Countdown to EA MVP Baseball 2005

Hands-on view of the franchise system (or at least one season). The ballpark editor might be cool (but could be cooler, let me recreate the Baker Bowl dammit), but I'm disappointed they created different budget strata again. Baseball should be governed by your income.

http://www.easports.com/games/mvp2005/videos_page.jsp

Joe Torre is my Red Sox manager. I feel dirty.

In the 2004 game, I'd always have like Jason Bay, Josh Phelps, or Scott Podsednik as my catcher and then the autofix would send them down to AA and try to replace them with some 19 year old catcher.

http://eastore.ea.com/jump.jsp?itemType=PRODUCT&itemID=1067

Destined to finish last in home runs. But not too speedy either.

Rotation: Jake Peavy, Mark Prior, Bruce Chen, Jorge Sosa, Aaron Heilmann
Closer: Troy Percival

http://news.com.com/Take-Two+out+to+the+ball+game/2100-1047_3-5548049.ht
ml?tag=nefd.top

www.gamespot.com/news/2005/01/24/news_6116946.html

Further complaints:
I don't like the way contracts are done at the start. Too many 1 yr/$300k salaries, when you should control the rights to some of these people (Teixeria, for one) for a few more years. The game needs arbitration and more sensible negotiating models.

I mostly simmed through one Red Sox season in owner mode and had Manny drop 14 points in contact even though he hit .310, so I'm not completely convinced about EA having fixed their progression model.

I played/simmed through a year with the Sox, trading for Teixeira and Berkman (for Ramirez, Ortiz, "Friese"/Millar among others, some 'cheating' might have been involved here, but it was the only way I could figure out to stay above water in owner mode), they both had monster seasons, 40+ HRs good OPS numbers, etc.. Sim/play through the next spring training where they're both good (the two I'm paying most attention to) and save it after the last game.

Then I run the "advance to next season" thing three different times and the progression numbers are different each time and vary wildly - once Teixeira gains +10 power and hitting against lefties, the next time he goes -5 in contact and stays the same in power.

Berkman, despite a career year, being relatively close to his prime, and a good spring training never comes close to staying even. One time he loses 14/8 power lefty and righty and 5/7 contact, another he gains five power against righties, stays even on contact and drops about 10 contact and hitting against lefties.

This is so annoying. I only like to play franchise/dynasty modes and when I have no way of telling when I should re-sign someone or care that someone's having a good year - when performance is irrelevant - franchise play is useless. Playing Out of the Park and similar aren't much fun either, since I can't go in and play a game at Fenway when I want to.

ps: I want to kill myself when I have to hear that goddamn dropkick murhphys song.

The trade deadline is coming up and Im still trying to find out a way to pick up Zito from Oakland, but they dont want anything Im offering.

The flaws wouldn't be as noticeable if EA didn't produce Madden, which has a near-perfect franchise mode (for arcadey fun) and announcing that really only gets repetitious if you play a lot.

That's the new Tim McCarver meme! "In this situation, a sac bunt is as good as a 3-base error."

And yeah, it would be better and more if-it's-in-the-game,-it's-in-the-game-y if the consequences for beaning someone were more severe for both the pitcher and batter.

also, in general, I wish that ALL EA titles had a 'kill' button. Where you could basically commit a flagrant foul with intent to injure. Ramifications to be sure, but seriously, hitting Kevin Millar or Kaz in the headpiece or spearing Jeff Garcia or sucker-punching someone like Bertuzzi and wipe out a player's career/season would be awesome.

Sports games + Grand Theft Auto = heaven. (I think Bill Simmons actually floated that idea in one of his columns. Ewww.)

I started a franchise but am having a hard time figuring out how to do all that crap. That's what 1 a.m. was invented for, I guess.

Any cheats, tips, etc?

I'm not playing to get super-skilled at video baseball (given my history with games, never gonna happen), so I don't care if I suck when I play other people.

Someone on the White Sox just homered off of my staff ace Jake Westbrook, so I plunked Frank Thomas and actually injured him. The next two batters up proceed to hit crazy doubles, one that looks like it landed right in my glove but mysteriously went right through and wasn't judged an error. Upside - it is possible to hurt people by throwing at them (with the analog/trigger combo). Downside - the computer immediately punishes you.

the lineup of my rangers fantasy team:

C-Joe Mauer
1B-Pujols
2B-Figgens
SS-Upton
3B-Wright
LF-Crawford
CF-Berkman
RF-Ford
DH-Quinlin

Bench: Bellhorn, Mench, several prospects who turned into studs, Torreabla

SP: Sheets
SP: Harden
SP: Beckett
SP: Kennedy
SP: Bonderman

Long relief: Kip Wells, Tony Armas
Set up: Bradford, Williamson, Lance Carter
Closer: Brazelton (converted him)

Right now the team is 87-13. I simulate 3/4ths of my games. Sheets right now is 20-0 with a 1.23 ERA, and Harden is 19-1 with a 1.65 ERA. Yeah, we're pretty good.

player that can hit doubles like a mofo: mauer.

players that can homer at will: pujols, wright.

player that can always draw a double play: bradford.

player that always seems to get shellacked despite his ratings: beckett. avoid him!

oh, and the one prospect to get: jacinto. he's in the rangers minor leagues. dude can MASH, is fast as shit and, as the announcers like to say, "can throw strikes to the plate from center field." NOBODY runs on him.

My minor league system is overrun by guys named Smallenberg. There are 4 of them in Columbus and a few mor spread around.

I let Rivera walk too, he wanted a 4 year contract at $10.5 million per. I brought the payroll down to around $150 million for 2006, but we're still running huge deficits. Anyone figure out how to make money so you can upgrade your stadium?

I've had the game for a month arleady and just started owner mode this week because I got addicted to playing games online.

Annoying aspects of the game:
-half second delay on getting fielder to move when camera switches to fielding view. penalizes human player cause cpu doesn't have same delay
-control of fielders is too touchy. impossible to get them to move just a wee bit. what's the point of analog if it's all or nothing like this?
-as others have said, the commentary is repetitive and oftentimes just wrong ("this is a perfect time to lay down a bunt" when a slugger is up with no men on)

do you guys know about the trick to get all the legends without having to accumulate a gazillion points? you can buy one player, move him from free agents pool onto a team, save roster, but don't save your profile. then reload your profile (so it has the points you had before buying that player), and repeat.

I'm getting really tired of the computer re-arranging my rosters and signing free agents (even though I've got players at every position) between the off-season and spring training.