9 Innings with MLB2K6's AI
I'll try to keep this intro short...
When I first loaded up MLB2K6, the first thing I did was go to the 'GM Career' mode and signed myself up as the GM of the Philadelphia Phillies. I'm a sad, sad Phillies fan, I have no excuse. Anyhow, I was impressed by the wide array of GM/Front Office type of stuff in the game, paired with the scouting, etc etc. The interface is troublesome at times (completely inexcusable that you can scroll up and down between players to compare in the "Player's Card" view on some screens, then inexplicably you can't on other screens.)
I was presented with some interesting goals for the season, some challenges, blah blah...this isn't what I'm here to talk about. Overall, I've been incredibly disappointed, and completely perplexed at most things in this game.
I’ll explain now that for baseball, I prefer to manage the front office type stuff and *watch* the games. That is, go to ‘play game’ and select neither side…just let the AI play and watch how the team does. That way my own ability has no bearing on the game, instead it’s up to the moves I made away from the field that matter.
Before I get to our featured presentation, I'll tell you the moves I made:
* Fired the default manager, Rocky Cunningham (C+ Prestige, D- Motivation, Fully Passive style)
* Hired manager Woody Sizemore (D+ Prestige, A Motivation, Aggressive Style)
* Traded SP Brett Myers and 3B David Bell to the Rangers for 3B Hank Blalock
* Moved SP Randy Wolf from AA to ML
* Signed SP Wade Miller to a 4-year deal.
* Traded OF Aaron Rowand and SP "Felix Berger" to the Devil Rays for OF Carlos Crawford
* Traded OF Abraham Nunez to the Rockies for OF Choo Freeman
* Signed Shingo Takatsu to a 7-year (!) deal...
* Re-signed Utley and Howard to new deals to make them happier.
My lineup looks like this:
1- SS Rollins
2- 2B Utley
3- RF Abreu
4- 3B Blalock
5- 1B Howard
6- LF Burrell
7- CF Crawford
8- C Lieberthal
9- P ---------
Versus Lefties Howard gets dropped down a bit and Crawford is moved up the lineup considerably.
Pitching Rotation:
1- Randy Wolf
2- Jon Lieber
3- Ryan Franklin
4- Wade Miller
5- Gavin Floyd
My current record?
1-11!!!!!!!!!!!!
We currently own the absolute worst record in baseball, by far! Not only that, but I really don’t know why! It’s not the team morale, as I’ve made a few speeches, checked the team pulse, all that, and everything is fine.
As far as the individual rankings go, here’s how the team stacks up:
Overall- 12th
Offense- 3rd
Defense- 17th
Pitching- 22nd
We have a .260 avg, hit 9HR, 13SB (I have the manager setting very aggressive for SB), and a 3.93 team ERA.
Tonight we’re facing the 6-7 Washington Nationals, .269avg, 14HR, 2SB, 3.98 team ERA.
I’ve witnessed some absolutely ridiculous feats in the 12 games I’ve painfully endured. However, I decided to watch at least 1 and chronicle it for the board, to try and give other folks who don’t have the game yet some idea of the AI’s performance…
Here goes…
Pitching matchup:
Brian Lawrence (1-0, 5.06ERA, 10K) vs. Ryan Franklin (0-2, 5.40ERA, 10K)
Team matchup:
Washington-
Offense: 3.5
Defense: 1.5
Pitching: 3.5
Speed: 5
Overall: 14th
Philadelphia-
Offense: 5
Defense: 3
Pitching: 2
Speed: 2.5
Overall: 12th
Lineup Note: Mike Lieberthal (.256, 1HR, 2RBI in 12 G) is resting in favor of Sal Fasano tonight.
11PM EST Start Time
Top of the 1st:
First pitch swinging for Tucker, grounder to SS, out.
Byrd lines out to Blalock for out number 2.
Soriano pops it up in the infield, Rollins under it…that’ll end the inning.
Bottom of the 1st:
Rollins swings at pitch number 2 and flies out to deep SS.
Utley flies out to deep CF, 2 down.
Abreu loops one to right for a single.
Blalock dribbles one to the 3B…the 3B stands there and stares at the ball, waits for it to get to him, then fires to second. In his excitement of being on base, apparently Bobby Abreu decided he wanted to go to 3rd, rounded second, then walked back to the base. By time he got back to 2nd, the ball was there and he was tagged out. Completely inexcusable running AI. This happens…a lot. Blalock was nearly at 1st before the ball reached the infielder.
