MLB The Show 23

November 2nd, 2023

Baseball video games have always been fun to play. From Wii baseball to The Bigs, and now with the MLB The Show series, this allows the game to grow in ways that the MLB does not provide. MLB The Show 23 has done a terrific job with keeping fans up to date with the game of baseball while also educating them on the sport's rich history. This game isn’t perfect, but San Diego Studios has been listening to fans input and have made proper adjustments.

One of the biggest jumps that San Diego Studios made from MLB The Show 22 to MLB The Show 23 was the addition of the Negro Leagues storyline. This let users play as some of the league’s best while learning about what made these players so great. The list includes names like Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, Buck O’Neil, and several more. The storyline included short educational videos on these player’s historical stats and entertaining stories. I found it to be very interesting that they included an awesome part of history that many forget about, since the Negro Leagues did not receive as much media coverage as the MLB.

They also included a program called “The Great Race of ‘98” where users could relive the moments of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire’s steroid era home run battle. Along with being able to earn these two players, users could also earn cards like Kerry Wood, Shawn Green, Robb Nenn and many others. This was an awesome program that I’m sure brings a lot of nostalgia to the demographic of users who witnessed that season.

Another program that was great for the game was the All-Star week program that featured cards of players who were drafted this year. Users could play with Paul Skenes, the 1st pick of this year’s draft who was out of college for just two weeks before the program was added. This program, along with the monthly, future stars, and Topps Now programs, are a great way for users and fans to gain knowledge on the current state of the game.

They finally added co-op to the game this year, which is when users get to compete with a teammate online. Users begged and begged the designers to add this feature to this year’s addition of MLB The Show and we finally got it. It is a ton of fun to play with friends online. It adds so much more excitement (and frustration) to the game when there is a real competitive element added. However, there have been a ton of issues with co-op since the game's release. Online games often will just randomly freeze and users aren’t able to leave the game or forfeit. They can close the app, but whoever it is that closes the app will be punished with a time-out penalty, and won’t be allowed to play online co-op for hours. Since nobody wants to receive the time-out penalty, some games will result in a freeze-off, where users basically just wait til the other team quits. I have had freeze-offs last for over five hours before. It’s pretty ridiculous that it hasn’t been fixed yet. It could have something to do with the fact that co-op is crossplay, meaning users with different gaming consoles can play with or against each other. Hopefully that is fixed in next year’s addition.

Another huge complaint that led to the game fading from user’s interests is the amount of time user’s must spend to earn cards that are good enough to use. It’s super easy to get cards, but getting GOOD cards takes way too much off-line grinding where users just have to complete countless amounts of stupid little missions that mean nothing. San Diego Studios definitely listened to the complaints and made adjustments, though. The newest season of the game, Season 5, features an abundance of 99 overall players that are easily within reach for users. I’m glad they finally did this because the game was dying and I was about ready to stop playing it.

Overall, MLB The Show 23 was a great game. It wasn’t perfect but there were noticeable efforts from the developers who listened to feedback. It kept up with the sport, and they did a really good job with the content creation. The in-game experience was pretty good with some exceptions. My hope for The Show 24 is that co-op is fixed and that it’s easier to earn playable cards. Besides that, there isn’t much to fix. Each exhibition in the game features different players who all play the game differently, so I can’t imagine many users get tired of the online modes at least. I was really happy with this game and my expectations are very high for next year’s game.