MLB The Show 21: Five Things We Want From Franchise Mode

[AUTiger1]

Re: MLB The Show 21: Five Things We Want From Franchise Mode

My power rank:

1) EXPANDED ROSTERS

Not to sound like a broken record, but in my personal opinion, until this is done, Franchise mode will continue to be extremely limited in the roster logic, trade logic, financial logic, etc...that it so desperately needs, along with the idea of deeper draft with international signing period and non-roster spring training invites.

2) MAKE MANAGERS/COACHES MATTER

Managers and coaches are just name alone in this game, and really have no impact whatsoever on the gameplay. They are "attribute influencers", but imo its extremely insignificant, if significant at all. We need coaches with personalities who have their own approach on managing the game from being aggressive on the basepaths, to playing small ball, shifting on defense, managing pitching staff/bullpen, etc....

And please please please...I beg you...please stop making fake managers/coaches wear jackets all year long. Please


3) OVERHAUL TRAINING

This will go along or work with making coaches/managers matter. Training is too basic. I want to work with a prospect who is a dead pull hitter, learn to hit the ball the other way, or at least up the middle. I want to teach a kid a new position aside from just going in an editing his secondary position to where I want them to play. I want to help a starter develop a solid 4th or 5th pitch, etc...

4) MORE CONTRACT OPTIONS

This will require a change to how financials work, but we need more contract options. Currently you can front load, balance, or back load a contract which is nice, but what about signing a player to say a 7 year contract with opt outs in years 3 and 5 or things along those lines.

I'll throw minor league contracts with non-roster invites to Spring Training to this list, but we need roster expansion first, imo.

5) INJURY HISTORY

This is vital in my opinion to help add depth to franchise. If a pitcher has had arm troubles and a free agent the offseason after injury, the chances of him getting a big pay day or long term deal are less likely due to not being sure how durable he will be. Same with players with knee, ankle injuries, etc...

BONUS

I know its cheating, but I wanted to list the 5 things that have yet to be in the game to be there, but year to year saves need to return. Please SDS bring back Y2Y saves!

I wanna build on your post because you nailed it. We badly need an improved budget system. Free agency can be so frustrating because of the way the game is programmed to set aside a certain amount of money for arbitration and tender players and we don't know exactly what that number is. We need to have a screen where we are shown all of that. How much money is set aside for arbitration and tender players. That would make free agency better.


But the most important thing is more roster spots, 90 man roster limits just isn't working. There's absolutely no to have a realistic franchise mode, especially after the first year because of the roster limit. It's why I rarely play more than 1 year at a time in franchise mode, it's just so broken.


Also, another point about budgets and such, we need to have separate budgets for players on the 40-man roster versus those that aren't. I mean, it's all 1 budget, but having 40-man roster and those not on the 40-man roster listed as two different numbers would be extremely helpful too.

[AUTiger1]

Re: MLB The Show 21: Five Things We Want From Franchise Mode

1. Better progression/regression
2. 120ish man rosters
3. Better draft class generation and the ability to edit during the scouting part of the season before the draft.
4. Better scouting associated with the above.
5. Ability to import and export players in franchise without having to have roster control on. Let us do it in any franchise.

Also the obvious carry-over franchise option is a must.

Scouting should also be year-around. It's dumb that after the draft happens there's no more scouting. That's not realistic. Scouting in all sports is done year round. It never ends and it's so frustrating playing video games where scouting is only allowed for certain time periods.

[AUTiger1]

Re: MLB The Show 21: Five Things We Want From Franchise Mode

TRADES!!!! Please let us do complex trades. I'm sick of how limited trades are. We need to be allowed to trade draft picks and do PTBNL or cash trades. We also need to be able to pull off 3-team trades involving more than just 3 players per side. We can't do deals where it's 4 for 2 or 5 for 2 and things like that and it sucks.

[AUTiger1]

Re: and now for something completely slightly different

* left-handed catchers. we got left-handed shortstops, past time catchers get that same opportunity lol
* cpu balks. and catchers interference while they're at it
* normal bunts. this ain't rocket surgery, just cut off the rocket
* player attribute progression/regression where attributes stay the same the whole season with whatever rating a player has day one spring training. and doesn't update till day one the next spring training. so you're taking an unknown chance on signing free agents or re-signing your last years players. free agents are like a box of chocolates: you don't know what ya got till they open their first paycheck
* three-way players: I'm not sure but I think it's pronounced ''manage a trois'' - every day players who can also pitch... AND manage. yeah, player coaches

In all my 34-years on this planet and all the games I've watched in my life I've never seen a left-handed throwing catcher or left side of the infield player. Can you give one example of this happening in real life?

