With the release of MLB The Show 22 set to accompany the dawn of a new baseball season, many will be flocking to clog up the rickety servers in online games of all sorts. Whether competing in Ranked Seasons or Battle Royale, there will always naturally be a desire to gauge how you stack up against everyone else who is playing MLB The Show 22. But just as there is with nearly all of the other sports titles, there’s a dark side to online play in MLB The Show that can make games frustrating or annoying.
Sadly, the world is full of people who seemingly just want to watch the world burn, and they remain committed to making your experience in an online sports games a terrible one. On the other hand, there could be others who don’t even realize that they are doing things in the course of a game that are getting on their opponent’s nerves. In an effort to try get through to anyone in either of these groups who is willing to listen, I thought it would be a good idea to outline some of the most common ways that people can threaten to ruin a fun ballgame.
Here are six unwritten rules for any and all online games in MLB The Show 22 that, if followed, will make for a better experience for all. If any of these are broken, don’t be surprised when your opponent retaliates the same way they do in the majors: with a fastball to the ribs.
Six Unwritten Rules For Online Play In MLB The Show 22
No Bunt Dancing
Let’s start with bunt dancing, something that is more of a minor annoyance than anything else. It has been around for ages now and is probably not going away anytime soon. Practically since The Show has been in business, people in online play have enjoyed trying to distract the pitcher while at the plate by feigning that they’re going to bunt and then pulling the bat back in a rapid back-and-forth motion that makes it kind of look like they’re dancing.
Again, it doesn’t really serve much of a higher function because good players shouldn’t be too put off by a little movement at the plate, but it’s really just a jerk move if we’re being honest and I think we’ll all agree that the world could use a little more kindness and consideration.
Don’t Watch Home Run Replays
Following a home run in MLB The Show 21, there’s an on-screen option for either player to watch a replay of the bomb that was just hit. Typically, both parties are choosing to skip this and get on with the rest of the game. But on the rare occasion when you forget to immediately hit the skip button as a pitcher, you’ll come across a player every once in a while who obnoxiously insists on watching their dinger again.
It’s not all that much of a stretch to consider this to be exactly the same as a player in the real major leagues taking their sweet time making their way around the bases after a homer, and there are often some consequences that a player will then need to face when they make this decision to really soak in the moment. There is probably an exception or two to this specific unwritten rule where watching a home run is justifiable (Bartolo Colon going deep, etc.), but usually it’s best to steer clear.
Don’t Exploit Animations
Another unfortunate time-honored tradition within MLB The Show is a subset of players seeking any edge by identifying deficiencies in the game’s animations each year and then using these to their advantage. Over the years, these have often involved fielders being too slow to deliver a throw to the desired bag, which hyper-competitive players would use as a chance to take an extra base whenever possible.
To their credit, developers for the game have done an admirable job in recent years of eliminating these bugs as quickly as possible when they’ve cropped up to ensure as level a playing field as possible for online games. There’s still the very real possibility though that MLB The Show 22 will have some kind of similar issue involving animations that the desperate will use when they need a run. However, honorable players know to never steep so low.
Maintain A Good Pace On The Mound
Pick-off attempts can be a vital tool in managing speed on the bases and keeping runners close to whatever base they’re occupying in MLB The Show — just as they are in real baseball — but there’s no need to go overboard. A good rule of thumb is to throw over if a runner insists on taking an extra step or two off the base, or perhaps as some kind of warning or show of respect to someone especially quick.
When it starts to become a problem though is when an opponent continues to try to pick you off repeatedly even when you have a slow runner on base and are not extending your small lead by an inch. It can become even more galling when an opponent (who’s usually losing) decides to take forever to select and deliver the pitch to the plate. They might also begin to step off the mound to delay an at-bat even further, all in a sad attempt to have you become so bored or frustrated that you eventually decide to just quit the game and give them the entirely unearned win.
Don’t Use Every Second Of Pause Time
Don’t get me wrong, there are moments when it’s necessary for someone to enter the pause menu, so eating up a portion of the allotted pause time is bound to happen throughout the course of a game. There’s no reason though for these instances that typically involve warming up a relief pitcher or a pinch hitter to take longer than 30 seconds or so. Whether opponents are merely trying to get on your nerves or genuinely have something going on that requires them to put the game on hold for a moment, you can’t expect anyone to display too much patience when they’re stuck sitting there twiddling their thumbs as they watch the timer tick down.
When that baby finally does strike zero, you better believe that I am not waiting around for even an additional second and immediately accepting the free win that comes with someone leaving me hanging for too long.
There’s No Shame In Quitting
It’s not fun to be on either side of a blowout. Okay, the losing end is probably a smidge worse as that can be a humbling experience, but it can be tedious to play out the rest of a game when you’re up big and your opponent is clearly outclassed. As someone whose skill level is fairly average in MLB The Show and has been through both scenarios, I have absolutely no problem with tipping my cap to my opponent and conceding defeat once I fall behind by maybe five runs or so (depending on the mode and inning).
Yes, amazing comebacks do happen and perhaps I’ve missed out on the opportunity to pull off a couple in my years of behaving this way, but I’m fairly certain that I’ve also saved myself hours of bitterness and resentment by knowing when to call it quits. That said, we love that SDS changed the Ranked Seasons rules for wins, so hopefully this means we see less quits early in a game when it’s 2-0.
