MLB The Show 26

There’s a lot to learn, but once you’re in the zone, MLB The Show 26 yields an authentic on-field experience more than most other sports sims.

I enjoyed playing MLB The Show 26, despite the laggy menus. Those same menus are much easier to navigate, but could use some quality of life tweaks to make things fully optimized.

While MLB The Show 26 does expand and move the dial forward for the franchise, some other things do make you realise that it isn’t a massive step forward. With its new features and World Baseball Championship inclusion they have opened up a lot of content. Also, another year of The Negro League is a massive win for history and learning.

Anyone deciding between sticking with MLB The Show 25 or upgrading to the newest entry should consider the latter. MLB The Show 26's gameplay is more enjoyable for both casual and competitive players, and that's impressive. The onboarding also makes it a excellent jumping on-point for anyone new to the series.

Most sports teams ebb and flow from season to season; a championship one year is often followed by a sharp downturn a few years later. However, some teams always seem to have a higher baseline of performance than others. For much of my life, my Orioles have floundered in mediocrity, with just a few standout years throughout the last few decades. Conversely, my least favorite team, the Yankees, haven’t had a losing season since the Super NES was the hottest console on the market. Similarly, ...

If you played MLB The Show 25, you can probably skip MLB The Show 26, but if you are someone that didn't check out last year's version, the new game will likely provide more value. MLB The Show 26 is iterative, not essential, and while it delivers fantastic core gameplay and enough content to keep hardcore baseball fans busy for hours on end, the franchise could definitely benefit from a more significant and daring upgrade soon.

The annualized nature of sports video games means that there’s a lot carried over between games, and it’s only every few years that fans notice major improvements or changes. With MLB The Show 26, San Diego Studio is getting dangerously close to creating another frustrating annualized sports franchise, but there’s still plenty of fun to be had here.

MLB The Show 26 feels lazy. San Diego Studio knows it has no competition and has decided to coast on its previous successes. The on-field action is addictive, but everything else almost feels like a slap in the face at this point. They desperately need to update the visuals, fix the bugs, and put some actual effort into the presentation and career modes. Until then, The Show will remain spinning its wheels in the dirt, hoping the fans won’t notice that the engine is starting to smoke.

MLB The Show 26 is still one of the best sports games in town, but it's starting to show its flaws. Despite all the advancements and positive additions, it's getting harder to ignore some of its issues. For the first time in recent years, I'm not sure if MLB The Show is worth the money. For all the good the game does, I can't keep ignoring all of the mounting issues.