MLB The Show 25 Review: Romantic About Baseball

From the jump, it’s apparent that developer San Diego Studio took a lot of feedback from MLB The Show 24 into account when making MLB The Show 25. More so than any other entry over the past few years, MLB The Show 25 attempts to break away from some of the conventions and expectations that have come to define the series of late. These moves lead to MLB 25 being one of the more promising and enjoyable games that the franchise has seen in quite a long time, but there are still some clear growing pains as well. 

On a gameplay front, MLB The Show 25 remains largely untouched year over year, which is by no means a bad thing. The core baseball sim formula that lies at the heart of MLB The Show was borderline perfected years ago and has since only been slightly iterated upon with each new entry. For MLB The Show 25, the most notable addition is that of Ambush Hitting. 

In short, Ambush Hitting is a new system that allows you to guess where a pitch is going to be thrown before it’s delivered. You can choose either the right or left side of the plate, and if you’re right, it will give you a better chance to get a hit and get on base. If you’re wrong, it makes your potential of getting a knock a bit more difficult. 

Systems like this have been present in MLB The Show in the past, but it’s this new version with Ambush Hitting that I think is the best one that San Diego Studio has found so far. It ensures that during your at-bat, you’re always locked in and are trying to think about what the pitcher might throw at you next. This risk-reward element is integral to baseball itself and its addition to MLB The Show 25 has made the game only that much more like its real-world counterpart.

Diamond Dynasty has received the biggest overhauls in MLB The Show 25 by far. In the wake of backlash surrounding last year’s game, San Diego Studio opted to get rid of Sets and Seasons in MLB The Show 25. This means that progress that is made in the game mode will carry over throughout the entire season, rather than arbitrarily resetting at certain points. For now, I like this decision quite a bit as it makes my investment in Diamond Dynasty feel more valuable than it did before. 

Still, as usual, Diamond Dynasty will live and die by the support that SDS gives it in the months ahead. Out of the gate, there has been way more content to dig into with DD in MLB The Show 25, which is much appreciated. I’ve already poured about 60 hours into the game mode and still have plenty to do as it is. Assuming that new Programs, cards, and other content can keep coming to Diamond Dynasty at a brisk pace, this could end up being the best version yet of MLB The Show’s marquee mode.  

Storylines is the one element of MLB The Show 25 that feels more lackluster than normal. The stories of players in the Negro Leagues are once again spotlighted in this year’s game, but there are noticeably fewer than there were in MLB The Show 23 and MLB The Show 24. I’m not sure if San Diego Studio plans to add more content to Storylines in the weeks and months ahead, but what has been included here with MLB The Show 25 feels like more of an afterthought than before. 

Road to the Show, the game mode where you can create your own unique ballplayer, has received some pretty notable new additions in MLB The Show 25. Rather than simply jumping right into the minor leagues to begin your player’s MLB journey, this year’s game lets you start as a high schooler who can proceed to go to either the big leagues or college after graduating. The college portion of Road to the Show isn’t vast by any means, but it does add much more flavor to the mode than ever before. 

Sadly, the overall presentation of RTTS is among the worst in the sports genre and remains in need of some big improvements. The lack of voice acting in “cutscenes” makes everything outside of playing actual games a drag and is something that I was always looking to speed through as fast as possible. I’m never expecting a sports game to put a major emphasis on its story modes, but MLB The Show still has a long way to go to match up with the low bar presented by the likes of NBA 2K and Madden. 

If there is one big disappointment that I do have with MLB The Show 25, it’s that the series feels like it still hasn’t taken a “next-gen” leap forward. With past games, this could be easily explained away given that the franchise was still releasing on PS4 and Xbox One. For MLB The Show 25, though, these platforms were finally left behind, which made me think that there would be some graphical or fidelity upgrades. Unfortunately, really isn’t the case at all as MLB 25 generally looks the same as it has in past installments. What’s on display in this year’s game isn’t necessarily ugly when it comes to its visuals, but it does seem like MLB The Show is simply treading water on this front. 

On the whole, MLB The Show 25 is a promising step forward for the franchise. Even with some nitpicks across its many different modes, San Diego Studio has addressed the most glaring issues with last year’s game, particularly when it comes to Diamond Dynasty. This leads me to believe that I’ll be playing MLB The Show 25 far more throughhout 2025 than I did in past years, which speaks volumes on its own. 

Rating: 4 out of 5

MLB The Show 25 is available now for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch. A review copy for PS5 was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.