MLB The Show 21 review: Playing both ways

SIE San Diego has been hard at work perfecting the video game baseball simulation with The Show franchise. For 2021 the series reaches its most important release to date. For the first time ever, the baseball sim is leaving PlayStation exclusivity and appearing on Microsoft’s Xbox consoles. This change expands the possible player base and reach of the franchise, potentially enabling it to reach new heights in the future. As much work was needed to go into bringing the series to a new ecosystem (as well as next-gen consoles), the game itself remains largely unchanged from the previous iteration. That said, if you’ve always wanted to try The Show and never had a PlayStation console, there’s never been a better time to dip your toe in the water.

A new lineup

Bringing MLB The Show 21 to additional platforms is the clear showcase feature of this year’s release. The MLB license used to be widely utilized by a variety of publishers, though in recent years, Sony had been the last company to sign off on AAA budgets for baseball games. 2K Sports gave up on MLB nearly a decade ago and non-PlayStation gamers simply went without a serious pro baseball game.

SIE San Diego’s baby didn’t simply get a port to Xbox—it gets the royal treatment. All features and modes are fully intact and Xbox and PlayStation versions of the game are cross play compatible. Finding online games or leagues just got much easier thanks to the potentially expanded player base. Even classifying the player population as potentially larger is a bit of a laugher. Microsoft is committed to seeing MLB The Show do well on its consoles—so much so that it is launching on Game Pass immediately. For Show players who always wished for more competition, this is like a dream come true.

MLB The Show 21 also marks the franchise’s initial foray into the next-gen consoles. Both PS5 and Xbox Series X are able to run the game via backwards compatibility and pick up some additional features and options exclusive to the more powerful hardware. I got the chance to spend time with the PS5 version of The Show and have been looking forward to seeing what cutting-edge hardware can do for the series.

The PS4 Pro versions of previous Show entries offered the option to play the game at an upscaled 4K resolution with enhanced visuals, but the resulting frame rate was so poor that the 4K mode was only useful for screenshots. The PS5 version of The Show 21 offers a single video output mode: native 4K with enhanced visuals. The biggest difference between console generations is the improved lighting and frame rate. Depending on the time of day, The Show 21 can look more lifelike than ever, particularly in early evening games.  

Native 4K resolution offers an unmatched visual experience, particularly on the various wide-angle shots of the stadiums where the raised pixel count gives detail boosts to spectators, signs, and textures. Uniforms look razor-sharp and, in certain ballparks, the blades of grass can be seen clearly from couch distance. Virtually all gameplay interactions are at 60fps, which is a big jump from the PS4 Pro enhanced visuals mode. Sadly, most cutscenes and transitions have drops to 30fps. It doesn’t directly affect gameplay, but it does manage to kill immersion and is disappointing considering the game looks largely identical to the previous entry by all measures other than resolution and lighting. 

When in movement at 60fps, MLB The Show never misses an opportunity to flex its high-quality animations. Real-life throwing motions, batting stances, swings, and more are identifiable without needing to see jersey nameplates. Some new animations made the cut this year, with lots of focus going to outfielding situations. When the frame rate is not seesawing between 30 and 60fps, the aggregate visual output is mighty sweet.

Most game modes move into 2021 without any big changes. March to October, the main season mode, is mostly identical to last year’s version. Road to the Show acts as a career mode and its biggest alteration is the removal of pre-draft exhibitions and their replacement with a series of questions for the prospect. Franchise mode returns in all its glory along with the Diamond Dynasty card-pack team-building mode. I’ve never been a big fan of these modes in modern sports games, but it's hard to argue that trading cards and Major League Baseball have not been joined at the hip for more than one hundred years.

The front-end UI and menus all get a reworking this season. I haven’t spent enough time across multiple Franchise mode seasons to decide if I like it better than the old setup, but it does look sharp at first glance. I was hoping for more responsive button inputs and menu traversal on PS5, but it's possible that everything was designed to be uniform across all editions of the game. PS5 gets support for the DualSense haptic feedback feature, though it makes no material difference on how much fun you’ll have and I might have missed it altogether had I not been looking for it specifically.

The coolest new addition to the game is the Stadium Builder feature, though it is exclusive to the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions. SIE San Diego gives you thirty different templates for custom ballparks along with hundreds of props so you can build the baseball temple of your dreams. When presented with the option to use dinosaur statues, I went totally nuts and made sure any home run ball had the chance to plink a tyrannosaurus. As with most features like this, the final quality of a given custom build job will depend on how much time someone devotes to perfection.

Retiring the side

As a big-time fan of MLB The Show, I am rather disappointed at how the next-gen version of the game panned out this year. The lack of a rock-solid 60fps and virtually no graphical embellishments other than lighting make things feel like a half-step rather than a new experience. I can fully understand that SIE San Diego’s attention was focused on some other super-important considerations this year, though. AAA-quality baseball is now available to all console owners (please Sony remember the PC in 2022) and the sun is shining on virtual big leaguers who are down for crossplay. MLB The Show 21 is once again an incremental step, but still an important one for the series moving forward. 8/10 trashcan signals

This review is based on the PS5 digital version. The game key was provided by the publisher for review consideration. MLB The Show 21 is now available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. It is also available on Game Pass.

Chris Jarrard

Contributing Tech Editor

Chris Jarrard likes playing games, crankin' tunes, and looking for fights on obscure online message boards. He understands that breakfast food is the only true food. Don't @ him.