Trading for Ohtani is the ultimate “what-if” move that Franchise Mode was made for in MLB The Show. I started a Franchise using default settings and current rosters, starting in Spring Training, with each MLB team (besides the Angels) and tried to make the best trade I could for Shohei Ohtani.
A few notes before we start:
- It’s possible that the trade AI in The Show would make different deals at the trade deadline in Franchise than what we’re seeing here. Certainly if I were the real-life Angels I might have traded Ohtani in December or January, but not right at the start of spring.
- MLB The Show doesn’t seem to care very much about years of control remaining or salary when evaluating trades. Prospects aren’t worth much. Some overpaid veterans are worth a lot. These aren’t going to be especially realistic trades.
- You can only trade three players at a time. So no potential for a Juan Soto-like trade with six players going in return for the big valuable centerpiece guy.
- The main thing to look at in the screenshots below is up top: There’s a bar that fills to the left if the team trading for Ohtani needs to add more, and fills to the right if the Angels are more than satisfied (doesn’t happen too often here). The “Trade Feedback” will tell you if the Angels will accept the trade or not. A few times there’s no visible bar filled either way, meaning it’s very, very close to being an acceptable deal.
Trade power rankings
Here are my rankings of the deals based on whether I think the team getting Ohtani should or would take that deal in real life.
Absolutely should make this deal: Brewers, Mets, Rangers, Phillies, Twins
Tough call but yes: Astros, Blue Jays, Braves, Dodgers, Guardians, Mariners, Marlins, Padres, Rays
Tough call but no: Cardinals, White Sox, Yankees
Dear God no: Diamondbacks
Our poor team can’t put together a trade the CPU Angels would accept: A’s, Cubs, Giants, Nationals, Orioles, Pirates, Red Sox, Reds, Rockies, Royals, Tigers
What have we learned?
- The MLB The Show Angels love old guys and they love starting pitchers, and they don’t seem overly concerned about years of control. Seems pretty similar to Arte Moreno in real life honestly. You cannot get them to even pretend to care about top prospects who aren’t in the majors already.
- MLB The Show Franchise Mode doesn’t seem to give negative value to any player, very much unlike Out of the Park Baseball. Patrick Corbin and Miguel Cabrera are worth something, even if their current abilities aren’t matching up to their salaries.
- None of these were really meme-worthy laughers in my opinion, so it’s possible the trade logic has improved in this year’s release. It’s frustrating that you can’t really do a traditional trade where you give up prospects for a current star, but it’s better than the previous issue of getting a star for nothing.