I love the dugout view for all the reasons mentioned above. But I will acknowledge that it isn't always the best view in regards to seeing where the pitch was thrown to the batter. We can see up and down, but not inside or outside from the dugout. But I still love it.
Well my first day of the 2018 season is behind me. 1 MoM game and 14 CPU vs CPU games and I have to say I am impressed. It appears that player ratings actually mean something. I only watched one CPU vs CPU game from start to finish (Cubs vs Marlins) as I wanted to watch for new animations, but I did catch innings usually ones late in the games from the other 13 CPU games and why I think player ratings mean more this year than previous years is that in a lot of games, they may have been close when the two starters were still in the game. But more often than not once the teams went to the bullpens, the team with the better rated batters and/or better rated relievers tended to win. There was really only one upset all day and that was when the Blue Jays pummeled the Yankees 7-2. But the usual suspects like the Astros, Indians, Red Sox, Cubs and Nationals won their respective games with late inning offensive pushes. Plus there was a nice mixture of high, low and medium scoring games from all the CPU vs CPU games.
My MoM game was a low scoring pitchers due. But it felt very real like this is how the real world opener this coming Thursday could play out. Rockies versus the D-Backs, Gray vs Greinke. Greinke pitched well striking out many and for the most part kept the Rockies hitters in check with the exception of the odd hit here and there. Gray also pitched well, but when Gray allowed some solid contact, the Rockies above average defenders robbed the D-Backs hitters. Example: Arenado performed his magic on more than one occasion, but it wasn't just him. Then in the top of the 7th while trailing 1-0 and Greinke still in the game but at about 100 pitches, Trevor Story and Chris Iannetta each crushed solo big flies against Greinke and from that point on my bullpen was able to close the door for a 2-1 win.
Oh and one more observation from my MoM game play. I stopped calling pitch locations a few weeks back because I might have been giving myself an unfair advantage over my CPU opponents. But I observed something with my pitcher Jon Gray that I don't think I ever saw in MoM game play in previous years. There seemed to be a game plan between him an Iannetta and for most of the game he was working down in the zone. There were times when he threw up, but for the most part most of his stuff was down. I noticed this early in the game when the announcers via the Broadcast presentation mode showed all the pitches from one plate appearance. But from that point on, I paid closer attention and it was a repeatable pattern. I don't think this is just MoM game play. It is likely just the overall improvements of CPU game play. But I have to say things are looking good. I am still not happy SDS never warned us about turfing Season mode. But if the game play becomes more stats based results via player ratings, then all I have to say is "Season Mode"? Never heard of it.