MLB The Show 20

Release and General Reception

MLB The Show 20 launched in March 2020, right as COVID-19 lockdowns began and the final year as a PlayStation exclusive. With people home from work and school and real MLB delayed, engagement spiked. Many players poured unprecedented hours into Diamond Dynasty (DD), Franchise, and new online modes, and the game became a social outlet during early lockdown months.

Diamond Dynasty and New Features

The year brought several big additions. Custom Leagues let friends run season-style leagues online—either with live MLB rosters or DD lineups—complete with flexible schedules and playoffs. Showdown debuted as a high-risk, high-reward single-player draft mode: draft a small squad, beat themed Moments, then face a final boss comeback challenge for program progress and rewards. Early discussion centered on optimal tactics (patience, working counts, speed on the bases, and perk selection) to clear Showdowns efficiently. Separately, MLB The Show 20 included real Minor League players for the first time, adding named prospects across AA/AAA and delivering the most authentic organizational depth yet for Franchise and beyond.

Top Cards and Meta Highlights

Three outfielders defined the endgame. Awards (MVP) Mike Trout was a near-perfect center fielder with elite hitting, speed, and defense—many considered it the best Trout to date. Finest Juan Soto (Prestige) became a left-handed terror: almost flawless hitting attributes and a butter swing that played like “Babe Ruth with usable speed/defense.” Awards (MVP) Ken Griffey Jr. (Prestige) rounded out the trio with elite power, defense, and that quintessential Griffey swing—top-tier in CF/RF/LF. Lineups at the top levels often featured some combination of Trout–Soto–Griffey as their end-game lineup.

Prestige System (Final Year)

2020 was the last year for Prestige. Select cards could be “prestiged” by hitting online stat milestones, granting a +3 boost to all attributes and a red-tinted card. It was a badge of honor for grinders and a way to push already-elite cards (like Trout, Soto, Griffey) past their base versions. The following year’s Parallel system replaced Prestige with a more flexible, mode-agnostic progression.

Gameplay and Online Experience

Gameplay felt familiar and powerful, with the usual debates about hitting consistency, foul-ball lengthening of at-bats, and meta pitch mixes. Online stability was generally solid given the surge in volume, though players still encountered occasional latency spikes and freeze-offs. With so much to do (Custom Leagues, Showdown, Events, Ranked, Team Affinity), most frustrations were overshadowed by sheer variety and cadence.

Community Sentiment and Frustrations

Early on, the community collectively “solved” Showdown (patience, power bats, and speed to avoid double plays), turning it into a reliable grind path. Meanwhile, the flood of 99 overalls made differentiating elite cards tricky and sparked debates about what really made a card “best” beyond the overall number.

Legacy and Long-Term Impact

To separate the great from the merely 99, ShowZone introduced True Overall in 2020—lifting the 99 cap to reveal a card’s “real” composite rating and giving players a clearer way to compare endgame options. This year is remembered for its lockdown-fueled engagement, the birth of Showdown and Custom Leagues, the final run of Prestige, the first fully licensed Minor Leaguers, and an all-time card slate headlined by Awards Trout, Prestige Finest Soto, and Prestige Awards Griffey Jr. It set the analytical and content tone for the years that followed.