MLB 14 The Show promo big box like you would see in a game store

Friday Starter – Hey check out this big box

 March 17, 2023  Posted in Friday Starter 265 Views

This box is cool IMO

Partial baseball video game collection in the back for scale

I bought one of those big promotional display boxes like they have at game stores. This one’s for MLB 14 The Show and it tells no lies when it says “ART NOT FINAL.” This big box raises a few questions for me:

  • Miguel Cabrera was the U.S. cover athlete but Brett Lawrie was the Canadian one. Does there exist somewhere a big box with Brett Lawrie on it? Can someone please sell it to me?
  • We’ve seen temporary art before with The Show, most famously with the Bryce Harper in a hoodie cover for MLB The Show 19. Harper was a free agent so it wasn’t clear what team’s uniform he would wear for a while. After he finally signed there wasn’t much offseason left, and the resulting final cover is maybe the worst in the series’ history. Unfortunately Harper wouldn’t find his signature look with the Phillies for, well, it really didn’t take that long but he didn’t have it in February.

    Anyway, a little surprised that the decidedly not-a-free-agent Miguel Cabrera would be the cover athlete, and late enough that it’s time to send GameStops these big weird promo boxes, but the actual cover art wouldn’t be ready yet. This temporary art wouldn’t work for a final box art I think, but it’s good enough for a big box in a game store.
  • I would like someone to print a big strategy guide-sized version of the manual and a big laserdisc-sized game disc to fill up this big box. Make a 1/1 promo version that’s all real and all big.

I don’t know what I will do with this big box but I’m glad I own the big box.

World Baseball Classic thought

We’re kind of in a holding pattern just before Out of the Park and MLB The Show come out in the next week or two. And I’ve been busy enjoying the World Baseball Classic, which has been a lot of fun.

Sadly there doesn’t seem to be a game that lets you directly play the World Baseball Classic this year. Usually Pro Yakyuu Spirits and/or Powerful Pro Yakyuu will include a mode for it, even though a lot of the players end up being having to be fictional due to a lack of licensing.

I’m still surprised that The Show would go to the effort of licensing certain key non-MLB players for WBC and only using them for Diamond Dynasty cards. Couldn’t they throw together a little tournament mode? Maybe this will exist and they just haven’t announced it (or I missed the announcement), but… Weird. Got to pay for stubs if you want to even see Roki Sasaki or an Italia jersey, I suppose.

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