[CBoller1331]

Re: MLB The Show 21: Five Things We Want From Franchise Mode

A lot of good ideas so far. I'll try to be a little bit different so the thread doesn't get repetitive.

1. Playable Single-A Ball
--This would help accomplish 2 other common requests: Expanded rosters and improved progression system. Obviously this would require expanded rosters so that you would have at least 26 players in Single A. From there I would love to get roughly 20 extra players in "Low-A" (which for now can just function as Single-A does in the current game).
--Some quick math: 4 levels of 26 = 104 players. 20 extras puts us as 124, so why not make it an "even" 125. This also should speed up the progression for young guys so that there are fewer 29 year old rookies.
--Maybe cheating on my Top-5 list cuz it's not directly related, but gonna throw in NRI's in Spring Training into this point. Would finally make those games worth playing IMO.

2. Completely Revamped Amateur Scouting/Drafting/Signing
--An expanded draft would be great, especially with expanded rosters. However, I don't know that I need to sit through all 50(?) rounds. I would be fine with something in the 10-15 range.
--Would also be cool if there were 5-6 extra roster slots reserved for players taken in that years draft. So you can get some of the college draftees some experience in Single-A in August and September
--Any drafted player with college eligibility left needs to be harder to sign. It would be cool if unsigned draftees would reappear in later drafts as well, but honestly that's not super important to me.
--International Signing period needs to be added. Enough of trying to cram both the draft and IFA's into 7 rounds.
--Editable & sharable "amateur classes" (lumping in IFA's with Draft class) would be a cool feature. I'm sure the community could come up with some cool realistic/historic/fantasy amateur classes. Also an option to add Sign/Draft year in the edit player screen to fix the Rule-5 draft in the first few years of Franchise.
--As for scouting....it just sucks as is....IDK what to change, maybe just more accurate 20-80 scale ratings. 80 FV players should be once in a generation type. There shouldn't be 30 of those guys in a draft class even if its just cuz they aren't "accurately" scouted yet.

3. Transaction Negotiations
--On-going trade negotiations, including a more detailed trade block. Players can be labeled "actively shopping", "available", "unavailable", "un-touchable", and then maybe a "neutral."
--Free Agent negotiations need a little bit of attention as well. It shouldn't just be a contract screen and then sim a few days to see if you signed that player. It should be a bit more like recruiting in the NCAA Football series.
--Each Free Agent should go through 3 stages at their own pace: "Listening"--where they are open to offers from any team, "Narrowing"--where they are only open to offers from teams they have already been in contact with, and "Finalizing"--where they are only open to offers from the top 3 teams. This helps free agency feel a bit more involved
--Opt-outs, signing bonuses and more control over annual salary would also be a big plus. Realistic financial figures would be nice too. Adding real contracts was cool, but when the logic was not updated with that addition it didn't really add much to Franchise mode

4. Manager/coach/GM Tendencies
--First of all, managers and coaches should be editable. More gameday equipment options besides the same old jacket. Lets get hoodies (cutoff for Boone), BP pullovers, regular uniform, and stirrups for old-timers
--Managers should have lineup/bullpen management tendencies: Classic Lineup (fast leadoff hitter, best hitter 3rd...), modern lineup(high OBP leadoff, best hitter 2nd...), classic pitching staff (5 starters, closer gets lots of saves), modern staff (5 + a swingman, uses bullpen aggressively). Just spit-balling a few
--Assistant coaches should influence ratings (similar to how the current system works, but definitely could use some tweaking). One big thing is that the pitching coach should give boosts/deductions based on pitch repertoires.
--GM traits influence how a team constructs a roster (focus on developing draft picks/trading for veterans/signing free agents), as well as strategies within those areas (i.e. targeting college hitters in the draft like Theo Epstein did with the Cubs, or going all-in at the trade deadline vs. only trading prospects for controllable players). If implemented correctly these things can really improve the CPU roster management

5. Expansion Teams
--We've already got the Stadium creator and the Logo/Uniform Editor. Now lets put those things to good use! Add in an expansion draft and allow the other 30 teams to protect 10 players (I think that's the rule). I think expansion to 32 teams is inevitable, so SDS should add this before it actually happens, because expansion past 32 seems unlikely at the moment.

That was probably technically more than 5 things...but oh well

[Caulfield]

Re: and now for something completely slightly different

In all my 34-years on this planet and all the games I've watched in my life I've never seen a left-handed throwing catcher or left side of the infield player. Can you give one example of this happening in real life?

