It’s that time of year again. The time when we hear the crack of a wooden bat as it sends that leather bound ball soaring through the sky.

Time when hot dogs and freshly cut grass fills the noses of thousands of fans in stadiums worldwide.

Its time for the start of America’s greatest past time, baseball!

That’s right, spring training is here and that also means we are only weeks away until the next annualized release of Sony San Diego’s MLB The Show! This past week, Sony San Diego began a series of live streams to talk about some of the newest features that will be appearing in MLB The Show 18, leading up to the games release in March. In the upcoming days and weeks leading up to the release I will be bringing you preview coverage of what you can expect to see in this year’s game, culminating with my review of MLB The Show 18. This particular preview will be focused on changes to this year’s game play, AI, and sprinkled with legends in the end. Lets take a jog around the bases, shall we?

The biggest focus on this year’s game is competitive game play. Whether you’re playing couch co-op against your best bud from down the street or against your arch nemesis online, Sony San Diego wants to make sure the game play is as competitive and balanced as possible. Gone are the days of the exploits that give your opponents easy runs because your third basemen didn’t apply a tag right as a runner passes through the base. Of course, there will always be people looking for new and improved exploits but if the developers’ word holds true, those days are through. In MLB The Show 18 you will have to earn your victories one game at a time.

Fielders will now line up where their real life counterparts would when going to make a tag.

One of the main and most emphasized changes in this year’s game is the newly revamped tagging system. Sony San Diego came up with the genius idea to have the same person who wrote the code for the base running system be the same guy who wrote the brand new code for the new and improved tagging system. Since both of those systems work together hand-in-hand, this should allow for more realistic and accurate tags. Hundreds of new tagging animations have been added this year to allow smarter and more fluid game play. No longer will tags be missed as you catch them in a pickle and your first basemen whiffs on the tag allowing the runner to slide safely into second. Fielders will now know where the runner is and how close they are to the bag when applying these tags and will also position themselves according to the situation, meaning they will no longer just stand on top of the bag. For example, if a runner has a big lead off and a catcher throws over to pick them off after a pitch, the fielder will now be positioned behind the bag and put their glove down towards the runners’ hand or foot between the runner and the bag. The result is a masterpiece of a fluid tag on the runner with zero clipping in the animation.

What about making a tag on a base runner immediately after fielding a ball? Well in MLB The Show 18 the fielding animation replicates that of real life fielder. Your shortstop will now field a chopper, tag the runner going to third, spin, and make the throw to first all in fluidity. No more choppy animations, missed tags, or late throws out of your control that cost you a victory.

Smoother fielding animations make for a much more immersive experience on defense.

Catcher efficiency has also had a major overhaul. Unlike previous installments where a catcher would stand, then run over to the ball, possibly slide to it, pick up the ball, and then throw it, all in separate motions, MLB The Show 18 now allows catchers to seamlessly link these motions all together. This means that hundreds of new animations for catchers have been added. Catchers will now explode out of their stance towards any ball that doesn’t finish in their mitt. A real sense of urgency has been added to the catcher AI as well. In this year’s game your catchers will be more mindful of who is on base, how speedy they are, and the situation that the defense is in. Say you have a quick runner on the base paths like Billy Hamilton; your catcher will now react accordingly should he try to steal. This means that your catcher will no longer lob the ball to the bases if the situation calls for it. Shoot, your catcher can even throw from their knees if they do the same in the real world. Currently there is no word on if certain attributes like arm strength or awareness will effect these new animations but one would assume they do. Catchers like the Royals own Salvador Perez should show an uptick in defense while a catcher like Gary Sanchez from the Yankees should not be as sharp behind the plate. Once again any exploits in this area have been fixed in this year’s game.

