At 12:00 EST, San Diego Studios, the company that develops the MLB The Show series, released the “Gameplay Trailer” for the newest entry into the franchise. I put the term “gameplay trailer” in quotations because, although that is what SDS is officially titling the trailer we received this afternoon, we didn’t see a whole lot of gameplay in the trailer. However, I am going to break down the biggest takeaways from the trailer in this article.
Eleven New Colleges Added to RTTS
MLB The Show 25 allowed users to play for one of eight officially licensed colleges (LSU, Tennessee, UCLA, Cal State Fullerton, South Carolina, TCU, Texas, and Vanderbilt) in the game’s Road to the Show game mode. The addition of college gameplay in the MLB The Show series is something that fans of the series have been asking for over the past two decades. Unfortunately, MLB The Show 25’s introduction of college ball left much to be desired. As previously mentioned, users could only choose from an array of eight schools, and furthermore, the actual college portion of RTTS was limited. SDS seems to be addressing at least part of the issue that plagued MLB The Show 25 by adding eleven new schools, four of which were revealed to be Michigan, Stanford, Florida, and Arkansas.
Upgraded Front Office in Franchise Mode
In a similar vein to RTTS, MLB The Show 26 seeks to introduce a feature that MLB The Show 25 half-heartedly introduced. While The Show 25 introduced new menus for the offseason, The Show 26 promises to deliver a much-needed “New Trade Hub” and “Modernized Lineups and Rotations” system. Despite this claim, the footage of the trade hub shown in the trailer looks awfully familiar for fans of franchise mode. Hopefully SDS sticks to its word, and franchise mode is an improved experience compared to previous entries in the series.
New Player Card/Attribute Design
This isn’t exactly game-breaking news; however, it is definitely worth noting. MLB The Show has abandoned its traditional “vertical bar graph” method of displaying player attributes in favor of a series of horizontal bar graphs. I know, truly innovative stuff coming from SDS HQ. However, one thing of note that can be observed from the trailer showing off this new display is a significant tweak to the fielding/reaction attribute. Reaction time as an attribute is now separated into four attributes, denoted by direction. Each player will now have a left, right, backward, and forward reaction attribute instead of one all-encompassing reaction stat. In addition, catchers will have a new “pop-time” attribute. These both seem to be part of the “Ratings Overhaul” that MLB The Show 26 is promising to deliver.
“Bear Down Pitching”
This introduction seems to be the biggest “actual gameplay” change that is highlighted in the first gameplay trailer for The Show 26. Unfortunately, the trailer didn’t really dive deep into what exactly “Bear Down Pitching” is, but hopefully pitching gets a major overhaul. Many fans have complained about the varying skill gaps in pitching over the last few MLB The Show games, so hopefully SDS found the sweet spot, but for now, we just have to wait and see.
World Baseball Classic
WBC will once again be present in MLB The Show 26. The implementation of WBC federations and players will be exclusive to the Diamond Dynasty game mode, and it is safe to assume that the content will be similar, if not identical, to what we saw in MLB The Show 23. What the trailer did tell us is that all 20 WBC federations will be present, and a new stadium in the Tokyo Dome will be introduced.
New Legends
The trailer concluded by revealing two new Legend players that will be present in, at the very least, the Diamond Dynasty mode of MLB The Show 26. The players revealed were Félix Hernández and Albert Pujols. Not much else was revealed in the trailer except for the fact that these two individuals will be present in Diamond Dynasty. Personally, I predict that either or both of these players will be Live Series Collection Rewards when the game fully releases.
MLB The Show 26 officially releases on March 16th (early access is available on March 12th at 9 PM). Stay tuned for more articles about MLB The Show coming soon!