Jack Clements Phillies catcher, caught over 1000 games.

but I'd love to be able to put put Mike Squires at catcher for a game or two using classic historical rosters from the 80's. Benny Distefano also too as well in the 80's. Squires actually played 13 games at 3B, which you can have lefties at 2B/3B/SS in the Show thankfully

[Karle]

Re: MLB The Show 21: Five Things We Want From Franchise Mode

1. Ability to restructure the divisions or eliminate divisions entirely and change number of teams so one can recreate the MLB of years past. Not just expand the 30 teams, but to also reduce the total number of teams to such as 20, 16 etc.

2. Ability to truly relocate a team vis-a-vis morale. If I relocate the Dodgers to Brooklyn I should be able to redesignate it an "East" team. As it is now, as I understand it, even if you change the city to Brooklyn, the players morale is still evaluated based on the team being a West team.

3. Allow left handed catchers. There are a significant number of historical catchers who threw left handed.

4. Ability to edit names and faces of managers and coaches. Add ability to have "Player-Managers".

5. Ability to make "universal" uniform changes to all players on a roster. As it is now if you wish all the players on a team to have high socks you have to edit each player individually. There was a time when player's uniforms were just that ... uniform. To this I would like added the old fashioned baseball shirt with collar.

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[Karle]

Re: MLB The Show 21: Five Things We Want From Franchise Mode

Jack Clements is only one example of a left handed catcher. There were others in the past though not very many. Nevertheless, I do not understand why they are not allowed in the game. Perhaps it is a programming issue.



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[Karle]

Re: MLB The Show 21: Five Things We Want From Franchise Mode

Willie Keeler, who threw left handed, also played some at 3b, SS and 2b, though the vast majority of the time he played in the outfield.

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[Red_Ted_is_back]

Re: MLB The Show 21: Five Things We Want From Franchise Mode

Jack Clements is only one example of a left handed catcher. There were others in the past though not very many. Nevertheless, I do not understand why they are not allowed in the game. Perhaps it is a programming issue.



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It would be a programming issue. A whole other set of animations to incorporate into the game. Lots of work in that.

I’d love to see it to, but not at the expense of all the other things mentioned here.


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[Scooter3]

Re: MLB The Show 21: Five Things We Want From Franchise Mode

[QUOTE=Karle;2050334785]1. Ability to restructure the divisions or eliminate divisions entirely and change number of teams so one can recreate the MLB of years past. Not just expand the 30 teams, but to also reduce the total number of teams to such as 20, 16 etc.

2. Ability to truly relocate a team vis-a-vis morale. If I relocate the Dodgers to Brooklyn I should be able to redesignate it an "East" team. As it is now, as I understand it, even if you change the city to Brooklyn, the players morale is still evaluated based on the team being a West team.

5. Ability to make "universal" uniform changes to all players on a roster. As it is now if you wish all the players on a team to have high socks you have to edit each player individually. There was a time when player's uniforms were just that ... uniform. To this with collar.

Ditto Karle 1-2-5

1. Text to Speech Synthesizer for teams players managers and Stadiums.
Announcement of Ebbets Field may never be offered otherwise.
This year the announcers only say Brooklyn or
Dodgers separately combining Brooklyn Dodgers together seems a better choice.

2. Ability to reduce the number of teams in each league to 8.
Reduce number of games in a season and number of innings in a game.

3. Accessories offer different eras equipment.
Helmets during Mickey Mantle's time were flat at the bottom.

4. " Baggy Uniforms "

5. New upgraded player models.
More elaborate face tool not a redo but and add to.
Love this amazing game![emoji173]





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[Hammerhunker]

Re: MLB The Show 21: Five Things We Want From Franchise Mode

Just having a consistent year to year effort in improving the mode would make me happy (every suggestion from this thread can be the punchlist). I'll beat my own dead horse, when a company is too engrossed in their micro-transaction program, there is no hope for any other mode. NBA 2k does all of these spiffy things, so why can't SCEA?...well, because...

[jrnlgrn]

Re: MLB The Show 21: Five Things We Want From Franchise Mode

Everyone else has pretty much covered everything I would want. So I'll just give 5 things that I wouldn't necessarily call high priority but should be included for realism sake.

