Ranking MLB The Show

[Decent at Best]

Curious how everyone would rank the last four show games based SOLELY on gameplay, and "the franchise experience" (not a big DD guy)?

MLB the show 20, 21, 22, 23?

Sent from my SM-A146U using Operation Sports mobile app

[DarthRambo]

Of course this is all opinionated answers here, but for me MLB 22 from the last four. MLB 23 if they fix the ease of getting strikeouts vs the cpu. That alone caused me to about lose complete interest in playing 2023 anymore.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

[countryboy]

MLB ‘23 is the best all around game of the 4 as it’s easily the best playing on the field. The presentation took another step forward as did the commentary. Franchise gets the somewhat “unfair” leg on the others due to baseball adding the balanced schedule where you play everyone.

MLB ‘21 will be second and still May be my all time favorite despite the fact it was the first year without Y2Y saves. The commentary was great, gameplay was solid, and I have a special place for it due to being the last game with the MLB network theme. Franchise was another small step in improvement and kept me intrigued. Also the last game where the field art for opening day, all star game and postseason would update properly with the year. Plus last year got a ton of mid game stat pop ups. I could stop playing’23 and jump into ‘21 and pickup where I left off and not miss a beat nor look back.

MLB ‘22 was good but I had a personal frustration with franchise primarily because of having to start over again and had a difficult time attaching myself to my team. On the field it was great, the presentation was good and commentary got better. Franchise took a good step forward but again I struggled to find an attachment. I bounced between ‘22 and ‘21 so much over the year. I couldn’t go back to ‘ 22 like I could ‘21.

MLB ‘20 was the last time my carryover save worked and so there’s a special place for that year due to that as I loved that feature. But I’ve tried going back and playing it and the gameplay feels dated. I didn’t think I’d go from ‘20 to ‘21 do to loss of Y2Y saves but the gameplay in ‘21 was better in my experience so I did the start over thing.

That’s my rankings:

23
21
22
20


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ghost Of The Year]

I give 20 21 and 22 all a solid A+ but at this point 23 gets an incomplete grade.

I put 23 away and went back to 22. I will wait until after the last patch and try again in December or January. Then I will reevaluate whether its even with 20-22 in my opinion.

[NYJin2011tm]

I’m with Country…

23
21
22
20

[Madden08PCgmr]

Franchise mode in this game is just boring as h@ll. Box-checking. You really have to love your team to stick with it for any length of time.

20 tops my list as a retro-playthrough guy. So many great rosters.

They scr@wed us royally taking carry over saves away.

[JoshC1977]

20 is the worst game of the bunch. Poorly balanced as SDS had not properly compensated for their inexplicable decision that year to remove HR/9 from having an in-game impact (not to mention the dubious addition of perfect-perfect swings). And don't get me started on how easy it was to execute check-swings. Put differently, this is the last game of the series where I felt I pretty much HAD to use sliders (I did a little on '21, but in hindsight, it was likely unnecessary).

21 improved greatly on 20 but over-corrected a bit much on check-swings. Otherwise, a solid effort.

22 vs 23 is a REALLY tough call for me. The scouting/drafting interface in 23 is archaic (they added library index cards to replace a sortable spreadsheet - how does THAT make any sense?) and the new schedule/playoff format rules being added is another massive ding against it (I loathe it in real life too). I've also seen more questionable AI in 23 with respect to trades and FA signings than in 22.

BUT....and it's a huge but...I've tried going back to 22 on a number of occasions and it never lasts long for one major reason. The gameplay on 23 is stellar. The feel of hitting is just so much better, the hit variety is amazing, the CPU batters are dangerous without overly relying on HRs and the defensive play is so much more lifelike (partly due to the much improved defensive ratings).

So for me, I'd rank them like this...

Tie for 1st: 22 and 23
3rd: 21
(insert massive gap)
4th: 20

[forme95]

Quote: Originally Posted by Madden08PCgmr

Franchise mode in this game is just boring as h@ll. Box-checking. You really have to love your team to stick with it for any length of time. 20 tops my list as a retro-playthrough guy. So many great rosters. They scr@wed us royally taking carry over saves away.

Love your signature!! Great line and great movie