Please Post MLB 2005 Impressions

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 3:31 am

Yeah, you owe it to yourself to at least rent it. For someone that isn't HUGE into roster management and making sure everything is mirroring 'real life' MLB would fit the bill perfectly.

It's by far the best looking game out there. I am willing to put it next to any game on the Xbox too...it's that damn nice. The faces, the models, the ballparks (2nd to ASB...theirs are just immaculate), the replays...it's just a sight to behold.

The check swing thing isn't really an issue for me. If I swing I swing...MVP kind of got annoying because you have to press the button pretty hard to get a full swing...I got a lot of check swings because I just quickly press the button. Honestly, I haven't missed it since I traded it in this afternoon. The rest of MLB is just so fulfilling, I can't complain too harshly on that.

However, the roster thing is making things very sour. If I can at least play a season w/ created players like Scoop says, that'll make the pain subside a bit.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 3:38 am

BTW, in the last two games, I've won both in the home half of the 9th and 10th innings. Awww yeah...two homers. 3 run shot by JD Drew to win one 7-4, and a solo shot by Russ Branyan to win 5-4.

s*** I love this game.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 3:53 am

Woohoo...Season works with Created players. You've saved my life Scoop. That was the key...you had to have the guys in the FA pool.

That's acceptable...even though I still disagree with only 5 relievers. That's just crazy in the era of specialized pitchers.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 3:59 am

If it was creating players who are rookies and not in the roster yet, wasn't there a chance that there would eventually be a roster update with those rookies?

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 4:15 am

That is possible Wco, but unless it replaces the "default" roster we're screwed in terms of Frachise mode. In Season mode you can use custom rosters, but it seems like you have to start out with all the created players in the Free Agent pool so that you can use them.

Basically, unless 989 makes the downloaded rosters update the default, it's not going to happen. Don't hold your breath, although I hope it works out.

Jackdog · Post by **Jackdog** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 10:21 am

dbdynsty25 wrote:That is possible Wco, but unless it replaces the "default" roster we're screwed in terms of Frachise mode. In Season mode you can use custom rosters, but it seems like you have to start out with all the created players in the Free Agent pool so that you can use them.

Basically, unless 989 makes the downloaded rosters update the default, it's not going to happen. Don't hold your breath, although I hope it works out.

db,quick question. If you wanted to play Frachise with created players, are there any unknown minor leagers that you can edit to be the players that are missing on the Braves MLB squad and then promote them?

DUH....Nevermind brother. I just read that this game dosen't have the Player Edit feature. Wow this could be a game killer for me. I neve agree with all of the player ratings right out of the box.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 11:19 am

One word.....BORING! I started yawning in the 6th inning of my 1st game
and really had to force myself to complete the game. Between Vin Scully's ultra drab play by play, the contant droning crowd, the lackluster and SPARSE gameplay sounds, the boring fielding controls...I just wasn't immersed in the game whatsoever. I'll take MVP over this game any day of the week. Is MVP the end all, be all...no. But between these 2, it wins hands down for me at least. Is it improved over MLB04......definitely. Is it the best hardball game for the consoles.....no way.

If you like traditional, simple to control, methodically paced video baseball, then this is your game. If you prefer a little more glitz and pizzaz....then stay away. I am bringing this one back to EB tommorow and I'll take whatever they give me in trade-in value ($20-25?). I know you are going to say, "give it more of a chance", but I just can't see me liking this game in the long run. I need a little more "excitement" in my
games.

Pros:
nice graphics
fluid animations
easy to pick up and play
many batting styles to choose from
stadiums look great
probably will be best looking bb game for the PS2
AI hitters will chase balls and K sometimes
no meters to clutter things up (if thats what u like)

Cons:
no or few walks
no or few stolen bases
fielding feels like the computer is controlling too much
very lackluster play by play
no variety of crowd or heckling sounds
pace of gameplay very slow
pitching not challenging enough
can't use separate cameras for batting/pitching without changing ea. half inning
gameplay sounds very drab......you barely hear the crack of the bat or the ball hitting the mitt

grtwhtsk · Post by **grtwhtsk** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 12:48 pm

The limiting the pitchers to 10 would bother me big time. As long as I am not trying to exceed the 25 man roster, what harm would it do? So the game allows you to have them on your team, but as bench players? That is really ridiculous.

