MLB The Show 25 review: Flexible gameplay, ‘Road to Show' option among highlights

New York Times

18-03-2025

In my near-four decades of playing video games, sports games in particular, I've found baseball games to be the most frustrating.
Hitting, pitching, defense and base running all have their own intricacies, and they haven't always been fun to manage in a video game. Additionally, baseball games can be long in real life and on a video game; it can be easier to simulate a game rather than actually play the nine innings.
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I had all that in mind as I began playing MLB The Show 25 over the weekend. Would the gameplay be enjoyable? Would the new features make me want to play for hours? There was hope the game would keep me interested.
The game includes Paul Skenes, Gunnar Henderson and Elly De La Cruz on the cover — the first time the game has featured three cover athletes at once — so it was obvious Sony wanted to try some different things. But would that carry over into the gameplay?
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I kept an open mind before dedicating hours to MLB The Show 25. I'm a Los Angeles Dodgers fan, so that's the team I used. Picking the best team on a game could be considered lazy, because where's the fun (and challenge) in that? New York fans will be happy to know the Yankees clobbered me the first time I tried the game out.
Overall, the game was fun, which hasn't always been my feeling about baseball games. It's definitely cracked the rotation of my sports/action games, which includes EA Sports College Football 25, Madden NFL 25, NBA 2K25 and WWE 2K25.
I played the game for at least six hours straight for multiple days. That's not something I usually do with a baseball game. That tells me the new enhancements and game modes were winners.
If you're a devoted baseball fan, there are plenty of features to keep you interested. The new enhancements and game modes were winners and kept the game interesting and fast-paced. To add, there are enough ways to make the game simple for a gamer not into baseball to have fun.
MLB The Show 25 was available to the masses for purchase on Tuesday. (Early access was available to consumers on Friday). Here are my takeaways on the new features and gameplay:
This is one of the enhancements MLB The Show 25 advertised with their 'ShowTech' technology. The player movements are more individualized. The intricacies of a pitcher's delivery on the mound and the many batting stances we see look as realistic as ever. One thing I haven't liked about baseball games in the past was the simplistic movements of players. I had no such complaints with MLB The Show 25. The unique movements are also part of the players you can create. I created a player with Shohei Ohtani's batting stance and Clayton Kershaw's delivery.
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The 'Road to the Show' option was fun: Going to the MLB Combine out of high school, being given the option to pick college or the minor leagues and building a player into a Major League star. There are games within the game for fielding to enhance your player, too. Your prospect can be a pitcher, hitter or a two-way player (like many high school stars are) with the option to eventually focus on being an everyday player or a pitcher.
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This addition allows players to guess which half of the plate a pitch will come and enhance hitting ability if guessed correctly. It's a very real part of baseball. When Ohtani or Aaron Judge guesses right, they usually put the pitch in the bleachers. I like this addition — but if you guess wrong, good luck.
I'm like a lot of sports gamers who love the franchise mode mainly to get to the offseason. This game has gotten more realistic with how the Hot Stove League works. Sure you can overspend, but fit matters, too. This puts MLB The Show 25 on par with games like Madden NFL 25 and NBA 2K25 in offseason realism.
There are different modes for pitching, fielding, batting, etc., with varying degrees of difficulty. You can set baserunning on automatic, for example, or control your base runners. The ability to dictate each part of the game in settings is fun. I don't mind controlling when a player steals a base, but I can let the game handle if a base runner should stop at third base on a single. Meanwhile, you can use a more challenging mode for pitching and hitting. This keeps MLB The Show 25 a game that even casual baseball fans can enjoy.
(Image courtesy of Sony Interactive Entertainment)