10 Things You Need to Know About MLB The Show 20

MLB The Show 20 is set to drop on March 17, and there are over a dozen new features included in this year’s installment of the top baseball video game on the market. San Diego Studio (SDS) has promoted the game well, and there is no shortage of information or footage for the upcoming release. Here’s a list of the 10 things you need to know about MLB The Show 20 before you buy.

NEW MODES

Showdown is a brand new mode in MLB The Show 20, and it’s sure to help reinvigorate a series that’s become stale in terms of new game modes in recent years.

Showdown is essentially a blend of Battle Royale (BR) and moments. To begin, you’ll draft a team of 10 players, and the rest of the roster will be randomly filled with bronze players. From there, you’ll begin a series of moments in order to get to the Final Showdown. By completing all moments and the Final Showdown mission, you’ll take home serious rewards in Diamond Dynasty (DD) like XP, stubs, packs and exclusive cards.

NEW LEGENDS

MLB The Show adds new legends to the game every single year, and it will be more of the same for The Show 20. This year, SDS focused heavily on household names from 1990-2010, in order to better reach young gamers. John Franco, Gary Sheffield, David Ortiz, Mariano Rivera, Shane Victorino, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, Craig Biggio are just some of the confirmed new legends in MLB The Show 20.

Names fans have been clamoring for, such as Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Pedro Martinez and others, have not been confirmed nor denied for this year’s title.

Check out our article on MLB The Show 20’s Sony Partners revealing new legends.

ONLINE FRANCHISE RETURNS

After a two-year hiatus, online franchise is back (sort of) in The Show 20. Sony teased the mode’s return as “simple leagues with your friends” but actually offer quite a bit of custom options for commissioners to run leagues.

As the commissioner of a league, you can adjust the league settings to your liking. Trading is a part of the mode, and rosters can be composed of each user’s Diamond Dynasty cards or the standard MLB live teams.

NEW DEFENSIVE SYSTEM

Defense has been completely revamped in MLB The Show 20. The developers’ goal was to make defense matter more than ever before while also adding a clear skill gap on defense. First, the button accuracy meter is much faster and the green area is smaller for poor defenders. Getting a green throw doesn’t guarantee a perfect throw, either. Instead, green throws can be slightly off-line to the left or right.

Additionally, a brand new feature for “in between” plays in the outfield has been introduced. The extreme catch indicator will appear on bloopers, sinking liners and other tricky plays, giving the user the decision to dive, reach for a shoestring grab or stop and block the ball.

There are also three new “jump” animations for outfielders, and the player’s animation will depend on their fielding attributes. The difference in those ratings could be the difference between routine flyout and a triple into the gap.

ALL-NEW PERFECT/PERFECT PCI

While the hitting system will remain largely the same, a major addition to that system has arrived. A new plate coverage indicator (PCI) feedback called “perfect/perfect” is coming to The Show 20. Below is an example of a perfect/perfect PCI result.

Perfect/perfect means perfect swing timing and perfect PCI placement on the ball. According to developers, this result will be extremely difficult to achieve, and most users will only experience this once or twice per game.

CUSTOMIZE YOUR PCI

For the first time ever, PCI will be fully customizable in each user’s settings. Everything from shape to color and transparency is available to customize. Below is an example of a custom PCI in MLB The Show 20.

The above screenshot is just one possibility. There are a seemingly endless amount of options. Below is a screenshot of what it will look like when customizing a PCI.

COMPETITIVE EVENTS AND TOURNAMENTS

Sony scratched the eSports surface in MLB The Show 19, hosting the Fall Cup and New Year’s Cup through ESL. Each tournament featured a respectable prize pool of $10,000. SDS confirmed that ESL will be a part of the competitive process again in The Show 20.

One of the major pain points for competitive players in last year’s game was reporting and verifying the correct results of competitive matches. MLB The Show 20 aims to put those concerns to rest with built-in score reporting and matchmaking.

RELOCATION IN FRANCHISE MODE

For the first time ever, users will be able to change their team’s location, name, logo and more in franchise mode. This is something MLB The Show fans have wanted for a long time, and it’s great to see developers finally include this feature. It’s unclear if this feature is available in custom leagues.

FULL MINOR LEAGUE ROSTERS

MLB The Show has partnered with RidinRosters to provide complete and authentic minor league rosters for Single-A, Double-A and Triple-A teams. The game’s top prospects will now be a part of MLB The Show.

This feature is long overdue, and will largely increase the fun of franchise mode diehards. Now, rebuilding a team will be much less tedious and anonymous.

STILL A PLAYSTATION EXCLUSIVE (FOR NOW)

In October, Sony confirmed a deal with Microsoft and Nintendo to bring The Show to Xbox and Switch in the coming years. MLB The Show 20 is only available for PlayStation, but MLB The Show 21 is likely to be offered on the Xbox Series X when it releases in late 2020, marking the first time ever that The Show will not be a PlayStation exclusive.

UPCOMING BROADCAST SCHEDULE

Here is a look at the upcoming schedule for live streams by SDS developers. There are still three more broadcasts before the release of MLB The Show 20.

Are you going to purchase MLB The Show 20? Did you participate in the Closed Beta? Do you like the changes SDS is making for MLB The Show 20? Let us know in the comment section below, and don’t forget to subscribe to SGO.

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