Scott - I'm glad to hear that the gameplay is great for you bud. Also nice to hear that there is a workaround for a CP in Season mode. That pitcher limit though would really bug me. Hey, can you try to replace one of your pitchers with one of these "bench" pitchers? For example, if you've just pinch hit for the pitcher, will you be able to stick that "bench" pitcher on the mound? Would his pitching attributes carry over and therefore make it ok? I can't see why the game wouldn't let any player pitch. It's just that normal position players would really stink up the mound.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 12:53 pm

Yes Steve that would work, but you're bringing the guy in cold...so he'd get shelled. You can't warm up bench players in the bullpen. I tried that last night...didn't work too well.

We'll see what happens in the next week. Hopefully I can find some kind of workaround for that limit.

grtwhtsk · Post by **grtwhtsk** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 1:03 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:Yes Steve that would work, but you're bringing the guy in cold...so he'd get shelled. You can't warm up bench players in the bullpen. I tried that last night...didn't work too well.

We'll see what happens in the next week. Hopefully I can find some kind of workaround for that limit.

Scott - What was I thinking?? Oh well, it was worth a try!

Hey, while I can still remember, how is the stat tracking? Are a lot of stats included?

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 1:09 pm

grtwhtsk wrote:I can't see why the game wouldn't let any player pitch. It's just that normal position players would really stink up the mound.

In fact, this is the only console baseball game I've yet played that DOES allow you to pitch a filed player. In the first game I played, I PH with Cedeno, and just left him in since I though it was cool you could.

However, he has 4 nice pitches, including a quality sinker

, he hit his spots pretty well, and pitched 2 shutout innings for me, despite 3 Es on ground balls through those 2 innings.

Now, this is not to suggest such a thing is not possible IRL and therefore this game is 'not realistic' (well, Cedeno with a sinker???), but what it demonstrated to me is that, as usual in baseball video games, the pitching is far, far too accurate. I was tossin' up sinkers and curveballs with Cedeno!!!!! and never got so many as 3 balls on any batter.

So, in answer to your question, I doubt field players would stink up the mound, and further, i am not sure 'warming up' your pitchers makes much of a difference. Cedeno was obviously not 'warm,' and last night I accidently put in the wrong pitcher, who was not warming in the BP. I didn't notice much difference, if any. Maybe on the toughest difficulty level, there is more of a penalty, but not on Veteran.

The good news, is that maybe this would be a simple work-around for the very, very odd roster limitations. Now, I am all for the game having some sort of system to control what the CPU does with its rosters, but if I WANT to carry 10 fielders and 15 pitchers, I should be able to. Just as I should be able to carry 17 fielders and 8 pitchers if I want. I just fail to understand the need for such limits. Maybe there is a very good reason, but I don't know what it is.

tsunami · Post by **tsunami** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 1:36 pm

Here are some of my random impressions after playing 3+ exhibition games last night:

- Very nice graphics and animations, although that was expected after seeing some of the movies. The batting stances and pitching motions are once again the best of any baseball game. However, the game didn't look as good on my 36" HDTV as I thought it would. Plus, no widescreen or progressive as far as I could tell.

- Like others have mentioned, the fielding seems a little too assisted. The controls are smooth and intuitive, but it does feel like I'm not totally controlling the action. Maybe that's a good thing since it will cut down on some of the usual human error that lead to runs.

- In the 3+ games I played I never walked anyone and never had a walk. I'm not the most patient person at the plate, so that's a contributing factor to my lack of walks.

- I absolutely HATE zone batting. I know some people love it, but I will take cursor batting any day if it's done right. The best examples of cursor batting I have played are Home Run King on Gamecube and the recent Konami Japanese baseball games. There is a true sense of bat/ball contact which is perfectly reflected in the direction and trajectory of the ball in those games, which in turn leads to a variety of realistic hit types. While MLB seems to have good ball physics and a variety of hit types, I never get a sense of why the ball went where it did because I don't have any real indication of where I made contact with the ball.

