A Way Too Early Look at MLB The Show 17's Modes

Feature Article

Submitted on: 03/25/2016 by Mike Lowe

With MLB The Show 16 releasing on March 29, we have now seen SCEA's entire schedule of revealed features and updates. These reveals culminated with the introduction of two new modes that have generated a ton of hype, Battle Royale and Conquest.

Being a franchise guy, I was skeptical of these new modes at first, especially when I kept hearing "three innings, stubs and buy-in!" However, I did my due diligence and watched the stream covering these two modes, and I have warmed to the idea a bit -- they look like they will be fun.

But as fun as these new modes may be, they can be expanded upon and potentially turned into new modes and adjustments for an even better (don't laugh) MLB The Show 17.

So let's take a look at a few ideas -- you know, 12 months early.

Franchise Supremacy Mode (FSM)

In this mode, users would take their offline franchise teams online to compete against others in a tournament. There would be different tiers of tournaments based on the year of the franchise save file, among a few other criteria.

Buy-in for the tournaments could only be earned through played games with your offline franchise, so you wouldn't be able to just sim a bunch of games to gain entry:

An example using the chart above would be that during the 2016 season you could make three trades, but could only bring in one 90+ overall player. You could sign one 80+ free agent during the season as well (since there's no offseason that first season).

Looking at the chart above, we can also see the safeguards that would be put in place to prevent people from stacking a team via trades and then simply exporting. The franchise mode itself would hold trades to a (new!) strict and challenging trading system. By using this "fair-trades" trigger within franchise mode, team stacking in FSM could be policed. The option could also be turned off within a franchise, at the expense of not allowing the option to export that franchise team for tournament play. FSM would also take into account the number of transactions made on a per-season basis, preventing the chance to quickly stack a team for tournament play.

But what about people who might try and trade away their entire farm system for the best MLB players? At the start of a tournament game, users would have their teams randomly matched up at either the MLB level, or AAA or AA levels to create a MLB vs. MLB, AAA vs. AAA, or AA vs. AA matchup.

After team randomization is complete, backing out would result in an automatic loss.

Another way MLB club stacking could be prevented would be to have teams play a best of three series, with all three games being randomly selected between the MLB, AAA, and AA levels (only MLB would have the maximum chance of being selected for two of the games).

Online Franchise Needs a Reboot, Including a Battle Royale Draft Format

Imagine a draft in an online franchise mode where all 30 guys are drafting at the same time.(image courtesy of IGN/Operation Sports)

This requires its own article, but for now I'll just say that aside from porting the entire offline franchise mode and its options to online, one additional adjustment that needs to be added is the Battle Royale simul-user draft mode for both fantasy drafting at a league's inception and during the amateur draft.

Put the Fictional Back in Diamond Dynasty

Did you see how excited people got with the Reggie Stocker Easter egg during the live stream? The man's a legend, and it's not just because of that other guy. SCEA should give us an "All fictional rosters" option in Diamond Dynasty (again).

While they're at it, the developers could make it far more challenging to build up a great team so that deep into the experience I am still having to make roster decisions, such as keeping certain pinch hitters, defensive replacements, pinch runners and situational pitchers on my roster -- not just running the same nine guys out each time who are all rated 99.

But going back to that other guy concept again, what makes Reggie Stocker a legendary fictional character is that we all played with him in the stock rosters way back when. So to re-create that emotion there needs to be a way to create those "I know him!" sort of players in Diamond Dynasty, and with so many players playing this mode, one innovative way would be...

Diamond Dynasty Closed Channel Leagues

Everything great about Diamond Dynasty (with fictional players ONLY option), but a private/invite league that could host a group of players anywhere from four up to 20 or more.

If on a random night nearly 3,000 people will tune in for "Surviving The Apocalypse!", I think an officially endorsed Diamond Dynasty league stream would do fine.

To expand on how to create that Reggie Stocker exclusivity, SCEA could even connect corporate sponsors for certain top leagues to create hype, including having a tournament payout.

