MLB: The Show is an American baseball video game series created and developed by San Diego Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series has received critical and commercial acclaim, and since 2014 has been the sole Major League Baseball simulation video game on the market for consoles.
The series debuted in 2006 with ' for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable, following the MLB series from 989 Sports. There has been a new release in the series every year since 2006.
The series was released on PlayStation 2 from 2006's MLB 06: The Show through 2011's ' and was available on the PlayStation 3 from ' through MLB The Show 16. Portable versions of the series for either the PlayStation Portable or PlayStation Vita accompanied every entry from MLB 06: The Show through '. The series started releasing on the PlayStation 4 with '.
After over two decades of exclusivity with PlayStation consoles, MLB: The Show ceased to be released only on PlayStation, and started to be released on other consoles by MLB Advanced Media, though the edition of the game at the timeâÂÂMLB The Show 20âÂÂwas a PlayStation 4 exclusive. MLB The Show 21 is the first title in the series to be released on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S; MLB The Show 22 is the first game of the series to be on a Nintendo console, released on the Nintendo Switch.
Gameplay simulates a game of professional baseball, with the player controlling an entire team, a team's manager, or a select player. The player may take control of one of 30 Major League Baseball teams in any game mode and also is able to chose from 6 special team including NL and AL all star teams. (excluding Road to the Show) and use that team in gameplay. The Series has variable game modes in which a player takes control of a team for a single game, one season, or a franchise (multiple seasons).
The online gameplay mode Diamond Dynasty allows users to create teams through collecting cards of current players and MLB legends. Players take their teams into various online matches to earn rewards to continue upgrading their team.
The offline gameplay mode Road to the Show allows users to take control of their own ballplayer on their journey through high school, college, the minor leagues, and on to the MLB. Players earn upgrade tokens and equipment packages to level up their player.