Little things that remain broken for years

[bobeureally27]

I'm looking open discussion on things that should have been addressed a long, long time ago, but continue to be in the game as if everything is working as normal. For the record, even as a franchise-only player, I do not mean improvements to the non-gameplay aspect of franchise.

For instance: bunting. This is something that used to work somewhat well back in the late 2000's, but for at least the past five versions, it is virtually impossible to bunt. 90% of bunts are either rockets or popped up. Why? I understand that baseball has shifted away from small ball in favor of the almighty home run, but you should still be able to drop a bunt down. One of my favorite strategies--which does not work at all in The Show--is to bunt with the second hitter of the first inning after the leadoff guy gets on. Why does it have to be this way?

Second...official scoring. Official scoring is not overly complex, but The Show makes it seem like you need to be a brain surgeon to know proper official scoring rules. For example, in a game I just finished, this scenario played out:

Tie game in the bottom of the 10th (extra inning runner is turned off FWIW). First hitter hits a rocket to first base that gets under the first baseman's glove. It is properly scored an E3 (in other words, he reached on the error. But for the error, the runner would not have reached.) Yes, I just repeated myself because it seems like that gets misunderstood. On the next pitch, the runner steals second. Fine. Here is the problem: the hitter drives in the run, securing the win for his team. No big deal (I was on the losing end). HOWEVER, my pitcher is charged with an earned run! Why? I don't know. Under zero circumstances should this have been an earned run.

Those right there are my two biggest gripes on the gameplay side. I would love to hear others' input on this. I'm sure I'm not the only one that is frustrated that these simple items have not been fixed after all these years.

[JoshC1977]

Re: Little things that remain broken for years

Bunting is not hard if you have a skilled player (i.e. good bunt ratings). Don't expect to be able to bunt with anyone.

The scoring decision stuff, I have no comment as I don't really get bothered by stats.

[countryboy]

Re: Little things that remain broken for years

I bunt quite well (sacrifice and bunt for hits). Its no longer automatic like it was back on '16 when you could essentially bunt perfectly with anyone.

I use zone hitting and bunting isn't an issue where I simply cannot bunt successfully no matter the player or user input.


Official scoring, I personally haven't run across, or noticed, the issue that you're referring to in regards to unearned run being counted as earned.

[bobeureally27]

Re: Little things that remain broken for years

I bunt quite well (sacrifice and bunt for hits). Its no longer automatic like it was back on '16 when you could essentially bunt perfectly with anyone.

I use zone hitting and bunting isn't an issue where I simply cannot bunt successfully no matter the player or user input.


Official scoring, I personally haven't run across, or noticed, the issue that you're referring to in regards to unearned run being counted as earned.

I'm sure that I can't be the only one seeing the scoring issue, because that would mean that my copy is just defective...

Here's another scenario:

Bases empty. Batter hits a ball to the deepest part of the ballpark. A likely double if all things are normal. Outfielder overruns the ball, allowing the batter to make it to third. But then, the throw into the infield is wild and the runner is able to score.

Here's how this was scored: Triple (arguable, but not egregious. Could have been a double given the bobble in the outfield) and...an RBI! I mean, that isn't right, no matter what way you slice it.

[bobeureally27]

Re: Little things that remain broken for years

Bunting is not hard if you have a skilled player (i.e. good bunt ratings). Don't expect to be able to bunt with anyone.

The scoring decision stuff, I have no comment as I don't really get bothered by stats.

Interesting point about bunting. I had to double-check some ratings and it does look like this COULD be my issue. I'll keep an eye on this.

[bobeureally27]

Re: Little things that remain broken for years

One thing I want to add to the list of issues, but I also know there have been threads on this, is stealing. Stealing seems like it's virtually impossible. And I will say it goes both ways. I generally have no trouble throwing out baserunners trying to steal, as long as the throw isn't wild.

[countryboy]

Re: Little things that remain broken for years

I'm sure that I can't be the only one seeing the scoring issue, because that would mean that my copy is just defective...

Here's another scenario:

Bases empty. Batter hits a ball to the deepest part of the ballpark. A likely double if all things are normal. Outfielder overruns the ball, allowing the batter to make it to third. But then, the throw into the infield is wild and the runner is able to score.

Here's how this was scored: Triple (arguable, but not egregious. Could have been a double given the bobble in the outfield) and...an RBI! I mean, that isn't right, no matter what way you slice it.

Again, I haven't seen it or noticed it if it happened.

[countryboy]

Re: Little things that remain broken for years

One thing I want to add to the list of issues, but I also know there have been threads on this, is stealing. Stealing seems like it's virtually impossible. And I will say it goes both ways. I generally have no trouble throwing out baserunners trying to steal, as long as the throw isn't wild.