- I like the fact that the MLB games use release points in aiming pitches instead of final location, but the Konami baseball games do this as well (if not better) so I am not that impressed.

- I really dislike the "management" interface during games. Why can't I see the current lineup of my team and the opposing team during the game? There have been times when I want to warm up a pitcher or pinch hit but I can't find the lineups for the each team and a simple thing like whether they bat lefty or righty. Why is that so hard? If it's there I didn't see it. How can I make a logical decision on whether to put a righty or lefty up in the pen if I can't see immediately who they have up in the next few slots and how they bat?

- A few have mentioned that relievers take too long to warmup and I am waffling a bit on this one. I could have sworn that some of my relievers took a full inning to be ready. But in another game they seemed to warm up quicker. I thought relievers should be ready in a half inning at most, sometimes shorter depending on how long the inning is taking. If you need to take a full inning before you can bring in a "ready" reliever, that is too long. No one can manage that far in advance. If your pitcher gets into trouble, you need to get your bullpen up quickly and be able to use them in a timely fashion. If they need a full inning to be ready the game could already be lost. I'll test this some more later.

- I did see the CPU bunt, sacrifice, and steal which was nice. It wasn't too much but it seemed to be in the right places. I played the Marlins in one game and it would have been nice to see Pierre try to bunt for a hit...but it didn't happen.

- I believe the manual stated that you could use the three levels of batting in each of the three levels of gameplay...which to me means that you could play on the All-Star level while still using Veteran level hitting. I didn't see this option at all. Am I wrong?

- Some of the published features of MLB 2005 were:

# Individual Player Positioning – Position players exactly where you want without affecting the entire defense. Bring one outfield in to alleviate the threat of a slap hitter or move first and third to hug the lines.
# Catcher Back Picks – Gun down runners with strong-armed catchers when a leads get a little long or back runners fall asleep.

I didn't see a way of doing either of those things in the game. Does anyone else know about these? It also said in the manual that you could adjust the defensive alignments even after you selected the pitch type, but I was not able to do that. Neither of the buttons worked after I selected a pitch type.

- On clear singles runners always seem to run through the bag instead of rounding the bag. It's kind of annoying and it looks bad.

- Haven't seen any errors yet...maybe I'll try upping the error frequency to high instead.

- The fireworks look absolutely lame and really detract from the overall graphical package. I have no idea why they put them in there considering that they look like ass and most ballparks do not shoot fireworks on a homerun.

- I like the fact that when I pause to go to the options menus in the game that the commentary keeps going and isn't interrupted like in most other games. Maybe that feature is in other games and I don't recall, but I like it. It's a stupid little thing, but it makes it feel more like you're watching a boradcast instead of playing a game.

- Why is there no player editor????

- Looking forward to online play. Don't have a Sony network adapter yet, but if enough people give this game positive impressions in head to head play then I'll be certain to pick one up. Can anyone confirm whether or not this game requires the Sony adapter or not? I know the latest Gameday did, so I will assume this one does as well. I didn't have my Linksys hookep up last night so the option for Online was greyed out.

I know...not the most in depth analysis. Just some general rantings and ravings.

Overall, I like the game. It's solid. But, like some others have said, I'm not loving the game yet. I haven't played MVP this year so I have no measure of comparison between the two.

It plays a good game of baseball in terms of sheer gameplay. But it doesn't have the "WOW" factor that "The Baseball 2003" or "Pro Yakyu Spirits 2004" have in the gameplay department. Those games are the most realistic playing baseball games I have ever played.

I'm not big on Franchise modes so I won't comment on the pluses or minuses that mode has. And, I don't see myself playing a 162 game season either. At most I'll probably sim a season (while playing a few games here and there) and play the playoffs or just play the playoffs right off the bat.

With all this being said, I'm not rushing to return this game by any means. I think it will be my American baseball game of choice this year. But I don't know how much it will be played prior to this year's post season...when I really get into baseball. My guess is that Pro Yakyu Spirits will get most of my baseball gaming time. Hopefully someone will release some sort of translation FAQ for that game so I can at least do some of the minor things like change some options or change the defense.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 1:48 pm

grtwhtsk wrote:Hey, while I can still remember, how is the stat tracking? Are a lot of stats included?

