[Armor and Sword]

Hello OS Show Nation!!! Wow.....another cycle has passed and we are ready for the final version on the PS4! Amazing how quick it has gone. But each and every year we have gotten improved gameplay, vastly improved fielding animations and ball physics as well as excellent audio and ballpark ambience.





MLB 20 promises to be another subtle advancement from the fantastic MLB 19 in terms of improved tagging, more unique OF breaks on hit balls, and again enhanced throwing and fielding animations.





For all of those who have used my sliders in the past you know the drill. We play with a totally clean screen. No visual aides what so ever, utilizing the Classic pitching and Directional hitting interfaces.



When you dive into my approach at playing MLB The Show keep an open mind. Dare yourself to dream of playing every pitch of every inning so the magic of baseball can unfold for you over the course of this cycle. I can assure you if can make an effort to play at least 120-162 games you will get the full monty of what makes MLB The Show the greatest console sports game on the planet. The “little things” really shine and you will see things in game 100 that you never saw in the previous 99. Believe me, trust me and dive in. Endure a month long cold spell at the plate. Endure a month long shellacking of your pitching staff as you grasp at reasons of WTF is going on.....that will make that 15 game winning streak, that 10 game hitting streak, that monster run of scoring 50 runs in 6 games, that 3 HR game, hitting for the cycle, getting to the post season, WINNING THE WORLD SERIES that much sweeter.





Trust the settings, trust the dice rolls, and try to get better!







1. Sample size - Please play 25-35 games before jumping off a bridge because you can’t hit or pitch. Also be honest with yourself about your skill level and ability. Especially when it comes to hitting. The Show emulates hitting so well. And guess what? It is the hardest thing to do in all of sports. That is why we have guys playing football on Sundays (they cannot hit a 95 MPH fastball nor want any part of standing in the dish facing that kind of heat coming at their head). Adjust pitch speed down or up if you find it too difficult or too easy.



2. Buy into the clean screen approach and embrace this way of playing - Turn off those visual guides, cues and arrows. Do not use guess pitch. It all makes you a lousy player. Learn how to play baseball. Use your eye’s and instinct’s. Sit on pitches, have patience at the plate, learn what good pitch sequencing is all about when you are on the bump. This is not an entry level way of playing. Clean screen is hardcore simulation style baseball. Our timing and our IQ coupled with player ratings determines our ultimate success.







Version 3.0 2/12/23




Settings:



Batting and Baserunning:



Hitting Difficulty: HOF



Hitting Interface Directional (Timed)



Input Type - Buttons



Plate Coverage Indicator - Off



Camera Shift - Off



In-Play View Offense - Broadcast



Hitting View: Fisheye (Users Choice)



Ball Trail - Off



Button Interface: Classic



Guess Pitch: Off



Baserunner Interface: Default



Baserunning Decisions: Assist



Sliding Decisions: Assist



Runner Window: Off (Much more challenging and rewarding plus cleaner screen)



Pitching:



Pitching Difficulty: HOF



Pitching Interface: Classic



Pitching View: Broadcast



Pitching Ball Marker: Off ("On" for those that struggle with it off)



Pitch Confidence: On



Pitch Delay: Normal



API: Default



Fielding:



Throwing Interface: Buttons



Throwing Meter: Off



Throwing Difficulty: NA



Throwing Decision: Off



Throw Canceling: On



Fielding Decision: Auto



Defensive Shift: Manual



All Indicators - off



Fielding View Offense: Broadcast



Fielding View Defense: Broadcast



General



Strike Zone: Off



Hot Zones: Off



Warm Up Relievers - On



Balks: Off



Tutorial Tips - Off



Post Game Auto Save - Off



Umpire Balls and Strikes: Personalized



Umpire Close Plays: On



Check Swing Appeals: On



Injuries: On



Ejections: On



Scorebar Display - On



Pitch Select Display - Off



Swing/Pitch Info - Off



Vibration - Off



Game Log Order - Default



Presentation Options



Presentation Mode - Broadcast



Pre Pitch Cameras - Batting Only



Frequency - High Leverage



Batter Walkup - On



In-game Ticker - On



Closed Captioning - Off



Mode Updates - Occasional



MLB.com Updates - On









Gameplay Sliders



Dynamic Difficulty Sensitivity - user choice ( I do not use it)



