MLB The Show 25 review: Another great year to be a baseball fan

MLB The Show 25 shows some much-needed love to several game modes that demanded an overhaul, making this a must-have for baseball fans.

It’s become an unfortunate reality for sports simulation titles, but offline modes often get neglected because players spend so much money on microtransactions for online offerings.

MLB The Show 25 Diamond Dynasty features microtransactions, and Diamond Dynasty is a massive focal point of the game. However, that didn’t stop San Diego Studio from finally addressing long-overdue issues for Road to the Show and Franchise.

MLB The Show 25 key details

• Price: $69.99 USD | £64.99 GBP | $89.95 AUD
• Developer: San Diego Studio
• Release date: March 18
• Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch
• Reviewed on PS5

Gameplay steals the show again

MLB The Show always impresses me with crisp and addicting gameplay, and this year’s game makes a few subtle but noticeable changes. The throw meter has been adjusted to be more high-risk, high-reward.

Fielding attributes play a more crucial role in making plays, and a new meter makes it more achievable to rob home runs. On the other hand, ambush hitting didn’t wow me as much as I thought it would, as the new Guess Pitch mechanic is more distracting than anything.

In addition, the developers need to investigate exit velocity issues because there are far too many perfect timing and placement groundouts or weak fly balls.

And I have a hard enough time as it is on Hall Of Fame and Legend, so I have no interest in trying the new G.O.A.T difficulty out. But those are minor gripes, and most gameplay additions are welcome ones.

Road to the Show sends you to school

For the first time in series history, you start your Road to The Show journey in high school and college. This is always my favorite game mode, so I had high expectations, though the experience wasn’t as in-depth as I would have liked.

If you don’t get knocked out earlier, your created player will only play four high school and college games each.

Thankfully, the new progression system makes up for it. Instead of naturally progressing over time, you can finally choose what attributes get upgraded by spending tokens acquired from completing challenges and playing well.

You can also unlock perks and upgrade them with tokens. Hopefully, the high school and college experience gets fleshed out more in future games, but I still love this mode and will spend most of my time in it.

Diamond Dynasty goes back to basics

Hand up. I thought Sets and Seasons was a fantastic addition to MLB The Show 23, but I was sorely mistaken. Giving players 99 overall cards at launch looked great on paper, so players didn’t have to wait until the end of a game’s life cycle to get the best cards.

However, I didn’t account for how tedious it would be to have your progress reset each season and lose every card you spent a month or longer working toward. In addition, teams lacked variety because all 99 cards looked and felt the same. Sets and Seasons is gone in MLB The Show 25, and I never knew how much I missed a traditional power creep.

Diamond Quest is a new offline offering, and the mode is fantastic. Without giving too much away, I highly recommend everyone try it. San Diego Studio also finally introduced a competitive game mode with Weekend Classic.

And what I love most about Diamond Dynasty, compared to other sports games, is that you can build meta teams without spending any money.

Offseason overhaul not enough to save Franchise

After a wild offseason that saw Juan Soto sign a $765 million deal with the New York Mets, it made sense for San Diego Studio to revamp free agency to reflect the current landscape of the league better.

The new high-risk, high-reward system challenges players to allocate resources each week to make a free agent more interested in you, and you only have a limited amount of time to make the best sell.

It was fun convincing stars to join your organization, but the rest of the game mode lacks depth. I wish the day-to-day of the regular season involved more than setting a lineup and managing injuries, and jumping in for moments wasn’t enough to keep me engaged.

Verdict

MLB The Show 25 doesn’t miss a beat. All of the changes in Road to the Show are just what the mode needed, and although I still don’t love Franchise, effort is being made to improve the experience. Removing Sets and Seasons from Diamond Dynasty was long overdue, and the mode is in a great place moving forward.