Friday Starter is a weekly column of news and tidbits from the world of baseball video games—past and present, domestic and foreign.
Still need more baseball? We found a CD in our archives containing dozens of unused voice lines from MLB Slugfest 20-03 rejected by the MLB. Here's some of our favorites.
— Video Game History Foundation (@gamehistoryorg.bsky.social) November 3, 2025 at 2:31 PM
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The Video Game History Foundation had a viral post this week sharing examples of unused MLB Slugfest lines that the league office with MLB nixed. You can read the full list of disapproved commentary lines on the VGHF Digital Archive site here. And you can listen to the audio here.
The MLB Slugfest series took pride in its comedic commentary between Tim Kitzrow (most famous for Midway’s earlier hit NBA Jam) and Kevin Matthews playing his character Jimmy Shorts. It’s not too surprising MLB found some of the commentary a bit over the line, especially items like:
“What are those cyanide pills for, Tim? Can we get some?”
“Jimmy, how can you miss a ball like that?” “Tim, it’s called payola.”
“Tim, have you noticed how many fans are talking on cellphones during the game?” “Well Jimmy, in the end they’re all going to die from brain tumors anyway. So they’ll get theirs.”
Especially edited together with the actual delivery from the commentators, it’s a fun reminder of the personality that Slugfest put together. Underappreciated.
MLB The Show 26 announced, with few details
Not like there was much doubt, but MLB The Show 26 has officially been announced. Last year, this announcement came with a bit of apology about the quality and monetization techniques of the previous game. This year, the announcement comes with a bit more bravado, after a really strong year of sales.
The big new features last year were the addition of high school and licensed colleges to Road to the Show, and real control over how your player develops in that mode. In retrospect, these features were vaguely hinted at in the original announcement, but with language that could have meant anything.
This year’s blog post announcement of next year’s game is arguably less vague, though it doesn’t promise anything too crazy and exciting. The features listed are:
- Gameplay – Gameplay continues to focus on delivering the most authentic on-field baseball experience. We’re focusing on advanced logic and new data metrics… redefining ratings, pitch effects, and bat ball physics.
- Diamond Dynasty – Now and Later Packs are just the beginning. We will continue delivering engaging content for players to live their MLB fantasy as well as new ways to play and use your squads.
- Road to the Show – Experience the ultimate player’s path; building off ‘25, MLB The Show 26 takes Road To The Show further than ever before, with a suite of new colleges and a focus on the mid-to-late career.
- Franchise – Continue evolving the front office experience by building deeper, more immersive, and challenging systems shaped by community feedback.
- Storylines: The Negro Leagues – Season 4 – Celebrate the rich history of baseball with the continuation of Storylines: The Negro Leagues, the award-winning mode that invites fans to take the field and play in the moments that shaped the careers of some of the sport’s most talented yet often overlooked legends.
“Now and Later Packs” are Diamond Dynasty cards that you can open now in The Show 25 that will still be in your inventory for 26.
Road to the Show promises more detail in the mid- and late career, something that has felt empty for a long time. I wonder what this will look like: More interesting details around free agency? Some actual storylines while in the pros? Hall of Fame induction mechanics? The only problem with adding more detail to this stage of the game is it will take hours of gameplay to get there, meaning a small percentage of players will ever see that content.
I enjoyed the first two years of the Storylines mode, but I honestly did not play all this content in this year’s game. If it’s the same thing again, with Moments plus interviews of Bob Kendrick… Hopefully they shake it up a little this year.
I’m not sure what to make of the Gameplay and Franchise descriptions here, too vague for now. We’ll have to see what they come up with.
Then there’s the potential of a PC version for this upcoming year, based on recent job listings. Possibly this could be something for 26 or it may have to wait until 27.
See real-time baseball results on your Mega Drive?
On my Bluesky account, I talked about something that came up while flipping through Japanese game magazines. The Pro Yakyuu VAN Service was a Sega Mega Drive cartridge that could plug into your phone line, and show you live NPB game scores and stats. It would even present live games visually in the style of a 16-bit baseball game:
The scan above comes from Mega Drive FAN Issue 18 here.
While potentially cool, this got pricey quickly. The cartridge itself cost 7000 yen (about $60). Then service cost 180 yen ($1.50 or so) for every 3 minutes it was in use. And that’s separate from whatever you’re paying the phone company to use each of those minutes. In practice, you wouldn’t have wanted to keep it open tracking a game as it progressed. Just plug in, take a quick look, then get out of there before you’re bankrupt.
An early 3D Pawapuro-kun on NPB broadcasts
Also on Bluesky, I posted about an early full-3D model of the main character from the Power Pros games. I came across it being mentioned in scans online of Konami LOOK Magazine:
This explains that before certain Japanese baseball TV broadcasts, Konami’s baseball character would appear in a short 3D animation. This segment would be called the “Pawapuro-kun Nighter News Bulletin” (パワプロくんナイター速報).
I thought this would be a real pain to find, but a search in Japanese for “Pawapuro-kun Nighter News Bulletin” brought it right up:
The animation is only about four seconds long, showing their pudgy little guy pitch, then hit his own pitch, then run into the outfield wall trying to catch his own hit. #justbaseballthings
Then we’re treated to a cheery, Yamaha keyboard version of the Jurassic Park theme? Was not expecting that.
After a few minutes of highlights and out of town scores, you can see a TV ad for Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu ’97 Kaimakuban and Ganbare Goemon, sealing the cross-promo for Konami.