Human Contact - 5



Human Power - 4



Human Timing - 5



Stride Difficulty - 5



Human Foul Frequency - 5



Human Solid Hits - 4



Human Starter Stamina - 8



Human Reliever Stamina - 5 (-3)



Human Pitcher Control - 6



Human Pitcher Consistency - 6



CPU Contact - 5



CPU Power - 4



CPU Timing - 5



CPU Foul Frequency - 4



CPU Solid Hits - 4



CPU Starter Stamina - 8



CPU Reliever Stamina - 5 (-3)



CPU Pitcher Control - 5



CPU Pitcher Consistency - 6



CPU Strike Frequency - 5



CPU Manager Hook - 4 (+1)



CPU Pickoffs - 5



Fastball Pitch Speed - 9 (user preference)



Off speed Pitch Speed - 9 (user preference)



Fielding Errors Infield - 5



Fielding Errors Outfield - 5



Throwing Errors Infield - 5



Throwing Errors Outfield - 5



Fielder Run Speed - 4



Fielder Reaction - 4



Fielder Arm Strength Infield - 5



Fielder Arm Strength Outfield - 5



Baserunner Speed - 5



Baserunner Steal Ability - 6



Baserunner Steal Frequency - 6



Wind - 5



Injuries - 10 using 30 team control for played games 6 when you simulate games around the league before your game and 6 when you advance to the next day or simulate games, quick manage etc.



Injuries using Bacons Fictional Roster - 6



Injuries using Single Team Control - 7



Trade Slider 5 - April



Trade Slider 5 - May



Trade Slider 6 - June



Trade Slider 10 - July,



Trade Slider 5 - August



Trade Slider 5 - September



Trade Slider 5 - October



Trade Slider 10 - November thru February



Trade Slider 7 - Spring Training





For those looking to curb HR’s



CPU/HUM Power both set to 4



For those looking to curb HR’s and exit velocity (less perfect/perfect hit balls)



CPU/HUM Power both at 4

CPU/HUM Timing both at 4





Classic Roster adjustments for use with 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s classic roster season play!!



HUM/CPU Power 5

HUM/CPU Pitcher Stamina 8

HUM/CPU Reliever Stamina 6 (-2)

CPU Pitcher Hook 3 (+1)

Armor’s True Classic Clean Screen Approach

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For the ultimate in simulation and challenge here is the way I play The Show with classic pitching vs the CPU.



OK so here is the deal on turning off the R2/pitch types button showing on screen.



All you need to do to see your pitchers repertoire is press right on the d-pad and hit R1 and you will see in order his pitch selection (and you can access this screen to see his strike % throughout the game with his various pitches to see how he is dealing and this eliminates the crutch of the pitch confidence display explained later)



So you press d-pad left and then R1 and see this:



1.4FB



2.SL



3.SPL



4.CHG



That means:



4FB = X = 1 finger

SL = O = 2 fingers

SPL = Triangle = 3 fingers

CHG = Square = 4 fingers

4 Fingers and wiggle means his 5th pitch (R1)



Now you know his best to weakest.



Watch the catcher....if he has 2 fingers showing he wants you to throw a Slider. If he shows 4 fingers he wants a Change up.



I typically allow my catcher to call some of my pitches for me. But I will overrule him often when I want. If you want to see where he wants it pull back R2 and the location icon will flash. The catcher also will sometimes just pat his mitt and/or point inside or outside and I will just aim to that area of the zone (or out of it). Or again I will shake him off. Remember if your controller rumbles while your picking your location the marker (which you can't see) is out of the strike zone. A slight rumble is barely out of the zone..and strong rumble is way out of the zone. I do start pitches out of the zone like sliders, cutters splitters etc and they come back in based on the break and spin. It takes practice....but it is well worth the reward.



Now if your pitcher has 5 pitches 4 fingers and a wiggle will mean the pitch assigned to the R1 button.



Another cool thing is you no longer see a pitchers confidence in any particular pitch. Again simply press d-pad left and R1 once and you can see each pitch and the strike %. The more strikes you have thrown with a pitch the higher the confidence level will be in that pitch.