Top of the 2nd:
Franklin Ks Church on a nice breaking ball.
Grounder to 3rd, Blalock was playing a deep 3B and actually charged the ball, no complaint there. However, as soon as the ball hit his glove, it magically teleported to his throwing hand and he short-armed it to 1st all in one motion. When the ball hit his glove, his right foot was on the ground, the ball was out of his throwing hand and heading to 1st before his left foot ever touched the ground. It was honestly that quick. The baserunner wasn’t even half way down the line before he was thrown out.
Fick flies out to right on the first pitch.
Bottom of the 2nd:
Howard hits a 441ft HR to left field. Low/away slider that Howard golfed out and over the wall. Stance/swing look awkward, but much more awkward is the fact that Ryan Howard’s player model in this game makes him look like Endy Chavez (see: stringbean physique.)
Burrell flies out to left, one out.
Crawford grounds out to 3rd, see the comment about the grounder to Blalock, an exact repeat.
Fasano grounds out to SS…no quick animation here, instead the fielder stops, stands still, then lobs it to 1B like he’s warming his arm up. Barely beats Fasano to the bag.
Top of the 3rd:
Double into left center for Guzman.
First pitch swinging, fly out to center for Blanco.
Franklin throws it 3 feet wide of the catcher…Guzman takes 3rd easily. Lawrence strikes out swinging, 2 down.
Michael Tucker grounds one hard to Rollins…the non-chalant throw just barely beats him to the bag, Franklin gets out of a jam.
Bottom of the 3rd:
Franklin pops out to 2nd on the first pitch.
Rollins grounds out to 2nd on the first pitch.
Utley drives one to deep left-center, but Byrd gets under it for the 3rd out.
Top of the 4th:
Franklin starts the inning at 59% stamina.
Byrd grounds out to 2nd.
Soriano hits one weakly in the air to the pitcher, he stumbles off the mound and catches it.
Church grounds out to 2nd, 3 up and 3 down.
Bottom of the 4th:
Lawrence starts off the inning at 59% stamina as well.
Abreu grounds out to 1st.
Blalock fouls out to 3rd.
Howard singles to left on the first pitch.
Burrell strikes out looking.
Top of the 5th:
Franklin starts the inning with 45% stamina.
Vidro flies out to short.
Fick strikes out swinging.
Guzman flies out to SS.
Bottom of the 5th:
Lawrence starts the inning with 42% stamina.
Crawford looks at 3 straight pitches called balls, swings at two in the zone, then grounds one past the first baseman for a hit.
Crawford steals on the first pitch as Fasano misses a bunt. Lawrence at 29% stamina now. Fasano strikes out swinging.
Ryan Franklin up to bat now…no pinch hitter brought in. Franklin lines it to right for a single, go figure! 1st and 3rd, one out.
Lawrence at 22% stamina.
Crawford was running on the pitch, Rollins made no attempt to contact the ball, and Crawford was out by a mile…2 down, Franklin on 1st. Wow.
Rollins managed to foul a few off before striking out swinging, inning ended.
Top of the 6th:
Franklin starts the inning with 32% stamina.
Blanco strikes out looking.
Lawrence…batting for himself…flies out to left, 2 down.
Tucker grounds out to 2nd to end the inning.
Bottom of the 6th:
Lawrence starts the inning at 15% stamina.
Utley gets a ‘meatball’ to hit, but just hits it to deep right for an out.
Abreu pops out to short on the second pitch, which was located in the vicinity of his shoulders.
The Nationals brought in Ayala…or so the announcers and the graphics folks thought….because when the cutscene showing Ayala goes away, Jon Rauch is on the mound. Joe Morgan comments that the starter should’ve been left in longer. Classic.
Blalock grounds out to 3rd.
Top of the 7th:
Franklin starts the inning with 21% stamina.
Byrd grounds out to 3B on the 1st pitch.
Soriano grounds out to short, 2 down.
Church grounds out to short, inning over.
Bottom of the 7th:
Howard grounds out to second. He was barely out, due to the 2B admiring the ball rolling toward him…
Ok…this one is tough to explain. Burrell hit one right back up the middle…it went THROUGH the pitcher’s foot, over the second base bag, was scooped up by the shortstop (who was running toward RF to get to it), who then ran head-first into the 2B and knocked him over…and all in one motion threw an absolute rocket…across his body…sidearm…while jumping…and got Burrell out by 4 steps.
Crawford grounds out to short.
