MLB The Show 26 Wishlist
MLB The Show 25 was one of the better iterations of the franchise in recent years, but the game can always improve. I have some thoughts on the different aspects of the game that can be improved to make next years’ game the best one yet.
Before we get into that, let’s talk about some of the good things about 25. First off, they finally got rid of sets and seasons from Diamond Dynasty which was one of the worst things they have implemented in recent years. 25 brought back the normal power creep we had been accustomed to, and it honestly was well executed. The content in Diamond Dynasty was some of the best we have gotten, and I hope to see some of the aspects back in 26. Outside of Diamond Dynasty, Franchise mode got the biggest update in recent years which added some more in depth aspects to the offseason. I love Franchise mode, and these changes were definitely an improvement, but I don’t think it was the big change it was hyped up to be. Road to the Show implemented college which was one of the coolest additions to MLB The Show. Once you made it to the MLB, Road to the Show was very stale and offered no incentive to continue playing. Now we can move on to what I hope to see in 26.
Diamond Dynasty
While I love the content style in 25, there are definitely big improvements they can make. 25 was focused around collections which offered a big reward once completed, but they often forced players to spend large amounts of stubs to complete. Collections are good, but they need to be reworked in 26. Chase packs are cool and all, but putting a new one in the game every week made them feel stale and unnecessary. Chase packs offer some of the best cards in the game at expensive prices, so having a new meta card in the game every week was draining the stub counts of players. Either offer more ways to earn the packs or don’t release a new one every week. Mini seasons is a cool way for offline players to grind for packs and cards, but it is extremely time consuming. Many players prefer to play online, so making the exclusive card rewards sellable would not force players to spend hours grinding something they do not enjoy.
Franchise/Road to the Show
Franchise mode needs a big overhaul on the mechanics of the mode. It gets very stale with little ways to innovate your team. Other sports video games offer players different ways to construct your team, gameplan, scout, and anything else that comes with being an owner. MLB The Show does not do a great job of creating realistic challenges to building up a franchise. I would love to see new ways to control the development of players to mold them into what kind of players I want on my team. I would like to be able to put in tactics that make my team play differently than other teams. I would just like to see some big changes to the mode. Road to the Show needs some sort of storyline implemented to make it worth it to play multiple seasons. The grind through the minor leagues is cool because it feels rewarding to make it to the big leagues, but once you are there, there is nothing to incentivize playing.
Gameplay
The gameplay in 25 was not good, plain and simple. I did not enjoy playing games online in 25 because the pitching felt like you were just hoping the ball would end up somewhere close to where you wanted, and hitting felt like you were better off just bunting every at bat. PCI shrinkage was a major issue which needs to be removed. I do not understand why my PCI would shrink because it is a video game, not real life. Just because hitting a low and away slider is hard in real life does not mean it needs to be impossible in a video game. Pitching wise, the PAR region needs to be tuned because it provides a way bigger area for the pitch to land which takes away any skill of being able to time your pinpoint motion or meter timing. If I get a perfect release, I want the ball to go where I placed it.
Overall, I just want 26 to be a good game. I found myself turned off by 25 by the summer which does not really happen. Hopefully 26 is a game that I can play all year without feeling bored or angry.