When you have played the game as long as I have....you know if your throwing a certain pitch for strikes a lot...they will have a lot more confidence in it. I am at a stage with this game where I don't need many visual aides. But if your not there yet turn the pitch type screen back.....play the game the way your comfortable playing it.



I will tell you though the layers of simulation by pitching this way is amazing and fun. Turning the ball marker off and no controller vibration also truly makes it challenging and realistic. Sometimes your pitches will not go where you want them.



Just like IRL!!!



Give this a shot. I have a feeling you will love it. It will take some getting used to...but after a dozen to a couple of dozen games you will be in the groove.



My good friend and fellow slider guru Josh1977 had some nice input about classic pitching so check this stuff out below as well.



"That said, you definitely have some control over pitch outcome. How long you hold the button matters. It affects pitch speed, command, and the amount of break on breaking pitches. It just isn't 'push a button and go'...there is far more subtlety in it. In fact, if you simply tap the button, it is an excellent way to get shelled".





When pitching in classic, you have about a 1 second time period before you get the controller vibration (i.e. max-effort). The following are my observations...



Max effort pitches (holding the button down till the vibration) result in the following:

More velocity

Less control

A sharper break on breaking pitches

Pitches tend to rise more





Minimum effort pitches (tapping the button) results in the following:

Less velocity

Better control

"Loopier" breaking balls (especially curves/sliders

Pitches sink more (due to lower velo) - changeups will pretty constantly wind up in the dirt

In many cases, an "intermediate" duration is optimal. However, you can vary this from pitch to pitch (i.e. like a pitcher adding/subtracting from the speed of the pitch). This is a tremendous way to keep hitters off-balance to help to avoid them getting solid contact/timing.



This is just a basic overview...I'm sure there are more subtleties involved.

Armor's Directional Hitting Approach

It is all situational for me. So many factors depending on the type of hitter, counts, situation, score etc etc.



First off as far as swing types and counts:



Normal Swing:



0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 3-1, 2-2, 3-2



Contact swing



All Pitchers



0-2, 1-2,



2-2, 3-2

Situational - with weaker hitters to make contact and move runners or sacrifice fly.





Power Swing only with my very best power hitters when I typically have no one on with no outs or no one on with 2 outs.



0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 (green light) 3-1 counts.





Directional strategy:



I position the LS pre pitch and hold throughout the swing however as you know I do not use the visual aide showing the influence (don't need it).



Dead Pull Contact Hitters if the situation calls for a pull



LS at the 9 o'clock for RH 3 o'clock for left handers



Hitters counts only 0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 3-1





Pull Power Hitters with normal swing



LS position



10/11 o'clock positions for RH hitters



1/2 o'clock for LH hitters



Hitters counts only 0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 3-1





Opposite field strategy for RH hitters so I can hit behind the runner...early in counts and hitter counts (0-0, 1-0, 2-0 or 3-1) LS is at 3'clock for LH hitters at 9 o'clock



If I get into a pitchers count or neutral count (0-1, 0-2, 1-1, 2-2, 3-2) I do not use stick influence but I allow the ball to travel deep so I can either slap it the other way or fight it off.





When I simply want to induce a sac fly or ground ball....LS in 12 o'clock or 6 o'clock respectively in hitters counts only.





So I think you can see my approach. In hitters counts I can be far more selective with my pitches and use the LS influence. Basically depending on what I want to do I am looking for one pitch in one spot on 0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 3-1 counts (I rarely green light on 3-0 unless I am up big or down big or have a gut feeling). When I am in pitchers counts or neutral accounts I am simply using my normal or contact swing with no stick influence as I am in battle mode and trying to work the count.



I hope that gives you a good idea of my approach at the dish.







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Armors 30 Team Control Manifesto

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So folks I seem to always get a lot of questions around 30 team control, is it for me, how much control do you use, why do you use it etc. So I want to talk about the why, how and pretty much what I do personally with my 30 team control universe in my proper 2017 Yankees Franchise and my Year 3 1987 Yankees Franchise The Quest For Donny Baseball.



Why 30 team control? Well for me it comes down to these 3 key points





1) Lineup integrity and control - I want to make sure lineups are logical and maximizing every teams talent. This is subjective to the player as well. What I may think makes sense, you may do something differently. Always remember it is your universe and you can shape it any way you want.





