This afternoon, San Diego Studios released the fourth weekly feature trailer for MLB The Show 21. It’s been a busy week for MLB The Show 21 that featured a legends trailer and a Q & A video. Today’s premier covers changes coming to MLB The Show 21’s franchise mode and to March to October. We got some details on how trades and players will be valued this year.
MLB The Show 21: Changing The Logic
The Franchise details in today’s feature premier were not broad franchise announcements. Instead, the team of Ramone Russell, Clayton Read and Kyle Blake focused up on some key changes to the core of franchise mode. San Diego Studios has been working on a few new ways to evaluate players. As a result, for the first time in MLB The Show, the game will be able to project a player’s skill over time. You’ll be able to see a projection of how each player’s still and abilities will increase or deteriorate over a specific amount of time. These projections are meant to help make decisions around player trades and signings.
They are just projections, though. San Diego Studios emphasized that player projections were not meant to be 100% accurate. Just like in the MLB, a player’s projection will change from day to day, based on their in-game performance. The logic for something like this has to be just right. It’ll be interesting to see if SDS can pull it off.
The heart of these projections is MLB The Show 21’s shift to a new Wins Above Replacement, or WAR, based performance tracking system. With a WAR-based system in place, MLB The Show 21 can determine if a player is over or under-producing in relation to their contract’s average value. These new contract details, plus the new ways MLB The Show 21 can identify performance and attributes, all contribute to the game’s new trade metric. Two of those (attributes and performance) make up the player metric. The new player metric factors into three logic systems: Contracts, Send Ups/Downs, and the Depth Chart
Other Changes Coming to Franchise Mode
In MLB The Show 21, the depth chart has received a visual make-over. SDS wants something that’s more than a spreadsheet of stats. The new depth chart also takes advantage of the new projection system. You can view predictions of your depth chart for future seasons, including your team’s projected budget, to help better plan your dynasty. The budget system has been changed, as well. In The Show 21, the budget display will be a yearly system, instead of last year’s confusing weekly display. You’ll also be able to upload custom stadiums from the game’s stadium creator into your franchise as well. Here, San Diego Studios also confirmed that players will be able to change team names, locations, and uniforms as well.
March to October
March to October, The Show’s single-season franchise campaign mode, will receive updates as well. MLB The Show 21 is introducing player-locked episodes, where you play as one star and make trade decisions during your run. Also new this year are Fast Track Opportunities. In this year’s March to October, players can choose to start in the Minor Leagues. Fast Track Opportunities will let Minor League players receive more impactful boosts for playing good games. Call up opportunities are better in this year’s March to October as well. Overall, minor league prospects are designed to have more impact in single-season modes.
The stream ended with a sneak peak at The 42, a new Diamond Dynasty set honoring baseball legend Jackie Robinson. The trailer gave us a look at the new card design for these cards, as well as four of the legends who will join Robinson as special cards in the set: Bob Gibson, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., and Mariano Rivera. San Diego Studios will reveal five more legends in next week’s feature premier.
MLB The Show 21 releases on April 20 for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.