Imagine hearing, "Welcome to Diamond Dynasty Nike, with a payout of $100,000!" We would see Reggie Stockers again, and we would all know who they are when folks are winning live stream tournaments we could watch.

Honorable Mention Feature: 9 Innings Option Added to All Online Modes

Enough said, three innings is simply not enough time to let the cream rise to the top -- give folks the option to join online modes to play both three innings or nine.

So would these modes be good additions to MLB The Show 17? What additions or adjustments would you suggest adding to next year's game?

MLB The Show 16 Videos

Member Comments

# 1 Ghost Of The Year @ 03/25/16 12:05 PM

Lol great article, but we don't need more modes, just deeper ones. The devil is in the details: When we can do things in franchise like rename the year for historic season play or to really submerse one's self by renaming umps, having a slot for owner & GM names, rename mgrs, reducing the amount of teams to, for instance, 24 or 26, now THAT would be real Franchise Supreme Mode. An off the wall mode 17 should have is "Be The Ump" mode. Call balls & strikes, get demoted if you don't call, say 85% of the strike zone right.

# 2 BaylorBearBryant @ 03/25/16 12:26 PM

Alright it's time. With the success NBA2k and EA NHL have had with online team play, I want to see 3 vs 3 online co-op.

Sometimes I want to play with my friends, not against them.

# 3 two7offsuit @ 03/25/16 12:38 PM

One thing I would like to see added and many may not agree is to create your own stadium especially in DD. I think that was a feature in the old MVP Baseball days.

# 4 BDKiiing @ 03/25/16 03:35 PM

Non-roster invites, and minor league contracts. That's all I need in franchise. I'd love dynamic whether and possible rain delays/double headers, but I don't see that happening.

# 5 AceAmy @ 03/25/16 04:21 PM

Not trying to spam here, but these aren't very appealing ideas... IMO

# 6 Stolm @ 03/25/16 04:30 PM

I agree that this game doesn't need more Modes. They need to refine the ones currently implemented, and focus more on the core game.

# 7 tessl @ 03/25/16 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghost Of The Year


	Lol great article, *but we don't need more* modes, just deeper ones.** The devil is in the details: When we can do things in franchise like rename the year for historic season play or to really submerse one's self by renaming umps, having a slot for owner & GM names, rename mgrs, reducing the amount of teams to, for instance, 24 or 26, now THAT would be real Franchise Supreme Mode. An off the wall mode 17 should have is "Be The Ump" mode. Call balls & strikes, get demoted if you don't call, say 85% of the strike zone right.

I tend to agree. I'm also a franchise user. Ability to relocate of import a created team from diamond dynasty would be a nice addition.

# 8 WaitTilNextYear @ 03/25/16 04:45 PM

When are the devs going to give us a create-a-mode mode?!? rabble rabble rabble

# 9 KingTocco @ 03/25/16 05:03 PM

I agree we don't need more modes and often when games try to implement "more" modes, it waters down the rest of the already great modes established.

I think for the future, RTTS could use even more immersion and depth...not in the way of 2K's direction with Spike Lee but just some more excitement and presentation.

I think the Create-A-Stadium for DD is a great idea, I'm not sure how feasible that is but it's awesome.

# 10 SVCbearcat10 @ 03/25/16 05:30 PM

I think either player models or physics for the jerseys is what is desperately needed. It's beginning to be a real eye sore with permanently puffy sleeves. Nothing like a batting stance where the batters back elbow is up and the jersey is floating above their arm. Solve that and this game takes the step it needs.

# 11 RLebron12 @ 03/25/16 05:39 PM

Personally I like what I've seen and heard about the two new modes in DD and I think it will be a lot of fun. With that being said I will agree with some of the guys above me stating next year I don't think we need new modes...we need more depth in certain categories.

-More immersion in RTTS, for me it tends to get boring after a little while with not much excitement. I would love more presentation such as post game interviews where you pick what to say, or dealing with team mates in the club house, or more presentation when completing something big like making it to the bigs!

