Spring Training 16 - PS4

[takki]

The opening poster is right. Baseball does have the most significant "preseason" out of any sport and it should be improved upon in future titles.

[dazzelle]

I don't play any ST games but if BrianU gets his wish and we could play with hidden ratings i could see some real benefit in playing ST games.

The last few years i had already played a great deal of games to sort my sliders ect. before i started my franchise that i just wanted to get into the real stuff straight away.

[My993C2]

I am playing my ST game schedule right now in MLB 15 using a modified OSFM 2016 roster (thanks to sookiebunnie for all the hard work). Then on March 29th once MLB 16 drops, I will start a new Season using the default MLB 16 rosters, fast forward in the 2016 ST schedule to March 30th and play the last few ST games in MLB 16 before beginning my Season at the same time the real world schedule begins.

I know they are all throw away games. But there is something I like about ST. Plus it's the only time of the year when I play in the minor league stadiums. Plus this year I may play some ST games in the classic stadiums once MLB 16 is released.

[Threeebs]

Spring training is what it is. I got nothing to say about the Show's version but I'm only chiming in because I read above about two individuals who didn't agree with baseball's spring training being the most important...

Baseball is by far and away the hardest sport to play and be good at. I bet most guys on this site couldn't touch 70mph nonetheless 90+. I'm not talking about just making contact either. I mean being able to hang. If you don't think that's harder than catching a football on the run then...

[@legendm0de]

I read all of the opinions, the glaring fact that remains to me is this topic has been dormant since we played this game on PS2 (aside from minor features of it taken out). I think by now, just out of pride of representing MLB they should make it a more playable and welcoming mode. Instead of the 30 exhibition games approach that has been taken since 2006..

No other sports franchises have trouble lending a few resources to a deep and often creative preseason mode. I know the resources here are much more different, but hopefully next season they will take a step toward it. It's inconsequential for me this year, since I can't buy the game without the zone-analog batting, even though they have done a pretty decent job overall this year.

On a more selfish note, there are a significant enough number who engage in spring training and an unknown number who would/could but the mode doesn't offer what it should and isn't welcoming enough. Declaring that no-one cares about spring training enough for the issue to matter is bogus, because if it were made useful as it could be none of us know how many would actually come to enjoy it even if they think nothing of it right now.

edit- One thing I don't want, just to get this out the way, is anything about a player's rating/ability/progression to take effect due to spring training, aside from injuries. Most franchises are good about this anyway to prevent franchise decisions being motivated due to preseason. Those aren't the Spring Training expansions that I'm looking for in any way. Just the authenticity of the format would be a good enough start. Inherently your club will have positions open for battle, etc so we don't need anything gimmicky or mini game-ish. I'm looking for a more improved Spring Training format (scheduling/personnel), and atmospheric improvements. The only thing mandatory I hold is much improved handling of manager AI. If they touch nothing but that I'll be set for life with the mode.

[RandyBass]

Spring Training is another aspect of general management that this series has yet to capture.

To do it right they need to introduce the element of the unknown. Actual ratings should not be available going into Spring Training. Instead they should give you stats, a scouting report from your scouts (which would essentially be ratings but without complete accuracy), and then have it so the battle plays out for roster spots. Then the user would take all the information, including Spring Training performance, and make roster decisions.

This would help make Spring Training mean something, like it does in real life where guys emerge to take those last few roster spots on the 25 man roster.

[RandyBass]

Quote: Originally Posted by RandyBass

Spring Training is another aspect of general management that this series has yet to capture. To do it right they need to introduce the element of the unknown. Actual ratings should not be available going into Spring Training. Instead they should give you stats, a scouting report from your scouts (which would essentially be ratings but without complete accuracy), and then have it so the battle plays out for roster spots. Then the user would take all the information, including Spring Training performance, and make roster decisions. This would help make Spring Training mean something, like it does in real life where guys emerge to take those last few roster spots on the 25 man roster.

Come to think of it, actual ratings shouldn't be available at all in franchise mode. No GM alive has ever known with complete accuracy what a player's abilities are. As a player is scouted they can come pretty close, but for the sake of realism there needs to be that slight fluctuation, where a scouting report is off relative to that scout's ability.

The unknown would also help improve the significance of scouting in this game, because even in this age of advanced stats old school scouting still plays a role. Teams will still send scouts to evaluate players in other organizations.

So for example you want to trade for a reliever at at the deadline, you send some scouts to check a few guys out, and the more you scout the more accurate the report becomes. This could be the little mini game within the game, to help improve the GM aspect of this series.

Hopefully we'll see something along these lines in the future.

[Ghost Of The Year]

The only time I look at ratings during any of my seasons is end of September so I can temporarily change those ratings on all teams players I feel the game will force retire a few players who other wise wouldn't, example a couple years back Ichiro always retired after year 1.