That stat tracking is downright impressive. They have everything you can think of and then some. They break down how pitchers and batters do on the road/home, night/day, turf/grass etc. It's probably the most in depth stat tracking I've seen. It's really impressive.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 2:19 pm

tsunami wrote: - Why can't I see the current lineup of my team and the opposing team during the game? Why is that so hard? If it's there I didn't see it. How can I make a logical decision on whether to put a righty or lefty up in the pen if I can't see immediately who they have up in the next few slots and how they bat?

I could NOT agree more. All too common a problem in basebal vid. games.

tsunami wrote:
# Individual Player Positioning – Position players exactly where you want without affecting the entire defense. Bring one outfield in to alleviate the threat of a slap hitter or move first and third to hug the lines.
# Catcher Back Picks – Gun down runners with strong-armed catchers when a leads get a little long or back runners fall asleep.

I didn't see a way of doing either of those things in the game. Does anyone else know about these? It also said in the manual that you could adjust the defensive alignments even after you selected the pitch type, but I was not able to do that. Neither of the buttons worked after I selected a pitch type.

I have been able to throw to 1st or 3rd with the catcher. I think I hold L1 and hit the appropriate button, but that may be just a hang-over from HH. Maybe all you need to do is charge up the throw before the pitch gets there.

tsunami wrote:
- On clear singles runners always seem to run through the bag instead of rounding the bag. It's kind of annoying and it looks bad.

Yes, I think MVP is looking much better in this regard, and many other little details like this. Excuse-me swings, broken bats, DP turns and breaking them up, runners going halfway. . . .

tsunami wrote:
- Haven't seen any errors yet...maybe I'll try upping the error frequency to high instead.

I have made my share of errors, and it's a similar issue as in MVP; i.e. CPU decided I need to control one guy, say the 3rd basemen, but I instinctually react as if I am controllin the SS. The 3b of course goes flying out of position, and the CPU controlled SS, backing him up well positionally, simply does not field the ball, but rather watches it go through his legs!

tsunami wrote: - The fireworks look absolutely lame and really detract from the overall graphical package. I have no idea why they put them in there considering that they look like ass and most ballparks do not shoot fireworks on a homerun.

In general I think the presentaion in MLB is far inferior to that of MVP. The basic graphics are better, but the extras, like replays and such, are done very well in MVP. One thing I do like in MLB is how you can replay the 'play of the game' after the game is over, and it's not just one set of camera angles, either. If you keep hitting it, it will show the same play from different angles. Nice.

tsunami wrote: - Looking forward to online play. Don't have a Sony network adapter yet, but if enough people give this game positive impressions in head to head play then I'll be certain to pick one up. Can anyone confirm whether or not this game requires the Sony adapter or not? I know the latest Gameday did, so I will assume this one does as well. I didn't have my Linksys hookep up last night so the option for Online was greyed out.

I had a blast in the one game I played v. db. Needless to say, the pitching is ENTIRELY different v. human. You only use the pitching cursor to try to fool the batter, so everything becomes different. We had a great game, with little hitting, but surely we will improve and stop swinging at everything! I still want to play MVP online, and if it works at all (not sure it does, from what I've heard) I would be hard pressed to choose between them for online play. Neither of them allows you to choose your starter, and MLB at least doesn't allow you to adjust your lineup online. Plus, MVP forces you to use the latest roster update (although i don't see a way to adjust these, a la Madden), and I just don't see any indication of how to or where to go to get d/l rosters in MLB. I must be missing something, but I don't find any indication of downloadable rosters anywhere.

tsunami wrote: Overall, I like the game. It's solid. But, like some others have said, I'm not loving the game yet. I haven't played MVP this year so I have no measure of comparison between the two.

I would suggest you give it a rent. I honestly don't see too much between them. They are different, yes, but I think in more subtle ways than otherwise. I have been impressed with both, have had fun with both, and see many of the same problems in both. Whichever one is more popular for online play will likely be my choice in the end.

tsunami wrote:

It plays a good game of baseball in terms of sheer gameplay. But it doesn't have the "WOW" factor that "The Baseball 2003" or "Pro Yakyu Spirits 2004" have in the gameplay department. Those games are the most realistic playing baseball games I have ever played.