Catchers wouldn’t exist if we didn’t have pitchers to throw the ball their way, which means fielding efficiency for pitchers has been updated as well. Pitchers now react to any ball hit their way with more ease. Have a lefty on the mound and the batter lays down a bunt towards third? No problem! Regardless of what arm your pitcher throws with you’ll see that the animation allows for the pitcher to cleanly field a ball hit or bunted to either side of the mound then making the appropriate turn and throwing the ball. Just like in the real world, pitchers will be aware of whom they are facing and if they need to rush through the motions or if they can take their time to make the throw. This means rushed throws resulting in errors are a definite possibility. Should you have the need for your pitcher to cover home plate, Sony San Diego thought of that too. Pitchers now react quicker without having choppy, one-by-one animations. If the catcher is retrieving a passed ball and throws it to you as you’re running towards home and not already set up that’s fine! Your pitcher will now position himself as he would in real life and apply the tag in the appropriate spot. Pitchers can receive the ball at any point when covering home plate and make a smooth tag, which means runners have to be more aware of where a passed ball really is instead of taking off like a bandit knowing they will score a run. Overall, you should expect more genuine reactions when fielding a ball or tagging a runner while on defense, regardless of what position you are playing.

Hitting gets some major upgrades as well and not just the added face mask on the helmets.

Now to get the ball out to these fielders you need someone to hit the ball. You didn’t think Sony San Diego would forget the hitters now would you? Hitting in MLB The Show 18 now has more feedback than ever before. Just like in last year’s release, you will get the swing timing result but now you also get the contact result combined with a real time slide out graphic showing the timing window of the bat hitting the ball. You are also informed of what the exit velocity of that ball was coming off the contact with the bat. All of this combines to give you more in depth and in the moment swing analysis. Letting you know how you really did against that nasty curve ball that’s been plaguing you since day one. The popular zone hitting has had a few tweaks to it as well. The plate coverage indicator, or PCI for short, that you move to make contact with the incoming pitch has been revamped. Now it’s all dependent on who is stepping into the batters box. Weak hitters that have little power may need to square up the ball more with the PCI. Average hitters get a little more balance, being able to lay down a hit with more ease. Power hitters have a greater ability to square up a ball from the mid point and higher in the PCI. Again, it’s all based off of stats. So don’t expect to go in there with cover athlete Aaron Judge and get the same results as you would with the speedster, José Altuve. Attributes will play the biggest factor when hitting. Other changes with hitting include updated physics in how the ball will react when hit in different types of weather and opposite field power being redone. Both of which we will just have to keep an eye on as the game is shown more to see just how these both work.

MLB The Show 18 wouldn’t be the baseball game it has come to be without legendary players! New legends will be introduced this year giving us more and more generations of Hall of Fame greatness to play through. Starting with the biggest and most requested acquisition yet, Babe Ruth. That’s right! The Great Bambino, the Sultan of Swat, the Colossus of Clout, and the… well you get the picture. Babe freaking Ruth is in The Show! He’s not the only legend joining this year’s game with already included legends from previous years. Here is the list of legends announced so far for MLB The Show 18.

The Great Bambino lets us know he’s headed for MLB The Show 18!

• Babe Ruth – Will he be a pitcher AND a hitter?
• Troy Percival – Averaged 35 saves per year between 96-04
• Lee Smith – 3rd most saves all time
• Doc Ellis – 121 wins in the 70’s, threw “THE No hitter”
• Pee Wee Reese – Hall of Fame in 1984, 10x All Star
• Don Sutton – Hall of Fame in 1998, 7th most strikeouts, 10th most shutouts
• Benito Santiago – 1987 Rookie of the Year, 4x silver slugger, 3x Gold Glove
• Vladimir Guerrero – 2018 Hall of Fame inductee, 9x All Star, and brand new legend to MLB The Show

Well there you have it ladies and gents. The first preview for this year’s MLB The Show 18! What other new legends, game play modes, and baseball goodies will Sony San Diego announce? Make sure you come back soon to check out preview number two as I uncover any and all information that drops between now and then, leading up to the games release on March 27th, 2018. Until then stay tuned to Nerdbacon.com for all things video games and MLB The Show 18.

I’m ready for Part 2! Take me there!

I’m a rebel and I refuse to be part of your system! Skip Part 2 and take me straight to Part 3!