Hey everyone! I am a long time MLB the Show player, starting way back in MLB the Show 10. I sort of lost interest after a while because it seemed like franchise mode was getting worse instead of better as time went on, but this year, when I heard about custom franchises and rebranding I just had to jump on board. I decided to move the Houston Astros to Colorado Springs and rebrand them as the Sky Sox! I even held an expansion draft in Out of the Park Baseball and then replicated the results over in MLB the Show, so it really felt like an expansion team. I spectated every single game of the entire 2020 season. (With no real baseball this year I decided to upload my Sky Sox team's CPU vs CPU games on Youtube for posterity).
My team ended up winning 98 games, but lost the division to Oakland, who won 111 games. I got stomped in the Wild Card game by the third place Texas Rangers, which is even more humiliating.
During the offseason my number one goal was to upgrade at every position that I could. Here was the result
So let me explain what you're looking at. I'll start with my starting lineup
Mookie Betts (not drafted, the Dodgers actually left all the pieces of the Mookie Betts trade unprotected, so I drafted them and made the trade myself!)
DJ LeMahieu (Signed as a free agent after the 2020 season to a 3 year deal, he replaces a revolving door of 5 different guys that I had at that position last year)
Anthony Rendon (Signed as a free agent before the 2020 season)
Giancarlo Stanton (Traded David Price and a top prospect to the Yankees for Stanton during the offseason, he replaces Corey Dickerson)
Mike Yastrzemski (Expansion Draft Pick. Hit 38 home runs with 100 RBI last year)
Yasmani Grandal (Signed as a free agent before 2020 season)
Bo Bichette (Acquired via trade during the 2020 season, he was hitting .108 at the time of the trade)
Dominic Smith (Acquired via trade during the offseason, he replaces Josh Bell, who I traded for at the trade deadline last year, he hit under .200 with only 3 home runs the entire second half)
Kevin Kiermaier (Expansion Draft Pick)
As for my rotation, Bauer and Foltynewicz were both expansion draft picks, Bumgarner and Wheeler were free agents signed before 2020, and DeGrom I acquired this offseason in a trade, had to trade my three best prospects to get him.
Anyway, I am just UNDER the luxury tax threshold this year, so I am hoping that this will be the year that I win it all. If not, well, there will be budget problems on the horizon.