Review: ‘MLB The Show 23’ makes the old feel new again

As someone who gets the joyful, yet indelible task of reviewing annual sports games, it’s easy to just write off each new installment as a roster refresh and a slight polish of established features. Lord knows the Madden NFL franchise has been doing that for years now. But when a developer takes the time and effort to drill down into the core game modes and features that fans already love and find new and exciting ways to make them better, it’s not only a surprise; it’s a celebration. MLB The Show has already established itself as the best baseball sim ever created, so when San Diego Studio pulls off an annual refresh as they have with MLB The Show 23, somebody better order a cake and balloons. This year’s game breaks new ground both by reimagining the same game modes we’ve all come to know and love for nearly 20 years and by finally honoring a long-ignored portion of the sport’s past.

Right off the bat, MLB The Show 23 rolls out new features and modes with the inclusion of the World Baseball Classic and the Negro Leagues showcase, dubbed Storylines.

The World Baseball Classic tournament makes a return this year, and for the first time ever, nationally-branded players, uniforms, and missions are included in The Show. The WBC Program is designed to last for the remainder of the calendar year and gives gamers incentives to unlock and add WBC players to their Diamond Dynasty lineups. The actual tournament features the best players from participating countries, and this time around, you can have an entire Diamond Dynasty squad made up of those players. Talk about All-Stars, these are truly the best in the world.

The biggest (and best) new addition to MLB The Show 23 is, without a doubt, the long-awaited inclusion of the Negro Leagues. San Diego Studio partnered with the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City to create a new Storylines mode that takes gamers on a journey with eight incredible Negro League legends. Museum President Bob Kendrick even joins in the fun by narrating each of the eight players’ chapters, which feature eight or nine missions that take the player through these titans’ journey with the sport. Video clips, quotes, and more help set the stage, and Kendrick’s epic, historical stories completely suck you into this amazing era of baseball. Just wait until you hear about the time Satchel Paige called in his players to kneel behind him on the mound while he proceeded to strike out the side — and then you get to play it!

Paige, Buck O’Neil, Rube Foster, and Jackie Robinson might be the most recognizable names at first, but by playing through the missions of all eight stories, you will come away with a greater understanding of who these men were and their significance to the game we all love. Completing these stories unlocks the players for use in Diamond Dynasty, as well as uniforms, equipment, and even Negro League classic ballparks. I cannot describe the utter joy I felt unlocking Bush Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Clowns. I spent countless summer nights in this stadium in my youth, watching our minor league team play, and the memories came rushing back. A tear or two may have been shed.

Jackie Robinson is barely scratching the surface of what the Negro Leagues were, and with this mode labeled as “Season 1,” I truly hope we get more content down the line, as Cool Papa Bell, Judy Johnson, Buck Leonard, Oscar Charleston, and Josh Gibson — to name just a few — deserve the same kind of love as the eight players included here. I have personally waited for decades to see the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum logo on the startup screen of The Show and each time I boot the game up, it brings a huge smile to my face.

As for the rest of MLB The Show 23, the differences are abundant. Major League Baseball enacted some new rules this year, including a pitcher clock, larger bases, and banning of the shift, and The Show has adopted those rules — well, not the pitch clock, as no player ever takes long to throw the ball — but the shift ban and larger bases are present. In addition, The Show has finally adopted the designated hitter for both leagues, as well as in Diamond Dynasty. No longer will we have to hope our middling pitchers can extend an inning with a blind swing at a 100mph fastball. The DH changes the game almost immediately, as setting your lineups means you can add another strong bat to your squad.

Staying with Diamond Dynasty, there are new “Captains” that can be added to your team, and when activated, unlock power-ups for your players. Using Derek Jeter as the “mascot” for the Captain cards, there are plenty of options, with captains for cards marked Veterans, Post Season, Reliever Pitchers, and, of course, Jeter is the captain of a team full of other designated captains. Some of the boosts come with negative stats, so juggling what works best for your Diamond Dynasty squad is the key to success.

Gameplay in MLB The Show 23 has also been tweaked, mostly for the better., but one mode marks a turn for the worse. New player animations and the return of the PCI zones are both welcome, and the game feels faster and more realistic, but the new situational throw meters for your defenders are a drastic, chaotic change. Instead of a shortstop being able to throw to first on a grounder, there are other factors that can disrupt that simple exchange. For instance, if a player dives to stop a ground ball, the throw meter’s “sweet spot” is no longer centered, meaning it could be to the right or left, or could even be actively moving when you go to throw the ball — my games have been rife with errors because of it. When Derek Jeter has trouble throwing the ball to first, that tells me this mode needs to be adjusted by the developers.

Online, I’ve played games with both teams committing multiple errors, some damaging for precious runs. It takes some of the fun out of playing, and after sinking literally thousands of hours into this franchise, my muscle memory betrays me often, even on simple things like an outfielder trying to get the ball back to the infield after a pop fly. I’m sure, in time, I will master this new addition to the franchise, but until that day comes, every simple toss of the ball is an episode of frustration.

Other tweaks include extending XP reward seasons longer than a few weeks, changes to the mini-seasons mode, and how programs are presented and completed. The drill down here is that Diamond Dynasty cards are now differentiated by “core” and “sets,” meaning players are now season locked. Certain players can only be used in a season or two, and once that season ends, those core players are locked out of eligibility for future seasons. DD squads allow for one “Wild Card” slot where you can select one player from a previous season to use going forward. This adds some new wrinkles to the entire Diamond Dynasty experience, as gamers will have to completely rebuild squads as the seasons go on. Certain ranked and events modes within DD are also season-specific, so the killer team you built in April may not be available to play come July. It’s going to take some getting used to, as only time will tell if this has the intended effect, which is to extend the gameplay past the warm summer months.

MLB The Show 23 once again returns to the Nintendo Switch this season, and I’m excited about its return. I admittedly didn’t give the Switch version a fair shake in last year’s review, as there wasn’t much of a need to play on the Switch with both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S available. I thought it was an ugly game and that the controls weren’t as responsive as they needed to be. That changed when I found myself in the hospital last summer, and with only the Switch to play on, I really began to appreciate what San Diego Studio did in porting it to the underpowered console/handheld hybrid. MLB The Show 23 on Switch is a completely different experience in handheld mode. The lower-quality visuals aren’t a distraction, and the full gamut of features and stellar gameplay are allowed to shine through. I also found that playing with the Joy-Con instead of the Pro Controller alleviated some of the latency and unresponsiveness.

This year’s version retains all of that, and personally, I feel the gameplay has been polished for a smoother experience. If the Switch is your console of choice, know that MLB The Show 23 is the best baseball game on Nintendo, and cross-play lets you take on players on other platforms without breaking a sweat. If you tend to travel, or, you know, have to undergo emergency surgery, the Switch allows you to play from nearly anywhere with an internet connection (or by using your phone as a hotspot), keeping you in the game while on the go.

MLB The Show 23 took much of what was old with the long-running franchise and made it all feel new and refreshing. It’s rare for an annual sports game to put this much love and dedication considering it’ll be rendered obsolete in 12 months, but San Diego Studio pulled it off, and the end result is a stellar baseball simulation that exceeds in almost every way. I love baseball. It is, without a doubt, my favorite sport, and as a lifelong fan (and amateur historian) of the Negro Leagues, every feature and mode in this year’s edition has come together to create the best MLB The Show game to date. And whether you’re playing on PlayStation, Xbox, or Switch, know that greatness awaits and baseball has never been better, in real life — and in video game form.

This review is based on the PlayStation 5 version of the game. Additional testing was also done on the Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch versions. Review copies were provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment.