder from the International Region, as the announcer was so fond of saying.

These exploits can be read in more detail here:
Part 1: Give me my Sushi, of the International Region
Part 2: 74 walks in the hills of Comptacoma
Part 3: So hot right now
Part 4: Chris Dickinson, how's your average?
Part 5: The man from Iran, it's Julio Teheran

Alas, the biography, while critically well received – on OS, was never completed. Placing it alongside immortals, such as Chaucer (The Canterbury Tales) and Dostoyevsky (The Brothers Karamazov), as great works that went unfinished. Scholars have since attributed this to the fact the omnipotent creator, and overlord (me), was distracted by his marriage to another being. The subsequent need to "spend time together", selecting cushions, and other home furnishings for their ethereal lair undoubtedly played a role.

Oliver Thornton 1.0 continued to perform though - undocumented. Ultimately winning multiple World Series with the Atlanta Braves and 1 NL MVP. But the question lingers as to whether these events actually took place if they were not chronicled in the annals of history. Perhaps it is best to simply say that we know Oliver Thornton existed, sometime, somewhere. Descartes would be proud.

If his love of comic books has taught the omnipotent creator anything is that sometimes it’s ok to reboot a thing. Albeit, nothing to do with Ultron, travelling through time and some obscure plan to murder a man named Hank, the universe in which Oliver Thornton 1.0 lived ceased to be, a dying world you might say. By 2020, playing CF for the San Francisco Giants and on pace for a 2nd MVP Oliver Thornton began to notice that the world around him lacked “clarity” and seemed, strangely pixelated… Was this a world on the edge of extinction? Perhaps. Thornton, finally understood the Elves sadness in Lord of the Rings and began to wonder about a way out of this dying land to place with magic again.

Thornton, got his biggest hint on this quest while taking a casual walk across the bay in Oakland, sitting at a table were Relief Pitcher, Brian Wilson and one-time Catcher Mike Napoli. They spotted Thornton, who was a big deal by this point, and could see his concern and beckoned him to join them. After much cajoling Thornton sat, ordering sushi, and eventually spilled the detail of his concern. Thornton initially thought they would have him immediately committed but noticed the two retired vets sharing a knowing look. They huddled in….

Wilson asked… “Ever wanted to grow a long fluffy beard?” Thornton thought for a second. “Not really” he replied. “Just try” Napoli interjected furiously. “You can’t, in this world it is impossible!” Wilson hugged Napoli tight, and whispered “shhhhh, it will be ok” into Napoli’s ear. Then out of his pocket he passed Thornton a booklet the read: MLB 14: The Show – Instruction Manual. Placing his finger over his lips while continuing to console Mike Napoli, Thornton took his cue (queue? que? Words.) and left.

The Manual took him on a journey. He needed three objects on his quest. Thornton had heard of none. A Cloud. An MLB 15: The Show, and a “PS4” (pronounced Pee-ess-four). Thornton prayed to the omnipotent creator, and used his three wishes (that I arbitrarily am allowing him). All three were granted. And so it was, with the hazy pixelated, non-beardy world of Oliver Thornton was to be extinguished forever. Thornton placed his trust in his creator though, and knew he would be revived in a new place, a place where Mike Napoli could have a beard.

Like the One Ring though, the Book lies… and even the mighty omnipotent Olig23 could not stop the twists and turns of fate. Upon loading the Pee-Ess-Four there was nothing in that “cloud” and after consulting with others Gods it seems you need to go from PS3 - MLB 14: The Show, to PS4 - MLB 14: The Show and then to PS4 – MLB 15: The Show… A step had been missed! And while there was some obscure workaround involving Amazon and Returns it is with a heavy, heavy heart that Oliver Thornton, Centre-Fielder, from the International Region, saw his last pixel as the PS3 was given away to a friend in the year 2020 with an MVP race as good as won, but never to be received.

Left with no more worlds to conquer Olig23 desires to rewrite the history books anew! A new Epic. The Masterpiece of all Masterpieces! A story for the ages! No, it’s not Secret Wars, but is in fact Oliver Thornton 2.0, Second Baseman, with a ****ing beard… of the International Region! This time it’s personal.

Tl;dr – I lost my game I had played the last year and a bit. Gives me an opportunity to revive the story-telling aspect I enjoyed doing on the PS3 thread, until I got married. Now the wife knows I am a lazy person who plays video games all evening I’m back in business!