MLB The Show 23 ad brings us gamer Jeter
The Show 23 is already among the best games in the series in terms of cultural impact on my brain, thanks to this ad I saw during the World Baseball Classic:
Excuse me while I recap the entire ad. Jazz Chisholm Jr. sits down to play the new MLB The Show in a neon pink and blue room. There is a marlin on the wall above a huge aquarium.
Jazz receives a phone call from the “MLB The Show Legends Line.” The first twelve times I saw this ad I thought he was calling the Legends Line but no, his phone screen appears in a graphic and makes it clear this is an incoming call.
Derek Jeter is on the phone. He appears to be gaming in a dark gymnasium with neon pink and blue recessed lights in the distant background. The lighting is not totally flattering, and he’s wearing gamer headphones. “Ready to play?” “Let’s get it.” “Come on.” “Nice.” “That was sick.” Gameplay-ish trailer footage plays while the two talk over it. They’re friendly competitors in the latest and greatest The Show game.
Derek Jeter says “Man, you like that?” as if to follow with “Now get a load of this,” then he one-ups things by spending a few seconds promoting the new Negro League Storylines mode. (On-screen fine print drops the bummer note that Storylines is a single-player mode that, for some reason, requires an internet connection.)
Jazz settles back in his seat with a puzzled look. “Your voice sounds familiar. Do I know you?” (Jeter doesn’t really have a famous voice, but he was part owner of the Marlins from 2017 to early 2022, so I’m sure he has talked to Jazz many times.)
The camera switches over to Jeter and pulls out, revealing Jeter is wearing a non-Yankees-branded New York jacket. (Is there anyone watching who didn’t recognize Jeter until the extra “New York” clue came into view?) “Just call me… The Captain,” he says.
I can’t stop thinking about Jeter’s neon gamer gym, and the uncanny look of him in gamer headphones, and what exactly the MLB The Show Legends Line is supposed to be. I guess it’s a service where you sign up for a baseball legend to call you and play The Show with you? You must schedule it ahead of time. And the legend has to be lit in pink and purple and blue to symbolize that he is cool and from Miami and probably nothing else.
By the way, the game came out last night for people who preordered The Captain Edition for $100. I did not pay that blood money and will have to wait until Tuesday to play it. What an era where I can be made to feel poor by preordering a $70 video game. Anyway, time to hit the dusty trail [I sling a rucksack over my shoulder and turn away from you to hike down a railway to the next dead-end town].
Out of the Park Baseball 24 will have no unlicensed leagues
I worried this might happen after the NPB removal in 23 and it has: OOTP 24 will only include MLB, MiLB, KBO, and U.S. indy leagues. All other leagues, which previously had real structures and rosters but no official logos or license, will be removed.
I said it already when the Japanese league was removed, but just to repeat: It’s a big blow to the series. Arguably its main feature was its ability to simulate the whole globe of baseball. No other game really grants you the “what-if” potential of signing Roki Sasaki to your favorite MLB team. And the randomly-generated international free agents the game will continue to pump out feel much less legitimate and cool than a player wiht a real name and a simulated stat line for another league.
They hope to negotiate for more league licenses in the future, but for now the game has simply become smaller. Hopefully modders will take this on and get these other leagues back close to where they need to be. The game comes out today at around 9am Eastern.
Medium-stakes Power Pros action
I’ve been participating in the Power Pros World Discord tournament for WBSC eBaseball Power Pros over the past week or two. It’s an international affair of high-but-not-too-high-level play that’s been a ton of fun. I won my first elimination round game, which you can see in beautiful 4K below:
You can also see MFLDrakon’s angle on things by watching his recording here. Lots of interesting differences, like the use of the alternate pitching viewpoint and defensive positioning, some advanced features that I think aren’t commonly used.
I participated in two more exciting rounds after that, with more to come:
MLB The Show trophy talk
Just in time for MLB The Show 23, I finally wrapped up my time with 22 by nabbing the platinum trophy. I had unlocked all the trophies except for one by April 10th last year, except for “Coming in Hot!” which asks you to catch a 110 MPH exit velocity hit as a fielder.
Naturally this is RNG. You can’t really try to give up hard but catchable hits. I ended up having to do the brave thing of changing all the settings sliders appropriately then playing in Retro Mode, a tip from online that indeed got me the trophy within two innings.
So that being said, let’s take a first look at the MLB The Show 23 trophies together and see if we find anything interesting. Some thoughts:
- San Diego Studio are done pretending that Diamond Dynasty isn’t the main game mode. Diamond Dynasty-specific trophies: 7 out of 25. Last year there were zero.
- Generally it’s seen as sorta bad practice to have trophies that require connecting to an online server. Some players won’t have internet, some others won’t have PlayStation Plus/Xbox Live Gold/Nintendo Switch Online, and some will be playing the game ten years from now when the servers have been shut down. The Show 22 had no online-specific trophies but The Show 23 is full of ’em.
- These trophies look pretty easy at first glance. Not sure if a five-second home run hangtime will be rare or not. The yearly and contract goals for Franchise might take a little dedication if that’s not your favorite mode. Level 3 parallel on a Diamond Dynasty card will take some time if you’re not into it.
- I’m curious what the “captain’s tier two ability” is, haven’t heard that announced yet. Could be interesting if certain cards required certain kinds of squads for bonuses.
Some baseball-themed Sega logos
Thanks to whipassgaming.com for capturing all the game-specific Sega logos out there, which I am stealing and adding to a folder to use for a stream layout one day:
YouTube Viewing Guide
- Backyard Baseball (1997) All Player Select voice lines
- A playthrough of the Samurai success mode from Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2011 Ketteiban, part 1, part 2, and part 3
- Roger Clemens’ MVP Baseball commercial
- A guide from emmdotfrisk to the 50 new characters added this week to WBSC eBaseball Power Pros