MLB The Show 20 had its big reveal trailer earlier this week and tipped off its fans to some new additions, as well as updates that are coming to the long-running series this year. No, the game hasn’t been confirmed to be coming to any other platforms yet, despite rumors to the contrary.
One of the problems that yearly release sports games run into an awful lot is that there just isn’t a ton different from one iteration to the next. That can hurt fan interest in the game. That, in turn, can make the development stagnant because a lower install base can mean less resources devoted to development.
The Madden NFL series has certainly been accused of becoming stagnant. MLB The Show 20 seems aware of that danger. In the reveal trailer and through the release of a new developer Livestream schedule, it appears the team at Sony worked hard to bring enough new, without a total revamp to bring gamers back.
Read on to find out the biggest and best updates and additions that are coming that have us fired up for March.
Relocation
Easily the biggest change between this year’s MLB The Show 20 and previous versions is the ability to relocate your team. The trailer revealed that players will be able to find new cities for their teams, rename them and come up with new uniforms and logos.
This kind of feature is one that sports gamers absolutely love. There’s just something pretty darn cool about dreaming about a major league baseball team setting up shop in your favorite city. It’s a good bet that people will be taking advantage of this quite a bit when the game launches later this winter.
If there’s one thing that has us a little disappointed, it’s that Sony San Diego didn’t go all the way and come up with an expansion mode. NBA 2K19 developers can probably attest to how popular that kind of mode is, especially in series that are being talked about as getting rather repetitive. That series introduced a fully customizable expansion team option and saw the game saw a massive surge in popularity last year.
Despite the fact that we can’t create a realistic expansion franchise in MLB The Show 20 just yet, bringing an existing team to town has us chomping at the bit to give it a try.
Full Minor League Rosters
While this baseball series is one that prides itself on realism, one area where it fell short was minor leaguers’ names. Sony San Diego has been creeping towards having full minor league rosters for a while now. There was a time when not every single minor league level was available in the game.
Sony San Diego has been getting bonus points for a while now in that they’ve allowed avenues for people to edit the rosters in order to name the “fictional” minor leaguers in the game, their real names. Now MLB The Show 20 is apparently taking away the need to do this. This is a big enough deal that I’d be quite geeked up this year’s title even if the ability to relocate wasn’t included.
New Competitive Events
MLB The Show 20 is going to be trying to take care of its massive fandom in new and interesting ways this year. While we don’t know a ton of specifics about just what might be on the horizon, it appears the Sony San Diego team has quite a few tourneys and other things in the works.
It’s going to be interesting to see just what is on tap with this, but it’s always felt like the game didn’t take enough advantage of its online modes. This appears to be a direct nod to those feelings. If Madden can get big when it comes to tournaments and whatnot, there’s no reason why The Show can’t as well.
Defensive Improvements
This is another one of those updates that doesn’t have a ton of specific info, but Sony San Diego has talked about a kind of “perfect-perfect” update that will even better reward players whose timing is perfect. That actually works on both offense and defense and adds another layer of realism. There are also some big tweaks being done specifically when it comes to playing in the field. That includes what the dev team is calling the “extreme catch indicator.”
The reveal trailer also talked about fielder efficiency improvements and better button accuracy. All of this is to make sure that MLB The Show 20 is truly depicting the best defensive players in the game as the best defensive players in the game. Anyone who has played these titles knows that an errant throw and a dropped catch can factor in big time. It’s refreshing to see the team is worried about and working on making this a priority. There’s even a live stream event dedicated specifically to these defensive improvements kicking off on February 6.
Showdown
It appears there’s going to be a brand new mode called Showdown coming to MLB The Show 20 and this is also one of those additions we know the least about. It appears this is going to be a part of the Diamond Dynasty mode but just how it’s going to go off is a complete mystery. That alone has us wanting to see and hear more about it, despite the fact I’m not a huge Diamond Dynasty fan. This is another feature that will get its own Livestream showing it off. The developers are planning an “official reveal” on March 7.
That unveiling is just a few weeks before the game’s official release date on March 17, 2020. If these additions were enough to get you hyped, then you should know you can get your hands on them and MLB The Show 20 four days early should you preorder.