Read through the threads on stealing and you'll see some extremely helpful advice.

I've been successful stealing as has the CPU and I've been thrown out and have thrown out CPU baserunners attempting to steal.

In my experience its extremely balanced and does a good job of taking several factors into effect in regards to whether the steal attempt is successful or not.

[KnightTemplar]

Re: Little things that remain broken for years

One thing I want to add to the list of issues, but I also know there have been threads on this, is stealing. Stealing seems like it's virtually impossible. And I will say it goes both ways. I generally have no trouble throwing out baserunners trying to steal, as long as the throw isn't wild.

This. There’s still a problem when a runners out streched hands go OVER second base, beats the tag, but because the hands are OVER the bag and not TOUCHING the bag (because of lack of collision detection) the runner is called out. Frustrating and I’ve shown screen shots of this in the past.

[IndianSummer]

Re: Little things that remain broken for years

Yes I have witnessed the error issue resulting in a earned run charged to the pitcher as well…..numerous times.

As far as bunting, I play NL ball with the Cardinals and always check the bunting attribute of the player before attempting to bunt. I also have a player with pretty good wheels in the 8 hole to try and avoid a double play when using my pitcher to bunt him over. I will add this for what it’s worth, I also try to ease the bat back after squaring to bunt to soften it some….I don’t know if it really helps but I feel it does.

I should also add that I am playing 20.

[canes21]

Re: Little things that remain broken for years

Bunting is a mess. I've done A LOT of testing bunts with players rated all over the place and it is just bad.

Yes, you can have a run of having bunts that are considered good, but overall bunts don't work like they should.

The reason we have rocket bunting now is because of the online crowd. People used to abuse bunting and SDS tuned bunts to be harder off of the bat to combat this. For the offline player it means we have to deal with the unrealistic bunts.

I spent a few days early in the release purely testing bunting and it's incredible how bad it was. I don't have the numbers on hand, but it was around 50% of bunts not only made it to the infield dirt, but had the velocity to make it to the outfield if they were not fielded.

I was testing in batting practice, in team practice, and in real games. There is also an unrealistic amount of bunts that get caught in the air in the infield dirt. That about never happens in real life, but it happened a handful of times every 100 or so bunts.

My favorite bunts thankfully hardly ever happen, but when you literally spend 3 days dropping 1,000's of bunts down you see them, were ones that dropped in for hits in the outfield grass. Yes, I saw multiple bunts that looped over the infield and into the grass for a hit.

Is bunting so off that it is impossible to put down a sacrifice? No. Are they unrealistically hard off of the bat? Beyond yes. Does this lead to the CPU going to 2nd to get the lead runner way too often? Yes yes yes. Does this also lead to the CPU constantly bunting into double plays because they try to suicide squeeze way too often and the majority of them are caught in the air? Yes.

Everyone's experience will be a bit different, but I literally tested 1,000's of bunts which is more than enough for me to say confidently that bunting is bad and needs work.

I get why they tuned if for online play, but it desperately needs to be tuned for the franchise player to be more authentic.

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[bobeureally27]

Re: Little things that remain broken for years

Read through the threads on stealing and you'll see some extremely helpful advice.

I've been successful stealing as has the CPU and I've been thrown out and have thrown out CPU baserunners attempting to steal.

In my experience its extremely balanced and does a good job of taking several factors into effect in regards to whether the steal attempt is successful or not.

Can you link some of the info? The search function isn't working for me at the moment, for some reason.

[countryboy]

Re: Little things that remain broken for years

Can you link some of the info? The search function isn't working for me at the moment, for some reason.

Hope this helps

https://forums.operationsports.com/f...ing-bases.html

[bobeureally27]

Re: Little things that remain broken for years

Hope this helps

https://forums.operationsports.com/f...ing-bases.html

So I’ve used that strategy for years, and it still doesn’t work like I believe it should. I also do worry about pitch selection. I don’t just get to first and go.


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[Funkycorm]

Re: Little things that remain broken for years

Here is another useful stealing thread:

https://forums.operationsports.com/f...-stealing.html

So check what I wrote about when to run, etc.

As far as stealing itself, all I simply do is preload with L2 + the direction of the baserunner I want to steal with.

Honestly, if you run in the right situations and how I preload, stealing is honestly on the easy end. I have lead the league in 3 seasons, and now a 4th in progress with a player with 80 speed and stealing (this includes coach bonuses) and have a second in the top 5 each season.

Point is: run when the time is right and just preload. Don't worry about extra leads or timing the jump perfectly.

This is on all star difficulty.

As far as other things with the game:

The one thing I would like to see improved in the game is errors that are scored base hits. But that doesn't impact gameplay so I am not too worried about it.

Also to note, the above is all for MLB20 but in my time with 21, the same stealing principles applied.