Top of the 8th:
Franklin starts the inning at 14% stamina. For the love of God, get a reliever in!
Franklin bounces two pitches to the catcher before Vidro grounds it to 1st for an out.
Franklin at 11%.
Franklin throws two more pitches in the dirt before Fick swings at an eye level pitch. A foul ball and a missed curve later and Fick is heading to the dugout.
Franklin at 6%.
Guzman swings at the first pitch, grounder to 3rd, he’s done.
Bottom of the 8th:
Franklin due up 2nd in the inning.
Fasano grounds out to short.
Franklin…batting….for himself. Shoot me. Ryan swings at 3 straight pitches and sits down for out number 2.
Rollins grounds out to short to end the inning.
Top of the 9th:
Franklin starts the inning with 4% stamina…working on a 1-hitter. The AI subs in Mike Lieberthal for Sal Fasano at catcher. Why? I have no idea.
Blanco strikes out swinging.
Franklin at 0% stamina.
Closer Tom Gordon comes in for Ryan Franklin…
PH Marlon Anderson pops out to second for number 2.
Tucker singles to center.
Marlon Byrd grounds it to Blalock to end the game.
Shocked that my team actually won…shocked that the score was only 1-0 (6 hits for PHI, 2 hits for WAS). My last five games have been 5-2, 3-2, 5-3, 4-2, and 6-2.
A few statistical notes…batters are swinging FAR too much, PHI threw 78 pitches (60 strikes) and WAS threw 68 pitches (57 strikes). At least this can presumably be tweaked with the sliders.
I’m also shocked that I didn’t see any pickoffs, though I suppose that’s due to a distinct lack of runners on base. Each game I see 1-2 runners on 2B get picked off because they never slide back to the bag, they just walk back and get beaten there by the ball.
Some shoddy management AI (leaving pitchers in to hit, then subbing them out in the subsequent half inning, etc) that I’ve seen frequently, and in much worse situations (i.e. – down a run, leave the SP in late in the game to hit…fail…then bring in a reliever for the next half).
Some really ugly animations in this game really dashed any sense of realism one could hope for as well, in terms of appearance and results.
Sadly, a rather uneventful game to report on. Guess I’ll raise the AI’s ‘take ball’ and ‘take strike’ overall ratings and watch some more baseball!
When I first loaded up MLB2K6, the first thing I did was go to the 'GM Career' mode and signed myself up as the GM of the Philadelphia Phillies. I'm a sad, sad Phillies fan, I have no excuse. Anyhow, I was impressed by the wide array of GM/Front Office type of stuff in the game, paired with the scouting, etc etc. The interface is troublesome at times (completely inexcusable that you can scroll up and down between players to compare in the "Player's Card" view on some screens, then inexplicably you can't on other screens.)
I was presented with some interesting goals for the season, some challenges, blah blah...this isn't what I'm here to talk about. Overall, I've been incredibly disappointed, and completely perplexed at most things in this game.
I’ll explain now that for baseball, I prefer to manage the front office type stuff and *watch* the games. That is, go to ‘play game’ and select neither side…just let the AI play and watch how the team does. That way my own ability has no bearing on the game, instead it’s up to the moves I made away from the field that matter.
Before I get to our featured presentation, I'll tell you the moves I made:
* Fired the default manager, Rocky Cunningham (C+ Prestige, D- Motivation, Fully Passive style)
* Hired manager Woody Sizemore (D+ Prestige, A Motivation, Aggressive Style)
* Traded SP Brett Myers and 3B David Bell to the Rangers for 3B Hank Blalock
* Moved SP Randy Wolf from AA to ML
* Signed SP Wade Miller to a 4-year deal.
* Traded OF Aaron Rowand and SP "Felix Berger" to the Devil Rays for OF Carlos Crawford
* Traded OF Abraham Nunez to the Rockies for OF Choo Freeman
* Signed Shingo Takatsu to a 7-year (!) deal...
* Re-signed Utley and Howard to new deals to make them happier.
My lineup looks like this:
1- SS Rollins
2- 2B Utley
3- RF Abreu
4- 3B Blalock
5- 1B Howard
6- LF Burrell
7- CF Crawford
8- C Lieberthal
9- P ---------
Versus Lefties Howard gets dropped down a bit and Crawford is moved up the lineup considerably.
Pitching Rotation:
1- Randy Wolf
2- Jon Lieber
3- Ryan Franklin
4- Wade Miller
5- Gavin Floyd
My current record?
