Tips to dominate in MLB: The Show (Online)

Coach Ben and I play the show together all the time. We aren’t the best players, but we do win most of our games and it’s not uncommon for us to reach 800 rank. This often puts us in the top 5-10% of players. When we play, we constantly talk about the mistakes we see other players making. These are the top 3 mistakes we see all the time in the show. I believe these three mistakes are what separates an average player from a great player in the show.

Patterns

This is really what most of your success hinges on, can you figure out your opponent’s pitching tendencies and can they figure out yours?

Study Your Opponents Habits

The easiest way to hit in the game is to take some pitches early in the game and get a sense for how your opponent likes to pitch. Taking some pitches also helps you get tough starters out of the game. Ask yourself questions like this throughout the game.

What do they like throwing most?

o   Almost everyone has a go to pitch or two

Do they pitch different with runners on base?

o   So many pitchers use fastballs in when runners are on

o   Do they try to make you chase as soon as you get a runner on?

Are they working around my best hitters?

o   Failing to read this is the easiest way to suck with your best hitter

Remain Unpredictable while Pitching

On the mound we all have our preferences for how we’d like to pitch but mixing up our pitches and reading the hitter is of utmost importance. Focus on these key aspects.

Mix speeds and locations.

o   What tunnels can I use to keep hitters off balance?

o   How is my opponents plate discipline? If it’s bad, abuse it.

o   Are they keeping up with the fastball? If there late abuse them with it and if they’re on it use off-speed to get them off it.

Use different kinds of pitchers against your opponent

o   Bringing in a different style of pitcher forces your opponent to learn new patterns. If your starter is too similar to your reliever they won’t have to adapt really.

Pull Your starter sooner

The game is loaded with great relievers and starters. After a while your team will be stacked. Understand that this isn’t real life, your starter doesn’t need to go five or six innings. Here’s some things to consider when managing your starter.

o   Before each game ask yourself how many innings you need out of your starter. Basically, ask yourself how many effective innings your bullpen can give you.

o   Is your opponent starting to put together good at bats against your starter? Pull your starter now before they do damage. Who cares if it’s the third inning, we play to win.

Learn Pinpoint Pitching

Why? Because it’s the most accurate pitching input

Undeniably, pinpoint has a learning curve, but once you learn it is second to none. This year in the game pinpoint pitching is harder. It has been inverted for left-handed pitchers. It’ll probably take you a week or two to learn but understand once learned this is the most accurate pitching input in the game. The first couple days you’re going to think it’s really hard but pretty quickly you’ll be hitting your spots with ease. Take the leap and keep with it. There’s a good reason why all the top players use pinpoint, it’s just better. Here’s more on why.

o   It feels more satisfying, makes other inputs feel cheap

o   Relatively easy to learn over time. Takes a couple weeks

o   More perfect pitches, Much better accuracy overall

References

• OpenAI’s DALL-E “Mlb The show Tips” Graphic Generated March 16th, 2024]