2) Trade Czar - I love trading. But I hate dumb trades, like real doozy type trades that make no sense for the present or the future. And they do sometimes occur....of course it's totaly IMO. So if I see a trade that fit's my definition of "being bent over with no lube" I will simply reverse it. Now in the past we had a trade delay option. But for programming reasons (it was causing some issues in the trade engine apparently) it was removed on MLB 16. So to reverse a doozy of a deal simply trade the assets back to each respective team. The team that clearly got the strong side of the deal is the one you should propose the trade back to the team that was fleeced.



3) 40 Man Roster Integrity - I make sure I stay on top of each teams 40 man roster in terms of "A" and "B" prospects. Why? I don't want legit "A" and "B" prospects who are developing nicely to be exposed to the "Rule 5" draft. So Before September I make sure (and of course before the regular season starts) I go through each teams 40 and check out their "top" prospects and make sure I get them on the 40 man roster (if they are not on it) to protect them from exposure to the Rule 5 draft. Of course sometimes there is not enough room, because you do need a good mix of veterans at the AAA level to be on call for potential injuries. So this is a GM aspect I like to do. Plus it get's me familiar with every teams minor league system.



So I create one profile for my club with everything set to manual and then I have a profile called "CPU Franchise" which I assign to every team I do not want full control over.









Everything on this CPU Franchise profile is set to Auto except:



Lineups



40 Man Roster



I do not resign the other 29 teams free agents, I do not manage their injuries (I just stay on top of their lineups so if an injury occurs at the big league level and I do not agree with their call-up replacement or lineups with new player inserted I correct it to my liking).





Again, it is about options and the ability to step in when I want/need to. I do not get overwhelmed with doing player training or scouting for the other 29 teams.





I simply just manage those 3 things I mentioned above.





And of course another perk is if I want to switch teams in a franchise at anytime....I can.



So here is my daily method with 30 team control





Simulate all games on the schedule for the day except my game. That way all the scores show up on my ticker when I play my game.





Monthly I will check every team's stat's, see who is performing well etc and I may make some lineup adjustments to other teams to capitalize on players performing better than expected.



Again it is your universe. Have fun with it. And don't over think it





Trades for your team - So one thing I have in place is a house rule where I only trade with other teams for players that are strictly on the trading block until the month of July (when my storylines will take over as I check standings and teams goals, budget etc etc). Unless a team comes to me with an offer with a player/players not on their trading block, I limit myself to that rule. Some exceptions I will make is if I am trying to make a blockbuster multi star player deal and of course I do not fleece the CPU. What's the fun in that? Maybe it is for you and you can do whatever you want, but for me, I like to keep it grounded and more realistic. With that I do have storylines that will occur in the natural progression of my team and I may move a guy because of it. And again.....Trade deadline and Winter meetings I will look at the league and make logical deals and blockbuster trades as well and keep my league fresh and vibrant.

UPDATE MID-SEASON CONTRACT EXTENSIONS WITH 30 TEAM CONTROL

Before July 31st (End of the trade deadline and after all trades have been consummated by all teams) I go to each team and look at their top 3 players up for an extension that are not arbitration eligible and not a renewable contract.



I use a random number generator:



0-33 I extend them to the max green contract demands they have in years in dollars.



34-100 whatever happens…..happens.



I only do this mid season every year.



Works nicely.

Player Editing Within Your Franchise Universe

So Warmwind has a nice set of house rules that I will begin employing in my off-seasons moving forward (30 team control only). Read below. I think it has great idea’s and will make your franchises far more dynamic!





I do edits, but based on rules.





1. I make position edits based on needs and profiles all the time. There are no consequences for doing this.



2. I'm allowed to trade 1 for 1 between a pitcher's durability and their stamina, but only during the off season. This can coincide with a position edit (RP to SP for example).



3. All players must be allowed to regress without edits if they are having a bad year.



4. For players under 34, I'm allowed to counteract regression, but only if they are having a good year.



5. For players under 36, I'm allowed to counteract half of the regression, but only if they are having a good year.



6. For players of any age, I'm allowed to counteract regression using a trade system, where points from one attribute are traded into another in order to keep it up. This can ONLY be used to counteract regression, cannot be used to boost an attribute higher then where it started the year at. Points taken from Durability are worth double, but it also costs double to keep Durability up.











