Welcome to The Show 21
Tatis Jr’s No Doubt Home Run Animation
By: Padraig ODonnell
With MLB the Show 21 being released on April 20th, 2021, we see the franchise's first stint on Xbox. The beloved Sony game has been creating annual installments of The Show Series since MLB '06, with updated gameplay, rosters, and game modes to improve to the top baseball video game on the market today.
MLB The Show 21 offers many classic game modes every year, such as Road to the Show, Diamond Dynasty, March for October, and Franchise mode. Within these specific modes, you play through challenges and games to unlock XP, equipment to help your players, player cards, and other various rewards to help you build the strongest team possible. Overall, in the two weeks the game has been running, it has been fairly solid, with a few missteps along the way.
We are seeing greater graphic resolution every single year, with meticulous detail going into every player model and every frame of gameplay. The new rosters are implemented, and fans can now play games with live rosters from the current 2021 MLB season. Roster updates are automatically downloaded every 2 weeks, with player upgrades/downgrades coming in based on the player's real life performances at the time. Big changes are being quickly updated and fixed by the team at Sony, with two major updates being posted in the last week. One update was used for roster updates and bug fixes on April 30th, while the second was a full server shutdown to attempt to correct the spotty server connection in the early days of release, which occurred on May 2nd. Both of these updates came and went smoothly, and the improvements to the game modes are as follows:
Shohei Ohtani on the Bump
Road to the Show (RTTS)
Within The Show games, the RTTS career mode has seen a similar setup in multiple years, although changes have come in the newest patch that continue to make the gameplay run smooth. Pre-update, RTTS gameplay involved players starting in Double-A, and having the option to play a position in the field while also getting the option to play as a 2-way pitcher. While this seems like a cool and new portion of the RTTS series, it caused me personally to run into a few issues. I found my character sitting multiple games at a time, with either very few batting opportunities or little to no pitching opportunities in a given month. And when given the opportunity to pitch or to hit, I was unable to change my perk loadout, which increased your base stats when activated. This resulted in lousy hitting performances with high pitcher attributes, and a fat 81MPH fastball being slammed every time I stepped onto the mound. This also paired with the fact that progression was an issue in the first week resulted in a very frustrating and challenging Road to the Show experience for me. I was able to select who I was drafted by, while also working to collect XP and collect stubs while I was unable to advance my player past a 60 OVR. Since April 30th when the first patch came in, Forbes posted a list of all the upgrades to RTTS with key ones such as:
· Players can now see which Loadout was last active when in game
· Fixed a crash that would happen occasionally when entering the Road to the Show menus online
· Fixed multiple bugs involving progression and Stat advancement
· Archetype Item Programs should now track accurately in RTTS
· Online Gameplay runs in 60 fps consistently
These repairs created a much easier and fun experience for me, giving me results with the game as I continued to develop my hitting and fielding. The RTTS experience on 21 is still fresh, but with continued care, I can see this developing into one of the best versions of the game yet.
The fully customizable Diamond Dynasty game mode
by: MLB The Show 21 Twitter
Diamond Dynasty
Diamond dynasty, the team-building, collectors game mode is played exactly how it is described. Players begin by opening starter packs and beginning with their mediocre squad of players. Players must take this team and do challenges and win games to open better packs, unlock stronger players and ultimately build the greatest team they can create. This team-building, GM mindset is popular on most professional sports video games, and often features past and present stars gaining a clear advantage in card rarity and overall. Prior to the patches, Diamond Dynasty was nearly impossible to play, as there was little to no server connection within the first week of release. This made the only possible option offline challenges, pack openings, and practice. Since April 30th patch, when the first player update came out, we have seen the overall ratings of diamond players continue to climb, as well as many players such as Byron Buxton jump from a silver all the way to diamond because of his play in the MLB. Not only players received a boost though, as The Show was able to develop their servers, and ultimately give Diamond Dynasty the boosts and repairs it needed to run efficiently
Since it's repair, I have been able to successfully smoke Vinny Destefano, Connor Roach, and Nolan Bieber with filthy, corner-painting heat from Clayton Kershaw, and multi-HR games from Ken Griffey Jr and Byron Buxton. I have enjoyed this team building game mode, and with early choice packs for high overall players, you will also find yourself improving and becoming addicted quickly.
Whether you're a baseball fan, or a video game fanatic, you will enjoy MLB: The Show 21 for it's great gameplay and strong connection to the MLB. It is a game that, although challenging, provides a full year's worth of gameplay and countless opportunities to get better and enjoy baseball. I would highly recommend this game to everyone, and hopefully with future updates and patches coming in, we will only see the numbers grow as the game becomes crisper.