Durn-it Konami, why can't you even TRY to compete with the sports in the States?

laurenskye · Post by **laurenskye** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 2:46 pm

is there a way to tag runners? i've had it happen twice now where my fielder gets the ball and the advancing runner runs right into him but he just bumps me out of the way and ends up safe.

James_E · Post by **James_E** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 4:01 pm

MVP Online is working fine for me. It sucked before I read the manual and forwarded the appropriate ports to my PS2. Since then it has been rock solid in the 2 games I tried. The games before that I couldn't get through 2 innings without "the glitch".

tsunami · Post by **tsunami** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 4:36 pm

hugo wrote: I could NOT agree more. All too common a problem in basebal vid. games.

Why can't they have some sort of virtual lineup card which you could check that keeps track of all players (bench and bullpen) on both teams and it gets updated when players are used (ie. names are scratched off). How difficult would that be? I think that would be a cool feature.

hugo wrote: I have been able to throw to 1st or 3rd with the catcher. I think I hold L1 and hit the appropriate button, but that may be just a hang-over from HH. Maybe all you need to do is charge up the throw before the pitch gets there.

I thought I read that in the manual but I couldn't get it work in game. I'll give it another try. Any ideas about the independent fielder positioning?

hugo wrote: I have made my share of errors, and it's a similar issue as in MVP; i.e. CPU decided I need to control one guy, say the 3rd basemen, but I instinctually react as if I am controllin the SS. The 3b of course goes flying out of position, and the CPU controlled SS, backing him up well positionally, simply does not field the ball, but rather watches it go through his legs!

So far, I haven't had any problems with player control or switching players. But, I haven't seen anything like a booted ball or a botched throw. That was a problem with last year's game as well. There is an option for errors this year, so maybe I'll up the level and see what happens.

hugo wrote: One thing I do like in MLB is how you can replay the 'play of the game' after the game is over, and it's not just one set of camera angles, either. If you keep hitting it, it will show the same play from different angles. Nice.

Yeah, that's a nice touch. To take it a step further, I wish another game would have highlight packages of plays like the Winning Eleven games. That would be sweet. Those are fully controllable as well and change camera angles.

hugo wrote: I had a blast in the one game I played v. db. Needless to say, the pitching is ENTIRELY different v. human. You only use the pitching cursor to try to fool the batter, so everything becomes different. We had a great game, with little hitting, but surely we will improve and stop swinging at everything! I still want to play MVP online, and if it works at all (not sure it does, from what I've heard) I would be hard pressed to choose between them for online play. Neither of them allows you to choose your starter, and MLB at least doesn't allow you to adjust your lineup online. Plus, MVP forces you to use the latest roster update (although i don't see a way to adjust these, a la Madden), and I just don't see any indication of how to or where to go to get d/l rosters in MLB. I must be missing something, but I don't find any indication of downloadable rosters anywhere.

Yeah, online play (or any head to head) seems like it would much better than solo play. I'm not sure when I'm going to get a network adapter...maybe I'll check ebay this weekend.

hugo wrote: I would suggest you give it a rent. I honestly don't see too much between them. They are different, yes, but I think in more subtle ways than otherwise. I have been impressed with both, have had fun with both, and see many of the same problems in both. Whichever one is more popular for online play will likely be my choice in the end.

I'll probably try MVP out next week so I can see what all the talk is about.

hugo wrote:
Durn-it Konami, why can't you even TRY to compete with the sports in the States?

If they added the MLB license onto this game I think it would easily be the best baseball game out. Plus, they have so many modes, including a very deep (from what I've read from others) story mode called "My Life" (I think) that has you take the role of a ball player. It's like a sports RPG where you have family and outside obligations to deal with and balance as well as your onfield performance. It sounds amazing. [/quote]

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 7:30 pm

When I asked Chris, the developer over at OS about the roster issues...here was his response to me in the form of a PM.

Hello-

Thank you for all of your comments about the game!