1-11!!!!!!!!!!!!
We currently own the absolute worst record in baseball, by far! Not only that, but I really don’t know why! It’s not the team morale, as I’ve made a few speeches, checked the team pulse, all that, and everything is fine.
As far as the individual rankings go, here’s how the team stacks up:
Overall- 12th
Offense- 3rd
Defense- 17th
Pitching- 22nd
We have a .260 avg, hit 9HR, 13SB (I have the manager setting very aggressive for SB), and a 3.93 team ERA.
Tonight we’re facing the 6-7 Washington Nationals, .269avg, 14HR, 2SB, 3.98 team ERA.
I’ve witnessed some absolutely ridiculous feats in the 12 games I’ve painfully endured. However, I decided to watch at least 1 and chronicle it for the board, to try and give other folks who don’t have the game yet some idea of the AI’s performance…
Here goes…
Pitching matchup:
Brian Lawrence (1-0, 5.06ERA, 10K) vs. Ryan Franklin (0-2, 5.40ERA, 10K)
Team matchup:
Washington-
Offense: 3.5
Defense: 1.5
Pitching: 3.5
Speed: 5
Overall: 14th
Philadelphia-
Offense: 5
Defense: 3
Pitching: 2
Speed: 2.5
Overall: 12th
Lineup Note: Mike Lieberthal (.256, 1HR, 2RBI in 12 G) is resting in favor of Sal Fasano tonight.
11PM EST Start Time
Top of the 1st:
First pitch swinging for Tucker, grounder to SS, out.
Byrd lines out to Blalock for out number 2.
Soriano pops it up in the infield, Rollins under it…that’ll end the inning.
Bottom of the 1st:
Rollins swings at pitch number 2 and flies out to deep SS.
Utley flies out to deep CF, 2 down.
Abreu loops one to right for a single.
Blalock dribbles one to the 3B…the 3B stands there and stares at the ball, waits for it to get to him, then fires to second. In his excitement of being on base, apparently Bobby Abreu decided he wanted to go to 3rd, rounded second, then walked back to the base. By time he got back to 2nd, the ball was there and he was tagged out. Completely inexcusable running AI. This happens…a lot. Blalock was nearly at 1st before the ball reached the infielder.
Top of the 2nd:
Franklin Ks Church on a nice breaking ball.
Grounder to 3rd, Blalock was playing a deep 3B and actually charged the ball, no complaint there. However, as soon as the ball hit his glove, it magically teleported to his throwing hand and he short-armed it to 1st all in one motion. When the ball hit his glove, his right foot was on the ground, the ball was out of his throwing hand and heading to 1st before his left foot ever touched the ground. It was honestly that quick. The baserunner wasn’t even half way down the line before he was thrown out.
Fick flies out to right on the first pitch.
Bottom of the 2nd:
Howard hits a 441ft HR to left field. Low/away slider that Howard golfed out and over the wall. Stance/swing look awkward, but much more awkward is the fact that Ryan Howard’s player model in this game makes him look like Endy Chavez (see: stringbean physique.)
Burrell flies out to left, one out.
Crawford grounds out to 3rd, see the comment about the grounder to Blalock, an exact repeat.
Fasano grounds out to SS…no quick animation here, instead the fielder stops, stands still, then lobs it to 1B like he’s warming his arm up. Barely beats Fasano to the bag.
Top of the 3rd:
Double into left center for Guzman.
First pitch swinging, fly out to center for Blanco.
Franklin throws it 3 feet wide of the catcher…Guzman takes 3rd easily. Lawrence strikes out swinging, 2 down.
Michael Tucker grounds one hard to Rollins…the non-chalant throw just barely beats him to the bag, Franklin gets out of a jam.
Bottom of the 3rd:
Franklin pops out to 2nd on the first pitch.
Rollins grounds out to 2nd on the first pitch.
Utley drives one to deep left-center, but Byrd gets under it for the 3rd out.
Top of the 4th:
Franklin starts the inning at 59% stamina.
Byrd grounds out to 2nd.
Soriano hits one weakly in the air to the pitcher, he stumbles off the mound and catches it.
Church grounds out to 2nd, 3 up and 3 down.
Bottom of the 4th:
Lawrence starts off the inning at 59% stamina as well.
Abreu grounds out to 1st.
Blalock fouls out to 3rd.
Howard singles to left on the first pitch.
Burrell strikes out looking.
Top of the 5th:
Franklin starts the inning with 45% stamina.
Vidro flies out to short.
