Top Five Wishes for MLB 13: The Show

[RaychelSnr]

I think because it come out early in the year, MLB: The Show is often overlooked and/or underrated come “game of the year” voting time. The rapid fire releases of Madden, NHL, FIFA, and NBA games, not to mention this year’s late slate of racing titles, can overshadow a game that typically drops in the first quarter.

However, I think MLB: The Show is, and has been, the best virtual representation of a sport on the market today. Its quality and improvements aren’t necessarily flashy, but, like baseball itself, the game is full of nuances and details that make it a deep and strategic experience.

That said, it has never been perfect either. Gameplay issues, like too many comebackers to the pitcher, can mar the proceedings. The modes are deep, but not always accessible or exciting. Online has certainly been a mixed bag.

Assuming we all want these well-known quirks to be fixed, here are my top five wishes for MLB: The Show...either next year or next generation.

Read More - Top Five Wishes for MLB 13: The Show

[Feldman011teen]

I think everyone needs to admit that what Madden has done has helped revolutionize the career modes in games. Atleast it sets a bar for others that were lacking to use such things. If this game doesn't get a presentation overhaul, i'll probably skip it this year. The Move integration was a letdown.

[OhDaesu19]

Caley,
Great write up! The only mode I play is online and I only play online league games, never lobby games. With that being said, my #1 wish would be a robust website. Something very similar to a fantasy baseball website where you can make changes to your line up, make trades, pick up free agents, etc and then have it reflected in the Show. That would bring online leagues to the next level!

Also, and I can't take credit for this idea (thank you @openroad_7), a nice little realistic thing that needs to be added would be foul tips caught by the catcher for a strike out.

[sydrogerdavid]

I would love to see all these things. Especially the classic teams and moments part.
To add on, my number one wish is for the devs to finally get Busch Stadium to look more authentic.

[seanjeezy]

Re: Top Five Wishes for MLB 13: The Show

Assuming this is going to become another wishlist thread, I'll post my only wish (maybe not my only wish, but the wish of utmost importance lol) here too: (spoiler tags due to length)

Spoiler

I know its been mentioned multiple times, but I am now officially fed up with the progression system in this game. Please make progression independent from a player's overall rating, or better yet, get rid of the overall bar completely. 39 year old Ichiro should not be progressing just because his overall is lower than his potential, nor should Felix Hernandez be regressing in his prime because his overall is higher than his potential (and deservedly so). Here are my suggestions for making player progression more true to life:

1. Get rid of the overall bar
IMO the overall bar is fairly useless since it varies by position and the CPU already takes individual ratings into account when deciding lineups and rotations. The two things that overall affects the most is progression and free agency, and it shouldn't be necessary for either.

2. Incorporate skill and progression curves based on age
There is statistical evidence that shows that baseball players usually reach their physical peak around the age of 26-27, maintain their ability for 4-5 years, then slowly decline until their mid-30's, where they experience a moderate to sharp decline. This article describes the process in greater detail.

• Fast players -The criteria I used were hitters with 25 or more stolen bases and at least eight triples (103 total players including Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes and Carl Crawford).
• Young players with old-player skills (high K, BB and HR) - These players exhibit power at an early age with high number of walks and strikeouts. The criteria I used were hitters who are 25 years old or younger with more than 20 HRs, a K/PA greater than 15% and a BB/PA greater than 5% (73 total players including Joey Votto, Evan Longoria, Troy Tulowitzki).
• Players with no plate discipline - Walk rate less 5% and K% greater than 20% from those with more than 200 plate appearances (148 players including Carlos Gonzalez, Jeff Francoeur, Ryan Doumit).

1. Fast and young-old players have a higher peak than the rest of the population.
2. Young-old players peak at age 25, which is one year earlier than the general population.
3. Fast players age extremely well from their peaks at 26 to 31, then they lose on average fewer then five runs over five seasons. Young-old players lose more than 10 runs in the same time span.
4. Players with no plate discipline age similarly to the overall population.

There are also separate curves for plate discipline over at Fangraphs:

Overall, hitters generally decrease their swing rates during their careers. Younger players almost immediately increase their selectivity. In particular, hitters decrease their number of swings at pitches outside the zone. This aligns with the general idea that hitters become more selective the longer they are in the league. But the selectivity doesn’t increase forever. At about age 33, we begin to see a slight uptick in Swing%. Hitters seem to be swinging more at pitches both in and out of the zone.
Also, the older the hitter, the closer the trend in swing rate and Z-Swing% becomes. That’s largely due to the fact that pitchers appear to throw more pitches in the zone to aging hitters. There is effectively a “mini curve” for Zone% from ages 21 to 28, which happens to align with a hitter’s peak years. After 28, the percent of pitches in the zone increases by 1% through age 34—and almost 3% if they last until age 39. There are probably two things going on here, and it’s hard to parse out. On the one hand, as hitters decline, pitchers might realize they can get away with attacking the zone more often. In fact, we see a negative correlation between wOBA in year one and Zone% in year two (-.39). On the other hand, hitters become more disciplined and offer less frequently at pitches outside the strike zone during the same period—at least until age 33. So part of the effect may simply be that pitchers are forced to come into the zone more often against aging hitters because they are less likely to chase bad pitches.

