An Ode To MVP Baseball 2005, The Best Baseball Video Game Of All Time

Simply put MVP Baseball 2005 is the greatest baseball video game of all time. Maybe even the best VIDEO GAME of all time for the diehard fans like me. In 2013 ESPN ranked it as the 4th best sports game and top baseball game. Every year after the Super Bowl I start playing again. The game takes me back to my childhood and prepares me for the start of baseball season. I load up my dynasty mode and pick up where I left off. It's awesome to play with all my favorite players from back in the day. Manny, Vlad, Jon Fucking Dowd. 

There are so many factors that make MVP great. It always felt like you could get through a 9 inning game faster in this compared to 2K or The Show. The hitters eye was a great feature. Being able to pick up on a change-up or breaking ball made batting awesome. MVP had tons of different game play modes. Exhibition, dynasty, owner mode, mini-games, unlockables, roster management. And don't even get me started on that soundtrack...

While I was personally a GameCube guy it was also available on PC, Xbox and PS2. Now the PC version is where the game has held up best. Grantland did a great job last year of covering how a community of modders are constantly updating the game during their own free time. EA Sports hasn't sent out a rosters update since December 2005 when a licensing agreement took them out of the baseball video game market. The details are confusing but apparently that agreement expired in 2012 and EA could get back into the market if they wanted to. I speak for many when I say PLEASE BRING THIS GAME BACK EA SPORTS!

While getting the PC version and downloading the updates is a way to play some version of "MVP Baseball 2016" it will never be the same as if EA came out with it themselves. The gameplay of MVP 05 was so far ahead of its time EA would barely have to update it. Most of the updates would come from rosters, ballparks, team uniforms, etc. The idea of using the gameplay with current big leaguers (Kershaw, Harper, Trout, Bryant) gives me chills. 

Time will tell whether or not EA will bring back this game. Every year around this time I end up in a deep internet spiral reading chat rooms and message boards with rumors about a comeback. Unfortunately I found no new information today. I'm not giving up though.