Fick strikes out swinging.
Guzman flies out to SS.
Bottom of the 5th:
Lawrence starts the inning with 42% stamina.
Crawford looks at 3 straight pitches called balls, swings at two in the zone, then grounds one past the first baseman for a hit.
Crawford steals on the first pitch as Fasano misses a bunt. Lawrence at 29% stamina now. Fasano strikes out swinging.
Ryan Franklin up to bat now…no pinch hitter brought in. Franklin lines it to right for a single, go figure! 1st and 3rd, one out.
Lawrence at 22% stamina.
Crawford was running on the pitch, Rollins made no attempt to contact the ball, and Crawford was out by a mile…2 down, Franklin on 1st. Wow.
Rollins managed to foul a few off before striking out swinging, inning ended.
Top of the 6th:
Franklin starts the inning with 32% stamina.
Blanco strikes out looking.
Lawrence…batting for himself…flies out to left, 2 down.
Tucker grounds out to 2nd to end the inning.
Bottom of the 6th:
Lawrence starts the inning at 15% stamina.
Utley gets a ‘meatball’ to hit, but just hits it to deep right for an out.
Abreu pops out to short on the second pitch, which was located in the vicinity of his shoulders.
The Nationals brought in Ayala…or so the announcers and the graphics folks thought….because when the cutscene showing Ayala goes away, Jon Rauch is on the mound. Joe Morgan comments that the starter should’ve been left in longer. Classic.
Blalock grounds out to 3rd.
Top of the 7th:
Franklin starts the inning with 21% stamina.
Byrd grounds out to 3B on the 1st pitch.
Soriano grounds out to short, 2 down.
Church grounds out to short, inning over.
Bottom of the 7th:
Howard grounds out to second. He was barely out, due to the 2B admiring the ball rolling toward him…
Ok…this one is tough to explain. Burrell hit one right back up the middle…it went THROUGH the pitcher’s foot, over the second base bag, was scooped up by the shortstop (who was running toward RF to get to it), who then ran head-first into the 2B and knocked him over…and all in one motion threw an absolute rocket…across his body…sidearm…while jumping…and got Burrell out by 4 steps.
Crawford grounds out to short.
Top of the 8th:
Franklin starts the inning at 14% stamina. For the love of God, get a reliever in!
Franklin bounces two pitches to the catcher before Vidro grounds it to 1st for an out.
Franklin at 11%.
Franklin throws two more pitches in the dirt before Fick swings at an eye level pitch. A foul ball and a missed curve later and Fick is heading to the dugout.
Franklin at 6%.
Guzman swings at the first pitch, grounder to 3rd, he’s done.
Bottom of the 8th:
Franklin due up 2nd in the inning.
Fasano grounds out to short.
Franklin…batting….for himself. Shoot me. Ryan swings at 3 straight pitches and sits down for out number 2.
Rollins grounds out to short to end the inning.
Top of the 9th:
Franklin starts the inning with 4% stamina…working on a 1-hitter. The AI subs in Mike Lieberthal for Sal Fasano at catcher. Why? I have no idea.
Blanco strikes out swinging.
Franklin at 0% stamina.
Closer Tom Gordon comes in for Ryan Franklin…
PH Marlon Anderson pops out to second for number 2.
Tucker singles to center.
Marlon Byrd grounds it to Blalock to end the game.
Shocked that my team actually won…shocked that the score was only 1-0 (6 hits for PHI, 2 hits for WAS). My last five games have been 5-2, 3-2, 5-3, 4-2, and 6-2.
A few statistical notes…batters are swinging FAR too much, PHI threw 78 pitches (60 strikes) and WAS threw 68 pitches (57 strikes). At least this can presumably be tweaked with the sliders.
I’m also shocked that I didn’t see any pickoffs, though I suppose that’s due to a distinct lack of runners on base. Each game I see 1-2 runners on 2B get picked off because they never slide back to the bag, they just walk back and get beaten there by the ball.
Some shoddy management AI (leaving pitchers in to hit, then subbing them out in the subsequent half inning, etc) that I’ve seen frequently, and in much worse situations (i.e. – down a run, leave the SP in late in the game to hit…fail…then bring in a reliever for the next half).
Some really ugly animations in this game really dashed any sense of realism one could hope for as well, in terms of appearance and results.
Sadly, a rather uneventful game to report on. Guess I’ll raise the AI’s ‘take ball’ and ‘take strike’ overall ratings and watch some more baseball!
Comment