The MLB The Show eSports scene has been needing some extra attention for a while now. There are plenty of great players who put on exciting games every time they match up. The scene needs more eyes on it to get these great players more exposure. A new announcement from the Tampa Bay Rays is going to help with that!
Rays Gaming Announcement
The Tampa Bay Rays are currently the best team in baseball, sporting a 30-11 record at the time of writing this article. The team is currently celebrating its 25th anniversary as an organization, and part of that celebration was the launch of Rays Gaming. This is a gaming program that will look to engage fans in new ways through video games.
Rays Chief Business Officer Bill Walsh said to Leo Santos from WTSP, a CBS affiliate in Tampa Bay, “The purpose of our 25th-anniversary campaign is not only to connect with our fans by celebrating our storied past but also to pave a path to the future in exciting and innovative ways. The Rays Gaming Program is another example of how we continue to try to engage new audiences through technology.”
Rays Gaming Sunburst Circuit
Part of this announcement included announcing a brand-new eSports tournament. The Rays Gaming Sunburst Circuit is an open MLB The Show 23 tournament where players will compete for a share of the $10,000 prize pool.
The tournament will consist of two double-elimination qualifying tournaments. Players will play against each other in 9-inning games on Legend difficulty. All players will use the Tampa Bay Rays’ current roster during the tournament.
The first qualifying tournament will begin May 27, with the finals being on June 10. The second qualifying tournament will start on July 15, with the finals being July 29. The winners of the two qualifying tournaments will move on to the Sunburst Showdown LAN Finals on August 28th. The LAN finals will take place at Full Sail University’s Orlando Health Fortress. The winner will take home $8,000, while the runner-up will walk away with $2,000.
The qualifier and LAN-final will be broadcasted live across the Rays TikTok, YouTube, and Twitch channels. To commentate on these live streams, the Rays have brought in popular MLB The Show streamers Austin Thune (@Thuuuuney) and Rich Veit (@ScuffyMcGee).
You can sign up for the tournament and read all the rules and regulations at this link.
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