MLB The Show 22 review: March to October shines, RTTS stands pat

Last year’s MLB The Show finally found a switch in my brain and flicked it on. The single-player Road to the Show was the only thing I ever played, even as a pitcher for more than 10 years. Last year, RTTS’ brilliantly executed two-way player story, along with the freedom to bring that star to the Diamond Dynasty mode, opened up a world of gameplay and content that I had previously neglected.

It took therefore longer than the usual review time to fully understand MLB The Show 21’s best qualities last year, particularly pinpoint pitching — which finally clicked for me after a teeth-gritting couple of weeks in which I forced myself to adapt to the new control scheme. I’m not sure I’ll reach a similar revelatory point in MLB 2022, where everything just clicks, but it looks like it will at least be occupying a good chunk of my time; even if its two biggest modes — Road to the Show and Diamond Dynasty — are largely the same.

The breakout feature for March to October is a good choice. It debuted as a halfhearted and lite-mode Franchise in 2019. SIE San Diego Studio has grappled, for years, with the fact that baseball’s 162-game season simply overwhelms most video game players, no matter their appetite for the sport. This is why SIE San Diego Studio has tried to solve the problem by playing key parts of only key games in March through October.

Image: SIE San Diego Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

A single-season campaign was able to make March to October a win now mode. If your favorite team was the Pirates, the Mariners, or some other forever-rebuilding club, they really weren’t viable for this mode, even if weaker clubs face lesser seasonal goals in the mode’s win conditions. Multi-season formats were introduced from March through October. MLB The Show 22 This gives more weight to choosing a club with lower win-loss expectations. Multiple seasons, of course, feather in more player management to put some real meat on MTO’s bones.

One of the ways it does this is by narrowing the player’s offseason focus to scouting three free agents that might be a good fit. Players can establish their offseason priorities in a checklist addressing the club’s specific needs (a left-handed bat, or a table-setter who gets on base a lot), and then the game tells them what needs each free agent fits. The Show’s full-fat franchise mode and similar sports titles has seen me fill up spreadsheets and notebooks as I attempt to build a team. Then, it was time to give up and go back to my single-player career.

March to October’s free agency management is a great example of how to present information that leads to informed, satisfying choices, without overwhelming the user. With player management and multi-season approaches, March to Oct has a lot more context than the single-season modes. Other sports titles would do well to emulate March to October’s high-level approach to a weedy phase of career modes.

The bridge opportunity with March to October — similar to how Road to the Show brought me deep into Diamond Dynasty last year — is that players at the end of a season always have the option of transitioning that save to Franchise mode, and the fuller experience it offers. But MLB The Show 22This is the second installment in the series that does not permit players to save from other games. And it’s easy to see why: With player progression and attributes in Road to the Show now tied to equipment loadouts and specific perks — those perks being among the many things that can be sold for virtual currency in Diamond Dynasty’s marketplace — SIE San Diego needs you to start over every year, just like in NBA 2K’s MyCareer.

My account was deactivated MLB The Show 21As far as perks and equipment go, my base attributes were top-notch at mid-60 for someone who had two years of experience playing in professional sports. That guy is forward. Show 22Without his belongings, he would not be able to exist. If Show 22 Players can transfer their items so players won’t need to purchase as many items. However, this would mean that players can also sell all their old gear to the market and start RTTS from scratch. They could then use their virtual currency towards Diamond Dynasty.

Image: SIE San Diego Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

Sony is a big cash-spinner with Diamond Dynasty. There is no better selling product in card collecting than baseball cards. Diamond Dynasty has many amazing cards available. You can acquire them battle-pass style if you complete certain cumulative objectives. I have spent money in Diamond Dynasty, and I’m not proud of it. Its structure and market allowed me to unpack a diamond-rated credit card, flip it on the exchange, and buy world-class gear. I completely rewrote the history of his first season. He went from a steady-performing prospect to a generational talent with overnight power — something that wasn’t really possible under the grind structure RTTS used to have. I doubt I was the only one, last year, who funded his player’s development with gains from Diamond Dynasty.

Diamond Dynasty gear and Road to the Show gear are both worthwhile grinds. They offer the greatest balance and understanding of all the major games. This is crucial for baseball, which is a famously flawed sport. My personal observation/grief was last year that the fielders took too many routes to get to fly balls. Shots into the gap would die in a center fielder’s glove, with the game’s presentation always saying (in that pseudo-science, advanced-metrics way) he had taken 100% “route efficiency” to run it down. It feels like something is different this year.

Obviously, the game’s broadcast isn’t going to highlight route efficiency on a ball that isn’t caught, so I have no way of telling for sure. My drives may not be as painfully slow as I thought, or my average teammates are fielding the ball just like them, but without making an error. This can be a pain in the ass when you’re a pitcher in double-A, but it’s a relief to anyone prioritizing speed and making contact in their second baseman’s build.

Finally, MLB The Show 22’s most noticeable change is in its commentary, which thanked Matt Vasgersian for 15 years of an enjoyable call and brought in Boog Sciambi (of the Chicago Cubs) and Chris Singleton of ESPN Radio. It’s not exactly a breath of fresh air, as MLB The Show 22’s commentary is still prone to repetition, making that apparent within your first two or three games. This is especially true if you have a created player, or if you’re playing with someone whose name is not in the commentary engine. But Singleton and Sciambi are still a comfortable listen, with a minimalist call that doesn’t try to enforce banter or dwell on incremental developments. Their dialogue library needs a lot more depth, but for what they’ve been asked to say so far, they do the job well.

It is just like the sport. MLB The Show 22To show me the real merits of this season, it will likely take quite a while. But the short-term successes I’ve already had make it enticing to see that season through to the end. Repeated commentary, repetitive animations and mysterious simulation results are all going to nag me in September. I’m also sure that I will still be playing this game in October.

MLB The Show 22 launched April 5 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox OneAnd Xbox Series X. Sony Interactive Entertainment gave us a download code to test the game. Vox Media is an affiliate partner. They do not affect editorial content. However, Vox Media might earn commissions for products bought via affiliate links. Find out more. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.