MLB The Show 25 review — There’s no better nickname than “Cool Papa”

The gaming industry is ever-evolving, with constant trends changing based on the consumer's desires and wants. Live service titles and yearly releases are some of the hottest topics facing developers and publishers as the market has become overly saturated and extremely hard to navigate. The manpower, resources, creativity, and desire to continually support one franchise, let alone one game, is becoming more challenging to overcome, especially to return the necessary funds to continue said support. This leads to more studios cautiously green-lighting and pursuing new titles. Starting with this leads to the one question I get asked every year, “Is MLB The Show 25 worth picking up this year when there are so many other games available?” 

I’ll be going over in depth the new improvements and additions down below but for those wanting the quick “yes or no” answer, unanimously the answer is a resounding yes! I’ve been reviewing The Show with Gaming Trend for a couple of years now and the quality of product San Diego Studios produces year-to-year is impressive and astounding. Pulling double duty of not only preparing, planning, and executing next year's title, but the studio also continually supports existing modes within 25’s release with Diamond Dynasty and quality of life changes. Taking on that challenging year-to-year release schedule with a short development cycle deserves its acknowledgment.

Now with the studio receiving its well-earned flowers, let’s slide head-first into what’s new this year and why I’m excited to keep playing all season long. Leading off is the gameplay, and while not much has drastically changed, it doesn’t need to with the foundation nearly perfect. One of the new features is “Ambush hitting” which assists the player in predicting the location of the incoming pitch thus giving a slight advantage. I didn’t take advantage of this too much as my batting style tends to go with the pitch versus predicting its location but the times I did use it felt impactful but not in an overpowered or game-changing way. 

Of course, my favorite gameplay addition is the ability to dodge the tag when sliding into bases. Using a timed specific movement of your analog stick, players can now dodge a tag at the bag if timed and input correctly. With it being a big part of today’s real-life ball game, I was super excited to implement it into my running game. The prompt doesn’t come up every time and primarily feels like it prioritizes appearing in clutch situations, and while that may be a negative for some people, I didn’t mind as it prevents the mechanic from becoming too overpowered. 

Road to the Show or RTTS as I’ll be referring to it for the rest of this review implemented a fun addition to what used to be my favorite mode in the series but now places second (You’ll learn my new favorite later on so stick around). While injuries to my throwing shoulder halted any sort of aspirations to the major leagues for me, millions of high school players around the world dream of making it to the big leagues as they work, practice, and perfect their game in hopes of impressing college scouts looking for the next superstar. That’s right, RTTS this year begins at the high school level with you being challenged to perform under the stress of scouts watching in the playoffs. Depending on your performance, players receive offers from different universities that provide unique bonuses specific to that school. For example, I received about seven offers from big-name baseball programs like Vanderbilt and South Carolina, but opted for TCU as not only is my favorite color purple but the program offers the most player development opportunities if the exposure to MLB does suffer a bit versus some of the more prominent programs. 

Leveling up my player felt significantly better this year with a bigger focus on performance leading to increasing stats. Every action offers an opportunity to gain or lose points which leads to increasing stats to becoming a better player. Getting a leadoff hit would reward positive points but striking out or getting out via a ground ball would lead to losing points. Doing this improved the overall RTTS experience as I felt the pressure to perform at the highest level in every situation as those moments directly tied into improving. 

Switching over, let’s talk about The Show’s most popular mode, Diamond Dynasty. Diamond Dynasty is one of the franchise’s pillars where you play and compete to earn player cards to use ranging from today’s Superstars like Paul Skenes and Shohei Ohtani to legends like Ted Williams and Derek Jeter. Previous installments introduced season content where certain cards were only viable for limited times. At first, I was optimistic about the concept but as time went on it became more and more of a problem. Thankfully, that philosophy has been abandoned and for the first time in what feels like forever, a truly new feature has been added. 

My main criticism of last year’s The Show was the absence of anything fresh that might tempt new players to break into the franchise. Jump to this year, and I never would have thought to be playing a rogue-lite-style mode in Diamond Dynasty appropriately called Diamond Quest. The premise is simple, engaging, and rewarding. Set on a board game, players move one space at a time attempting to reach and beat that level’s “Stadium” or final boss to earn specific player cards or rewards. Hopping from space to space, encounters can randomly appear which players must beat to gain positive perks while losing adds a negative perk that lasts for one encounter. Encounters are random with examples being getting a late-inning clutch hit or striking out the first 2 batters of an inning. It is the epitome of a risk/reward system as going for bigger rewards comes with tougher challenges all while using the player cards you have collected and built around. I’m not ashamed to say it’s made me take significant time away from RTTS to see just how far and how many Stadiums I can overcome.

Moving into my only critique of MLB The Show 25 is something I didn’t feel was as rough or inconsistent in past years, and I’ve already prepared for the audible groans from many of you. During my time with The Show, the play calling for balls and strikes has become more inconsistent with an increase in the number of missed calls going for and against me. For a couple of years now, the minor leagues have been using a system that correctly determines the true call on a ball or strike. Implementing the “Hawk-Eye” system is hopefully progressing its way to the major leagues and one day will be fully implemented. In a video game, I don’t feel the human aspect of calling pitches should be there as there is enough variance with the pitch's location as is. It’s a small point of feedback, but an issue that can dampen the fun of pitching when a call is blatantly incorrect. 

Anyone familiar with me knows I couldn’t talk about this year’s The Show without again praising the third season of “Storylines: The Negro Leagues.” From its inaugural introduction, the visual style, in-depth history, and overall execution have undoubtedly skyrocketed it to become my favorite mode and what I look forward to playing the most every year. Storylines: The Negro Leagues is an interactive trip back in time to learn about and play some of baseball's greatest names you may have never heard about. This time around the untold stories of James “Cool Papa” Bell, Wilber “Bullet Joe” Rogan, Norman “Turkey” Stearnes, and Walter “Buck” Leonard are brought to life as narrated by the irreplaceable Bob Kendrick. Each Player has a handful of unique and specific game situations that sparked their legends and stories being told. Adding gameplay with the museum-like presentation and introduction of each moment and player, this mode is one I’ll continue to admire and adore.

Cleaning up, MLB The Show 25 is everything a baseball fan like myself could ask for and more. The core gameplay hasn’t changed much but it doesn’t need to as the presentation and fluid gameplay are the pinnacle of sports sims. RTTS receiving new improvements plus the starting point being a high school player, Diamond Dynasty now offers an enticing new mode for those on the fence about diving into the series, and Storylines: The Negro Leagues again setting the new standard for interactive learning I’m excited to see what they cook up next year. Other than the umpiring system taking a dip, this year’s Show has excelled in every aspect.