Breaking Down The Trailer For MLB The Show 17 As Well As The Current State Of Baseball Video Games

Note this trailer came out back in December but with pitchers and catchers finally reporting it seemed like a good time to start talking about it

Ranking the best baseball video games of all time is mostly a subject exercise. For older games a lot of it has to do with which you grew up playing. For example, kids who grew up on RBI Baseball likely think that's the best. The same can be said for Baseball Stars or Triple Play. I have played all these games and personally think MVP Baseball is not just the greatest baseball video game of all time, but the greatest sports video game of all time. The only games that have ever made me question this thought are the past few years of MLB The Show.

The Show has been around for a while now, since 2006 to be exact, but it's the past couple of years where the game has really taken off. One of the "problems" with baseball video games is that outside of playing single games or franchise modes there isn't much else to do. The Show changed that in this regard by prominently featuring online play with Diamond Dynasty mode as well as adding a "campaign" mode with Road To The Show. 

In the trailer above we get our first glimpse at a potential new RTTS feature where we see a created player talking to his manager in a cutaway scene. This likely hints that RTTS will have more story lines this year. With such a quick scene it's unclear how in depth the mode will go but it's great to see the game trending in this direction.

The other big new feature that is getting a lot of buzz is retro mode. Footage of this was shown at the very end of the trailer and similar to the new RTTS features we don't have much to go off. The clip we do see shows Ken Griffey Jr. batting and is shown able to be moved around in the batters box. He is also hitting off Goose Gossage, which hints that this mode will have retro teams as well. At worst retro mode will be a fun way to experience the nostalgia of the old baseball video games, while at best the developers will make it something worth playing more than a handful of times. Lastly other new features teased in the trailer include new player celebrations (Red Sox outfield dance!!), more classic stadiums, and more diamond dynasty legends. 

Up until a couple of years ago MVP Baseball 2005 was still my baseball video game of preference. One of the reasons for this was, despite the fact the last installment came out over a decade ago, the game still held up to present day. It was just a better overall game experience than whatever new MLB 2K game was coming out. Now I feel myself trending to whichever new version of The Show has come out. One barrier to get people to play The Show is that it is only available on PlayStation, but if you like great baseball video games than the system is worth purchasing with the game. Some of the online play may seem intimidating for more casual players but the game has so many modes to choose from between franchise, diamond dynasty, and RTTS that there is something for everyone. With the new features teased in the trailer it looks like The Show 17 will be the best version yet. 

The Show 17 comes out March 28th.