1. INJURIES

• Contextual injuries based on what's actually happening in the game. No more of the previous play the ball fouled off behind the plate but somehow the pitcher took a nasty shot to the head.
• Show the injured player, I don't need to see a bone popping out, but show the player grabbing the affected area (shoulder, hamstring),sitting down if it's really bad or hobbling at least to indicate were the injury is.
• The commentary team kind of brush off injuries they should be talking about and that commentary should probably replace or work in conjunction with the pop up message

2. REBRAND/RELOCATE ANY TEAM

• We should be able to rebrand relocate any team within our franchise not just the team you're using. Especially since we have a stadium creator just because I'm not using the rays doesn't mean I want them to stay in the Trop (nobody deserves that)

3. COMMENTARY

• Give them something to say. I'm not sure how many lines the commentary guys have but RDR2 had 500,000 of dialogue. There ar so many stats and things going on in a baseball season there has to be a lot more to say that than "He's certainly not Chipper Jones" or "The freedom in that hack". They can talk about other games going on league leaders anything there is a lot to talk about.
• Related to the previous point I don't dislike Heidi they just need to drop her model, and give her more information to talk about. She can talk about injuries the mood in the stadium doing. She's a wasted opportunity
• Make it more fluid in 2K they will be making a comment then get interrupted then pick back up with there original thought. I hit a single to the gap and the guys are still talking about how "They'd be shocked if the pitcher went to the well a 3rd time"

4. LIVELY DUGOUTS, BULLPENS, BALL BOYS

• Live cutscenes. Players in the Bullpen or Dugout should have some kind of AI routines that can be cut to instead. The should be reacting to amazing plays or look uninterested in blowouts, moving between leaning over the dugout fence and sitting down. Laughing, scowling just make them more alive. Let's see a ball hit into the bullpen and the guys warming react. The Ball boys/girls probably should be reacting when a line drive is at their head just saying.
• Please mo-cap someone walking down the dugout stairs properly. Lots of games struggle with stairs but we have the tech let's get this done. It looks terrible.
• There's a lot of personality you see from players all we really get in The Show are the occasional hijinks pregame cut scene.

5. MANGER/GM PHILOSOPHIES AND MOVEMENT

• We should see managers and GMs hired and fired by the computer. I've seen managers and staff go to other teams but it doesn't seem to really do anything or not really acknowledged in any meaningful way.
• Both GMs and Managers should have different philosophies. You could start the GM with the teams current philosophy but if they get fired the type of players, how much the team spends should change based on the new front office. That keeps things fresh over multiple years as new regimes come in maybe they decide to build for the long term through the farm system or want to win "now" through free agency.
• Managers should have their own identity as well. Maybe a guys old school and leaves pitchers in for longer or is really aggressive on the bases regardless. Maybe he never wants his pitchers to play it safe and just go after the opposition big bats. There is so much they could do.

Again these aren't the most important things but would help with immersion.

[Jhack99]

Re: MLB The Show 21: Five Things We Want From Franchise Mode

There are so many things 5 isn't enough.. However.

Rotating Schedules, this has been a need for MANY a years. Or give me the ability to make the schedule..

Improved Drafting/Scouting. Four scouts isn't enough. And increase player depth (I'm looking at you West Coast) This would also include international scouting and signing periods.

Rule changes need to be updated. Playoff rule change, happened years ago, still not correct in the show. Slides at second base are 95% illegal. I'll throw replay challenges in here as well, they need to be everywhere for every scenario. I'd love to be able to challenge the back end of a double play, but nope.

Defensive AI/Bullpen. Do I need to explain this one. If they have a lefty available in the pen and I have three righties coming to bat you can bet I'm seeing the lefty.. Defensively - diving catches with subpar fielders, plays off or near walls are way to clean and easy for the cpu, never a bobble or bad hop miscue..

Stats, stats, and more stats. Make them available everywhere in game especially. I want historical stats vs a pitcher broken down by batter by pitch type etc. Make the touch pad useful for this instead of being a waste of time that I gotta hit the pause button.

I could go on forever...

[Godgers12]

Re: and now for something completely slightly different

* left-handed catchers. we got left-handed shortstops, past time catchers get that same opportunity lol
* cpu balks. and catchers interference while they're at it
* normal bunts. this ain't rocket surgery, just cut off the rocket
* player attribute progression/regression where attributes stay the same the whole season with whatever rating a player has day one spring training. and doesn't update till day one the next spring training. so you're taking an unknown chance on signing free agents or re-signing your last years players. free agents are like a box of chocolates: you don't know what ya got till they open their first paycheck
* three-way players: I'm not sure but I think it's pronounced ''manage a trois'' - every day players who can also pitch... AND manage. yeah, player coaches

There hasn't been a left handed full time catcher since 1902....Probably because if you're left handed and can throw, why waste that left handedness at catcher when you can put it to work on the mound?

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