MLB The Show 24 Gameplay Details and Trailer

There’s been a glaring omission from these first couple weeks of MLB The Show 24 news – gameplay trailer.

While it’s been cool to learn about the two unique Storylines modes we’ll be getting in a couple weeks, the Show community has been waiting for a gameplay trailer.

To this point, we’ve only gotten a handful of screenshots and gameplay centered around the two Storylines modes. That finally changed as SDS has released a gameplay trailer as well as posted an in-depth article discussing gameplay.

Gameplay Details

Animations and Logic

SDS routinely adds new animations to each game and say they’ve added around 400 new animations and logic improvements. Specifically, there’s been a focus on fielder urgency. Anyone that’s played Diamond Dynasty online has experienced fielders nonchalantly approaching slow grounders despite a speedy runner. This is an issue that’s happened too often and absolutely costs you a game. A true focus on fixing these kinds of issues is absolutely good news.

Overall, SDS touts improved realism with this added focus on improved AI and animations.

In addition, a variety of 1B throws from the ground to all bases has been added. This is a very specific set of animations and while I’m sure it’s happened, I don’t feel like I’ve been plagued by issues with my 1B throwing to another base. My biggest complaint with 1B defensive animations is the lineout to first into a double play. I feel like this happens at least once a game to each team.

There are also new step off animations for pitchers this year. This relates directly to a real life rule change finally making its way into the game.

New MLB Rules

For the 2023 season, Major League Baseball debuted a pitch clock, new disengagement rule and increased base sizes. It was announced fairly early last year that those rule changes would not be included in MLB The Show 23. The pitch clock felt redundant anyway, at least online where the game will auto-pitch a meatball for your opponent to smash. The disengagement rule sounded a bit too complex to implement with little time and the increased base sizes would pose an issue with the game’s physics.

Well, we no longer have to go without these new rules with MLB The Show 24. All of these new rule changes are officially in the game which prompted new animations.

It’ll be very interesting to see if this has any effect on basestealing online. I’m absolutely terrible at stealing online and rarely attempt it. No matter my runner’s ratings or how good of a jump I feel I get, I get thrown out 99% of the time. This could potentially turn into an advantage, if even temporary, for savvy baseball fans playing someone not familiar with the rules. The increased base sizes bring new logic and tagging animations to account for the new size. This sounds like a potential glitchy issue depending on the number of true changes.

Pitching

Eagle-eyed gamers identified a change to Pinpoint Pitching a couple weeks ago. The limited footage we saw showcased a “flipped” Pinpoint Pitching gesture screen. SDS confirmed this change for MLB The Show 24. All pitch gestures will be the same for each handedness, but left handed hurlers will see the gesture go in the opposite direction. This adds another layer to the skill gap in online play. It’s also going to pose a challenge even for us Pinpoint veterans, as there will surely be plenty of early season tanks given up as the community adjusts at once.

In addition to this major change, there’s been an additional four new pitching gestures added, bringing the total to fourteen. The Sinker specifically is called out as receiving a change. Again, online veterans know how overpowered the Sinker has felt for the last several years. With the way the pitch releases from the pitcher’s hand, it can often be difficult to pick up as it looks like an off-speed pitch out of the hand. SDS increased the size of the PAR (Perfect Accuracy Region) for the Sinker last year, but it really didn’t seem to make the pitch less effective. I’ll be curious to see if the PAR is increased yet again this year, along with the new and intentionally more challenging gesture.

Hitting

Finally, we learned that hitting isn’t seeing any major changes. MLB The Show 23 made significant strides in reducing the amount of weak contact hits, thus reducing some of the persistent frustration with gameplay. I’ve been hoping to hear that hitting wasn’t being tweaked too much in the wrong direction. I think there’s still way too many foul balls, but the reduction in weak hits was quite noticeable and helped bring my favorite online gameplay since I began playing Diamond Dynasty. However, SDS’ wording didn’t state flat out that hitting wasn’t tweaked. Hitting balance “remains largely unchanged” can mean literally anything. I do take SDS’ word that it hasn’t suddenly gone backwards to reward bad contact more often.

The Closer

In addition to some notable gameplay details, SDS also announced that the next details coming are all about changes in Diamond Dynasty. This is coming courtesy of a blog post on Thursday, February 29.

We’ll hopefully get some cool new features or game modes, along with streamlined Captains and theme teams. It seems a foregone conclusion that we’ll also learn if Sets and Seasons will make a contested return. Of course, learning about the Live Series collections and various rewards is typically the main event of the final stream for most of us. Diamond Dynasty is typically the very last feature premiere a few hours before early access. It’s curious that we’re getting a blog post weeks before we typically see anything DD-related. I wonder if this means we’ll still get our usual DD stream as the early access lead in, just more focused on the actual cards. Or, more optimistically, maybe this is the year we finally get a true revamped Franchise mode or Road to the Show. Perhaps we finally get a full Expansion Mode or a feature and detail laden Franchise mode. It would make a ton of sense for SDS to save that for last as it’s been a huge request across the offline community for years now.

Or perhaps SDS has just drastically changed their approach this year and there’s no real reason for any of it. We’ll have to wait an additional week for a full feature premiere as March 7 will be a double feature. However, be sure to check back in at ShowZone on February 29 as we’ll have all the details from the Diamond Dynasty blog post.

Stay plugged into all the latest MLB The Show 24 news here at ShowZone with our ever-updating megapost. We’ll also have breakdowns like this on any other news that comes out and of course – we’ll have all the latest news, tips and more once the game releases into early access on March 15 with a standard release on March 19.