Have fun with it guys!

New 30 team control fatigue injury system generator

So we were chatting with Bacon and other Bacon franchise players about how MLB The Show’s injury system does not have enough “result of the grind” injuries for position players and pitchers. So we came up with this random number dice roll system that you can implement. I think it is a great way to really add a nice layer of strategy to your 162 game franchise and post season if you make it that far. So here is how it works. And it really takes less than 2 minutes to do for a player or pitcher in question.



Position Players:



If you ever get the notification from your coaching staff that a player can use a day off and you decide to ignore that and play them you take the risk of a minor to major injury. Of course if the game itself doles out an injury to them in the actual game.....well....go with it. So here is how it works. It is based on your players durability rating and two random dice rolls using:



https://www.random.org



When using the above random number generator (which you will find on the right side) set it from 0-100



Here is the Injury Matrix for both OSFM/SDS Rosters and a separate Matrix for Bacon’s Fictional Roster (which has universally lower Durability Ratings):



Durability Rating/dice roll results



90+ = 0-10 results in injury

80-89 = 0-20 results in injury

70-79 = 0-25 results in injury

60-78 = 0-33 results in injury

45-59 = 0-45 results in injury

0-45 = 0-50 results in injury



Bacon’s Roster Matrix:



Durability Rating/Dice Roll Results:



85+ = 0-5 results in injury

70-84 = 0-10 results in injury

55-69 = 0-25 results in injury

35-54 = 0-35 results in injury

34 or below = 0-50 results in injury





Injury severity scale (you can assign whatever injury type you want based on length)



Dice roll/results



0-35 results in 7-10 day injury

36-50 results in 14-20 day injury

51-75 results in 20-45 day injury

76-86 results in 60 day plus injury

87-99 results in “out for the season”





Pitchers are a little tricky and require some effort on your part. Again this is entirely up to you. But this adds another layer of strategy and creates more storylines for your universe!



Starting Pitchers. When you start your game simply check your starting pitchers energy bar before you throw the first pitch. If the energy bar is less than full this could result in a fatigue like injury. So if you decide to use a starter with less than a full energy bar and he pitches 5 full innings or 80 pitches (whichever is higher and by that I mean if he goes 6 innings and 79 pitches you are good, but if he goes 7 innings and 80 pitches he goes into the injury Matrix below):



Pitcher Durability scale/result



80-100 :0-10 will result in miss next start

70-79 :0-15 will result in miss next start

60-69 :0-20 will result in miss next start

0-59 :0-35 will result in miss next start



For your bullpen. This will require you to eyeball this. And again it is up to you.



First off. A universal rule I use is if a guy is used 3 straight days they automatically go into the injury Matrix.



With your bullpen just use the same exact scale for starters and use it only if their energy bar is 70% or less. Their missed time will be 7-10 days if they get the dice roll not in their favor.

Coachmod’s card modifier system (adopted from his MLB 18 slider set).





OS member Coachmod came up with this really awesome card modifier system you can use before every game in your franchise. I am adopting it along with Dowies Wind Random Number modification. Please reference just the card results below and ignore his slider settings as this will work terrific with the slider set as well. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask in the thread. Please do note if you have a rain game adjust wind and throwing errors plus one (for both the CPU and HUM) in addition to any other modifiers you have after you draw your three cards for that game and also for your mod game wind RNG as well.

Dowies Wind Modifier System

A very simply random number check when you get to the 5th innings. Use random.org and generate a number between 1-10 and use the table below:

1-3 Move Wind Slider to 2

4-7 Stays at 5

8-10 Move to 10

If it is a rain game move wind slider and throwing errors for both HUM/CPU up +1. Then do a Wind check in the top of the 5th and if it is raining the modifier will be in addition to the rain mod of +1 (so if the number comes up 1 2 or 3 and it is a rain game your wind slider goes from 6 down to 3 keeping that +1 for the rain, if it was not a rain game the wind slider would go down to two for the same result).

