With MLB The Show 20 many have undoubtedly been excited to put on their cleats and take to the virtual diamond, especially when it’s as close to the real thing as most will get right now.
This year’s game has a number of new additions like Custom Leagues, Showdown, and Franchise rebranding. But as the case with every annual title, that doesn’t mean everything fans have been hoping to see added or returned made the cut.
These are four features still missing from MLB The Show 20.
Create-A-Ballpark
With the ability to rebrand a team finally coming to the series this year, it’s brought back the question of why don’t we have Create-A-Ballpark yet. Now, there’s only so many months between releases that getting everything in is pretty much impossible. So it is understandable as to why it didn’t make the cut this year.
Still, this is a feature we’ve been asking for for years. Fans haven’t been given the ability to create or even upgrade a stadium on a console baseball game since the days of MVP Baseball (both MLB and NCAA versions) a decade and a half ago.
Not having the ability to even just edit the branding in your ballpark makes everything with the new rebranding feature feel pointless when you are playing in a stadium that remains branded for the team you changed or for a different team altogether.
Hopefully, this is just a case of holding it until the series comes to the next generation in 2021.
Expansion in Franchise
With rebranding and what they claim to be relocation in MLB The Show 20, it would’ve been nice to see expansion make it to the series. NBA and NHL feature great expansion options for their franchise modes, and there’s no doubt that MLB The Show 20 can benefit greatly from adding an expansion feature to the mode.
It’s likely not a feature that thousands upon thousands of people are clamoring for, but there’s certainly enough that warrant it coming to the game. Having the ability to place teams in cities that you feel deserve to have a big-league ballclub *COUGH* Buffalo *COUGH* could add a lot of replay value to the mode. Just imagine, in year two or three of your franchise, you see that the MLB as expanded back into Montreal or into Charlotte?
Though without Create-A-Ballpark, expansion would likely feel just as empty as rebranding your team does.
Classic Teams
While you can recreate teams from the past with the team creation suite, it would be nice to see MLB The Show start to come with (at least) 10 classic teams to play with. Many of the rights of players are already in hand due to Diamond Dynasty, so it’s hard to fathom it being too difficult to create teams of yesteryear for fans to enjoy.
Hell, even just giving us All-Time rosters for teams would be better than nothing. Think about playing with a New York Yankees roster that includes Babe Ruth and Derek Jeter? What about a season made up of nothing but All-Time teams? There’s definitely some fun to be had there.
Again, Sony San Diego has the rights to enough players to put some teams together. It’s just strange it hasn’t happened yet.
Online Franchise
Custom Leagues is a good start, but this isn’t what many wanted to see. Instead of getting a multi-year franchise with full offseasons, scouting, and minor league management, fans got a mode that feels like yet another extension of Diamond Dynasty.
It’s multi-year and you can use MLB Live Rosters, but that’s as close to a franchise mode experience as you get with this. It’s a barebones mode where you can play with friends, but if you only have two or three people you want to play with, it’s pretty pointless. Without the ability to add CPU teams, you’re going to get bored rather quickly. There’s just no motivation to go beyond a single season.
To be fair, though, it was NEVER advertised as an Online Franchise mode. But that doesn’t make it any less disappointing. It’s a nice foundation — especially as the servers get heavily tested — but it’s definitely a limited experience.
What is MLB The Show still missing that you hope to see in the near future? Let us know in the comment section below, and stick with Sports Gamers Online for the latest in MLB The Show 20.