-More jerseys! I think most people would agree we need more jerseys to pick from. More alternates that teams currently use and maybe some more throwbacks but current day jerseys are more important imo.

-The PBR makes the game look much better even the uniforms and body's that a lot of people complain about...but I think we need better looking players. Seeing some people like Posey or Panik that look super generic, I think it's time to up the graphics for players themselves.

With all that being said I'm still super excited for MLB 16 and it is definitely going to be the best one yet and look forward to playing it... A LOT!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

# 12 Quentin32 @ 03/25/16 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaylorBearBryant


	Alright it's time. With the success NBA2k and EA NHL have had with online team play, I want to see 3 vs 3 online co-op. Sometimes I want to play with my friends, not against them.

Shareplay is pretty sweet. My cousin & 1 have a season together. But it needs to be tweaked a bit. We created players but u couldn't lock on just on our players. If they add that it would kick ***

# 13 Speedy @ 03/26/16 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaylorBearBryant


	Alright it's time. With the success NBA2k and EA NHL have had with online team play, I want to see 3 vs 3 online co-op. Sometimes I want to play with my friends, not against them.

How boring of a game could that be though since there can be considerable time you aren't playing the game?

If user A is pitching and the other users are out in the field waiting for the pitch....chomping sunflower seeds on the couch, screaming at the user/pitcher to throw a strike as he walks 2 straight guys.

Lord...I can see the rant threads on OS now.

# 14 Houston @ 03/26/16 09:24 AM

We don't need any new modes expand with what got scea this far. As beautiful as they get the stadiums if you don't update the player models, skin tones, hair styles etc they will not go very well with any new additions. MLB 2K7 have every real player with real face scans, not sure what software take 2 was u using but now in 2016 with all the new technology you think we would start to see players in this game start to look like some of the other players models u see in other sports game, NBA 2K, FIFA, etc...If they expand on anything I would really like to see them have top of the list player models. Maybe somehow have some program or software where they can just look up a players profile pic form mlb.com, espn.com etc and somehow scan the face and get it into the game? I know were talking about at least 40 players per team that would need there real face scanned but in 2007 a group name take 2 did this.

# 15 Mike Lowe @ 03/26/16 10:11 AM

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! The extra modes concept was for fun, and I agree with those who say SCEA should focus on expanding (and fixing) current modes as a top priority.

# 16 Rules @ 03/26/16 05:55 PM

More modes is a waste when they haven't even added in what is in real baseball. Changing weather, delays, double-headers, cancellations. Big task but I would expect they will avoid this until another competitor steps into the baseball arena to crank up the competition.

# 17 takki @ 03/26/16 07:57 PM

The dead horse has already been beaten but...

Next year has to be about deepening what is already there. Franchise is the biggest thing. I personally don't play the mode but people are going to riot if they don't completely revamp online and offline franchise next year. This is the biggest thing I hear people complaining about.

I also feel dynamic weather/rain outs, double headers and designated hitter rules are the largest parts of baseball absent in this simulation series. I'm not sure how difficult it would be to implement this into the game for the dev team.

The only new mode I'd be interested in is a 9 v 9 online mode where you either are player locked onto your custom DD player or a real MLB player. Any player not controlled by a human would be controlled by the CPU (although the humans players would bat for the CPU). To prevent fights over positions, if multiple people choose the same position, the CPU would randomly select someone (similar to pitcher selection in DD) and allow the losers to choose another open position.

# 18 Greencollarbaseball @ 03/26/16 07:58 PM

Two things I would like SCEA to add, and this is more post release support. 1) A player likeness update to add in all those face scans they got at ST. 2) Jersey DLC to add in more of the alternates.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

# 19 dalger21 @ 03/26/16 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greencollarbaseball


	2) Jersey DLC to add in more of the alternates.

If the jersey is not in the style guide, it won't be in the game. Not sure why people don't get that.

# 20 Greencollarbaseball @ 03/26/16 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dalger21


	If the jersey is not in the style guide, it won't be in the game. Not sure why people don't get that.

I am talking about jerseys that are in the style guide, but are left out because of slot restrictions.

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