I understand the 10 pitchers per roster problem. Unfortunately, this was a function of how our database worked (or didn't, in this case.) It has been added to the list of things to address.

As far as Franchise mode Roster operations, I'd be happy to forward your concerns to the appropriate producers/programmers. Please let me know what your goal in Franchise mode would be...to mirror real-life roster moves, or just start all the rosters of all the teams as current as possible and then let the game world develop on it's own.

Thanks-

Chris

NoJoke · Post by **NoJoke** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 8:00 pm

DB-

Could some of your franchise rosters be addressed by an opening day official roster update? That way some of your rookies will have played (if they are starters) and therefore can be in the MLBPA and the game. It seems that only 989 can do such an update since there is no editor and no way to get your own created players into the franchise.

Since they thought enough of your concern to PM you, maybe you could suggest this? I would imagine that such a move would be a strong statement of consumer support. And the guys as OS, Kolbe and Chris, have always seemed like decent guys, so you might have a shot.

Joe

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 8:15 pm

I hear ya Joe...

The 10 player pitching staff limit is there for good...Chris basically admitted that.

As for the rosters w/ rookies, I'm hoping that it will be fixed with a roster update, but then again I don't know how the game will use that roster. If it replaces the "default" roster somehow that would be great...but I have a feeling that it's just going to be a regular save that you can download and use in exhibitions, but as soon as you try to play a franchise, it'll revert back to the roster that was included in the game itself.

Time will tell. I did suggest that to Chris so we'll see what happens.

I could get by with the 10 man bullpen, but not playing w/ LaRoche manning first base for the Braves and Capellan in the pen are both problems for me.

True, I can do a season, but then I miss out on that badass franchise mode.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 4:24 am

Need help, big time.

I'm getting picked off with alarming regularity. Thing is, I'm not asking my guys to extend their leads off first, they just seem to be doing it themselves, usually before the first pitch. I'm usually concentrating on hitting, and trying to guess the next pitch, while ol' stealie mcgee is over there taking two big steps and then suddenly getting picked off. I just got picked off five times in one game.

Do they expect me to monitor the guy at first at all times? Why is he taking extra steps when I don't want ask him to?

Also, how the hell do you know when you've guessed a pitch? My vibration is busted on my PS2, so I'm assuming it's when the edges of the strike zone flash red, although nothing is said about it in the manual. Sometimes it seems to work, sometimes it doesn't.

And while I'm listing anomalies, the headlines in my career mode are always f***ed up. Stats are attributed to the wrong players, and pitchers occasionally give up 0.-1 runs, whatever the hell that means. Is my copy busted?

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 4:45 am

I haven't noticed any of your problems.

I keep a close eye on my runners usually though so maybe that's why. Not sure though because I usually lead them off one or two steps anyway, and have my finger on R1 as soon as the pitcher does something OTHER than pitch.

As for the headlines...I don't notice them usually but I have a few times and they've been right.

I don't know if switching the disc is going to be the answer to those guys Slum...sorry I can't help much.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 10:12 am

Figured it out... sort of embarassing, really. When attempting to guess any pitch assigned to the circle button, I was unwittingly calling up the command to increase the lead of the man on first. Then, if I guessed a location on the left side of the plate, the button combo of circle-and-left was making my guy take steps. Eureka.

Parker · Post by **Parker** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 12:09 pm

Yah, it has some minor annoyances, but after playing this game nonstop for the past few days, it truly has exceeded all of my expectations. I'll try ASB (even though it's getting absolutely trashed in print mag reviews), but I can see myself playing MLB 2005 a ton. Franchise mode is great.

Blublub · Post by **Blublub** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 12:55 pm

"Why can't they have some sort of virtual lineup card which you could check that keeps track of all players (bench and bullpen) on both teams and it gets updated when players are used (ie. names are scratched off). How difficult would that be? I think that would be a cool feature."

Yeah, that would work great, and would be so much more useful than other crap they commonly stick where this could go, like MVP's "game importance" or whatever it's called. I still haven't tried MLB, but I can say this is a huge problem in MVP - like when setting your lineups before the game, I don't think there is a way to see whether you are facing a lefty or a righty, which, um, has a little to do with how you set your lineup.