Okay, so I’ve been grinding away at MLB The Show, and I wanted to share my experience messing with the online difficulty. It’s a whole different beast compared to playing against the CPU.
First, I jumped straight into Ranked Seasons. Figured, why not? I’d been hitting dingers pretty consistently against the computer on All-Star, so I thought I was hot stuff. Boy, was I wrong.
My First Foray into Online Pain
- Game 1: Faced a guy with a stacked team, all diamonds. My mostly gold squad felt… inadequate. I think I struck out 12 times. He hit like five homers. It was brutal.
- Game 2: Slightly better. Still lost, but I managed to string together a few hits. The pitching was the real killer, though. These guys online know how to mix pitches and locate them perfectly. It’s not like the CPU, which tends to groove fastballs.
- Game 3: Rage quit. I’m not proud of it, but after giving up a grand slam in the first inning, I just couldn’t take it anymore.
After that disastrous start, I decided I needed to re-evaluate my life choices… or at least my MLB The Show strategy. I spent some time in Custom Practice, trying out different hitting views and PCI settings. I also watched some YouTube videos of top players to see how they approached hitting.
Making Adjustments
I learned a few that my pitch was not fast enough.
I adjusted a couple of settings to make my pitch faster.
I realized that my biggest struggle online were my pitches.
Back into the Fire
Armed with my newfound (hopefully) skills, I went back into Ranked Seasons. The results were… mixed. I still lost more than I won, but I felt more competitive. I was making better contact, and my pitching was a little less atrocious.
The biggest takeaway? Online difficulty in MLB The Show is a completely different animal. You have to be patient, learn to read pitches, and understand that you’re going to strike out… a lot. It’s a grind, but it’s also incredibly rewarding when you finally start to see improvement.
I’m still a work in progress, but I’m slowly climbing the ranks. My record is still probably embarrassing, but hey, at least I’m not rage-quitting every other game anymore. Small victories, right?