Here's an article over at Fangraphs explaining pitching aging curves:

Some initial thoughts:
— Velocity is a young man’s game. Rather than a parabolic curve of some sort, pitchers generally lose velocity from the beginning. Through age 28, they appear to stay within .5 mph of their peak velocity; but starting at age 29 they have lost about 1 mph with the loss accelerating every year thereafter.
— The loss of velocity is important because we see that pitchers’ abilities to record strikeouts follow a curve similar to the speed of their fastballs. However, the slope of the decline is not as dramatic as the velocity decline. This is perhaps do to a couple factors. First, pitchers are likely to further develop secondary and tertiary pitches as they mature. Many of the best arms in the minors can dominate using mostly their plus-fastball and little in the way of plus- or above-average off-speed stuff. But surviving in the majors requires more than just a plus-fastball — which many pitchers quickly realize. Either they develop additional weapons, or they move on. Second, and somewhat related, pitchers might develop a fastball with additional movement — like a sinker or a cutter — to compensate for the velocity decline. This also could lead to a less steep decline in K/9 and SWG_Strike rate than a pitcher’s velocity decline alone might predict.

3. Have potential only affect baseball skills
Baseball skills are contact, vision, discipline, arm accuracy, blocking, baserunning, and the /9 ratings and command for pitchers. Physical abilities (raw power, speed, arm strength, velocity) should remain static for the most part (more on that next), then slowly regress with age. Potential would determine the likeliness/frequency of the player gaining points, coaching would determine the number of points gained.

4. Specialized exp based training and actual growth (height, weight) during the offseason
We always hear scouts talking about pitchers having "an ideal pitching frame" or hitters who eventually have to move off a position because they became "big for the position", I would love to have the ability to train physical abilities (and additional baseball skills) in the offseason using exp gained during the year similar to RTTS. The system would be give and take, so if I have a player weight train during the offseason his power would increase but some of his other skills would decrease as well. See Kyle Seager and Michael Saunders last offseason, Justin Smoak this offseason.

I would love to see my teenage prospects physically mature and gain/lose the skills to match. Incorporate storylines (or DNA, attitude, etc.) to give my prospects life and I honestly would never play another game.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks storylines and exp based training are good ideas. I want to feel connected to my organization, instead of "player A has an A potential, I better keep him around".

[JohnBoy227]

Once agian madden had good ideas, but put out a crap game that doesn't work without patches.

the show has to get mlb 2k pitching. and don't charge us for classic ball parks.

[ps3veron]

Wow we're already talking MLB 13, where does the time go?!

I'll be basic here: I loved 12, pretty much the perfect sim.

Some new physics engine (player contacts, again taking this from this year's Madden) would be very much appreciated. A more comprehensive weather engine (ie sudden wind change that would affect the newly developed ball trajectories). Finally, the commentary needs to go, its getting seriously stale.

Apart from that we already have a phenomenal game!

[statum71]

LOVE the idea of MLB Network Intergration.

But.....

Dear Sony,

If you're listening to the Connected Careers idea.....PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't make the same mistake Madden did: limiting us to ONE user team.

Other than that, great ideas.

[sportdan30]

Love the suggestion of generated counts. That's a must!

COMMENTARY COMMENTARY COMMENTARY.......it needs an overhaul. It's dreadfully stale and boring to an otherwise fantastic game.

[RandallB21]

@seanjeezy
Great post. I agree with all those points.

World Baseball Classic would be a feature I would like to see dropped into one of the next MLB: The Show. Since they already list if the players are US born or not, why not have their country of origin. Every 3 years you have the option to participate in the WBC and, if your Franchise team is good enough, be picked as manager of a team. With that option you would be able to hand pick your team, and the players would either accept or deny your request to join the team.

[addybojangles]

I spent a fair amount of time with the Vita version for 12 and all I can ask for is BROADCAST PRESENTATION, PLEASE.

It played quite well, it just needed that broadcast presentation to make it as engaging as its big brother.

[inkcil]

Agree with ev'thing EXCEPT connected careers...SONY should NOT include this. Replace Rivalry Mode with a Playoff Mode with a special Playoff Presentation Package.

[assclown25]

1- create a stadium- even if its something as easy as putting pieces of any of the real ballparks together to make a new stadium.
2-like alot of people are saying-COMMENTARY!
3- find a way to make games go by faster-( i dont need to see where every foul ball I or the computer hits lands)
4-we need new baserunning controls- simplify it- tired of running myself out of innings cause of double steals and guys running to 3rd and home and having guys on 1st and 3rd and trying to tag up and end up hitting into DP cause both runners go!
5-since your only MLB Franchise currently get the rights to minor league affiliates!

[TerryP]

Re: Top Five Wishes for MLB 13: The Show

Agree with ev'thing EXCEPT connected careers...SONY should NOT include this. Replace Rivalry Mode with a Playoff Mode with a special Playoff Presentation Package.

I agree 100%!. It's been a wishlist item for years now. Not even sure what Rivalry Mode is about, never been curious enough to even take a look at it.

[Mister Magnus]

I'd love to see them bolster the Rivalries mode! I think every sports game needs to have something where you can pit two teams against each other for an extended series. I LOVE that The Show realizes this but it needs to add a calendar and more in-depth setup options. Also, across the series stat-tracking, more transparent fatigue, and some added presentation elements in-game and between-games and it would be the sweetest summer distraction of all. It's just a few tweaks away.