Sports video game series, much like real-world sports franchises, tend to ebb and flow throughout the years. A stretch of a few consecutive good campaigns can be abruptly interrupted by an unexpected downturn plagued by unforced errors or a full-on rebuilding year. As you look at the sports gaming landscape, that has been true of nearly every series, but historically, MLB The Show has remained consistent throughout much of its existence. Though this year is more about staying the course through incremental improvements rather than massive innovations, MLB The Show 25 maintains the franchise’s high standard of quality and entertainment, making for one of the better sports games of the last 12 months.
Stepping onto the diamond feels as good as it ever has. New elements like Ambush Hitting, which lets you guess where the pitcher is targeting for batting bonuses, and a new throw meter for fielders are good additional options, but after trying them, I reverted back to my settings from last year’s game. Whether you’re taking the mound, stepping into the batter’s box, snagging a line drive out of the air, or timing your jump to second, I was hooked on maximizing each opportunity to either pad my player’s stats or improve my team’s chances in a close game.
Those close games, which MLB The Show 25 masterfully engineers through its ever-calibrating Dynamic Difficulty setting, led to multiple white-knuckled affairs as I tried to maintain a minuscule lead into the late innings or battle back from the depths of defeat. Few feelings in gaming are worse than being fooled by a breaking ball in the bottom of the ninth to foil a good opportunity to take home the win, and watching my opponent’s no-doubt homer soar over the fence after a poorly executed pitch instills a distinct sense of helplessness. Conversely, I lost count of the times I pumped my fist as I either drove in the winning run or my closer powered a 100 MPH fastball into the catcher’s mitt to clinch the victory.
Those thrills persist regardless of the mode. Short-term players can enjoy playing in exhibitions, online matches, or even the returning Retro mode that emulates the presentation and feeling of playing a ’90s baseball video game, but I spent most of my time in the long-form modes. Taking control of my favorite team in hopes of capturing a championship is a highlight of any sports game for me, so I enjoyed getting into the weeds of Franchise mode. Controlling nearly every aspect of the organization from scouting and budgeting to player transactions and on-the-field action is a wannabe GM’s dream come true; I particularly appreciate the new Free Agency board which lets you target specific players for negotiations.
However, I continue to be drawn to March to October. This more narrative-focused mode strips away most of the management aspects and puts you on the field for impactful moments across multiple seasons. It’s the best way to play through a season or two as fast as possible, and I love that you can convert your save file to the more in-depth Franchise mode in the offseason.
After a World Series championship in March to October, my main attraction became Road to the Show. Here, you start a career as a young player and work your way up through the Minors en route to becoming a superstar in the Majors. This iteration continues the RPG-style progression of rewarding you for good plays and letting you unlock and upgrade situational Perks, which, in turn, lets you develop a player to your preferred play style. MLB The Show 25 offers microtransactions to boost your character, but it’s nowhere near as in-your-face as the similar career modes found in NBA 2K and Madden. This year’s iteration also adds a truncated college experience where you can opt to play a few games for one of eight universities. I appreciated being able to go to UCLA instead of the first team that drafted me, but the collegiate stint was so brief that it left no meaningful impact on my player’s story.
MLB The Show 25’s most unique mode in recent years has been Storylines, which shines a light on legends from The Negro Leagues. This third season highlighting this underrepresented corner of professional baseball history doesn’t feature the household names of past years, but I loved learning about the three players through what essentially amounts to an interactive museum. Complete with historical footage and commentary from the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, I relished familiarizing myself with the careers and legends of players like Cool Papa Bell and Bullet Rogan. My only criticism of this mode is that I was still hungry for more by the time I completed the brief selection of missions.
I was able to satiate my desire for additional historical content through Moments, which lets you relive bygone eras with iconic players, but I’m disappointed that most of the historical content and players are locked behind the card-collection mode Diamond Dynasty. I would have loved the ability to play in Exhibition as specific teams from the past, like some of the classic Yankees teams or the late-’90s Mariners, but that option is sadly absent from this package. Instead, you can acquire many of these players in Diamond Dynasty as you build your custom team to complete various challenges to earn more rewards.
This year, Diamond Dynasty removes sets and seasons in favor of a year-round structure and adds a new roguelike board-game mode called Diamond Quest. Traversing and uncovering a board is a novel concept, but the same roguelike frustrations about losing progress permeate as I couldn’t help but feel deflated each time my run came to an end. Cracking open packs of cards and upgrading your squad with some of history’s best players has an immediately appealing hook, but I almost always chose to spend my time in the game in the more traditional modes.
MLB The Show 25’s presentation is often incredible, even when you factor in various broadcast suites and commentators. A few glitches in the commentary plagued the title early on, but they’ve been largely patched out. Now that many of my commentary and animation gripes have been patched, my biggest immersion-breaking nitpick is how the foul-territory nets blink in and out. The broadcast package also looks and sounds great, though the noticeable absence of licensed stadium mainstays, as we see in franchises like Madden, detracts from the overall package. And when the crowd explodes into a crescendo during a big moment for the home team, it sounds artificial. However, custom cheers and jeers from the audience directed at the pitcher or batter by name are a nice touch.
Though it’s almost expected that MLB The Show will have another solid outing, I still can’t help but smile when, after my first few games, I realize that baseball is back and we once again have a terrific representation of that in video game form. Whether I was leading my team to the World Series in March to October, charting my player’s career in Road to the Show, or learning about the game’s history in Storylines, I continually needed to pull myself away from playing “just one more.” MLB The Show 25 delivers perhaps the most well-rounded package of any of the mainstream sports video games, making for a title I first fired up during Spring Training and could very well still be playing when the World Series rolls around.