Mikeyo918’s 30 Team Control Sponsership Method and Approach



WILL ONLY WORK WITH 30 TEAM CONTROL

1. NYY - Earnings 12 MIL (all diamonds for sponsor)

In game ticker - 25K/game, Active replay - 2.5K/hit, Walk up - 40K/win



2. LAD - Earnings 12.1 MIL (all diamonds for sponsor)

In game ticker - 25k/game, Active replay - 2.5K/hit, Walk up - 40K/win



3. BOS - Earnings 7.5 MIL (all diamonds for sponsor)

In game ticker - 25K/game, Walk up - 2.5K/hit



4. CHC - Earnings 8.6 MIL (all diamonds for sponsor)

In game ticker - 25K/game, Walk up - 3.5K/strikeout



5. SFG - Earnings 7.8 MIL (all diamonds for sponsor)

In game ticker - 25K/game, Walk up - 3.5K/strikeout



6. NYM - Earnings 7.2 MIL (all diamonds for sponsor)

In game ticker - 25K/game, Walk up - 40K/win



7. STL - Earnings 8.7 MIL (all diamonds for sponsor)

In game ticker - 25K/game, Walk up - 3.5K/strikeout



8. LAA - Earnings 7.6 MIL (all diamonds for sponsor)

In game ticker - 25K/game, Walk up - 2.5K/hit



9. PHI - Earnings 7.4 MIL (all diamonds for sponsor)

In game ticker - 25K/game, Walk up - 40K/win



10. HOU - Earnings 8.1 MIL (1 diamond/1 gold)

In game ticker - 25K/game, Walk up - 15K/homerun



11. WAS - Earnings 6.8 MIL (1 diamond/1 gold)

In game ticker - 25K/game, Walk up - 2K/hit



12. ATL - Earnings 6.1 MIL (all golds for sponsor)

In game ticker - 20K/game, Walk up - 2K/hit



13. TEX - Earnings 5.8 MIL (all golds for sponsor)

In game ticker - 20K/game, Walk up - 2K/hit



14. CWS - Earnings 6.8 MIL (all golds for sponsor)

In game ticker - 20K/game, Walk up - 15K/homerun



15. SEA- Earnings 5.5 MIL (all golds for sponsor)

In game ticker - 20K/game, Walk up - 55K/save



16. TOR - Earnings 4.8 MIL (all golds for sponsor)

In game ticker - 20K/game, Walk up - 15K/double play



17. SDP - Earnings 5.2 MIL (all golds for sponsor)

In game ticker - 20K/game, Walk up - 3.5K/run



18. ARI - Earnings 5.6 MIL (all golds for sponsor)

In game ticker - 20K/game, Walk up - 20K/stolen base



19. BAL - Earnings 4.4 MIL (all silvers for sponsor)

In game ticker - 15K/game, Walk up - 1.5K/hit



20. PIT - Earnings 3.7 MIL (all silvers for sponsor)

In game ticker - 15K/game, Walk up - 20K/win



21. DET- Earnings 3.8 MIL (all silvers for sponsor)

In game ticker - 15K/game, Walk up - 10K/homerun



22. COL - Earnings 4 MIL (all silvers for sponsor)

In game ticker - 15K/game, Walk up - 2.5K/run



23. MIN - Earnings 5 MIL (all silvers for sponsor)

In game ticker - 15K/game, Walk up - 10K/homerun



24. MIL - Earnings 4.5 MIL (all silvers for sponsor)

In game ticker - 15K/game, Walk up - 1.5K/hit



25. CLE - Earnings 3.3 MIL (all silvers for sponsor)

In game ticker - 15K/game, Walk up - 10K/double play



26. OAK - Earnings 3.5 MIL (all silvers for sponsor)

In game ticker - 15K/game, Walk up - 15K/stolen base



27. CIN - Earnings 4.4 MIL (all silvers for sponsor)

In game ticker - 15K/game, Walk up - 1.5K/homerun



28. KC - Earnings 2.4 MIL (1 silver sponsor)

In game ticker - 15K/game



29. TB - Earnings 2.4 MIL (1 silver sponsor)

In game ticker -15K/game



30. MIA - Earnings 2.4 MIL (1 silver sponsor)

In game ticker - 15K/game