MLB The Show 26 Early Access Begins: Here's Some First Impressions

It’s been a tough pre-release run for MLB The Show 26. There’s been a definite lack of excitement, and I’ve talked a bit about why that is in the lead up to release.

But early access is here, and so it’s one of those things where we can now start talking through this together and seeing where the game is at overall.

We have an official OS Account that you all can sign-up for now. I implore all of you, whether you want to subscribe to a paid tier or not, to go that site and sign-up. Go there, click the “Sign In” button and then use either Discord or your OS name to log-in and connect everything together.

It will make your life easier on the forums and Discord even if you’re just going with the Rookie/free tier. If you somehow have no account on OS or Discord, you can make a totally fresh account at that link as well. You can subscribe to the premium newsletter through your OS account as well if you don’t want to do it here.

And speaking of which, please join the OS Discord. We have two community events coming up soon, a March Madness Bracket challenge and an MLB The Show tourney. Both are open to anyone with an OS Account (free or otherwise).

I’m not going to have any scathing takes or high praise after playing one 9-inning game after staying up to play right when midnight release started, but I have more to say than I thought I would.

Small Things Are Only ‘Small’ If They Feel Small

Sports games are given a hard time for only having “small” improvements year to year, but “small” things can be a huge deal. We talk all the time about a lack of innovation, but the Hit Stick is “small” in concept. Flicking up on the control stick to hit someone hard is a very simple idea.

Now, there’s a ton of animations and gameplay knock-on effects that come from the Hit Stick, and it was a direct response to Michael Vick ruining our lives in Madden 2004, so it had a real purpose in every way, but it was still only a flick of the right stick.

In MLB The Show 26, there are some very small but massive changes in this game that I already know I’m going to love. A couple of the things are wins by default because they’re based on real MLB rules making their way into the game, but a couple others are smart design choices by SDS.

On the presentation front, it’s a small thing, and arguably it’s just them putting in an option to make the game how it “should be” in many of our eyes, but adding in the removal of the No-Doubt HR Camera is great.

Now we can get this sort of look on No Doubt homers:

Thank god.

I don’t even hate the No Doubt HR Camera, but I like staying “in the game” for the most part. Video games can do things with presentation real sports can’t, but it doesn’t mean they always should, and the No Doubt HR Cam is one of those for me.

Speaking of presentation mixed with gameplay, I’ll talk more about the good part of this next video in a second, but I think I’m out on Bear Down pitching — at least offline:

I get what they’re going for with the sound effect (though I don’t love it), and the gameplay mechanic of aim small miss small in “clutch” spots by using this mechanic will be something I use in competitive modes, but it’s not going to be something I use in my offline games.

But the different cameras before pitches I will be using SO MUCH more this year because the best addition in this game might end up being the PitchCom coming through the PS5 speaker on every pitch (if you want it to).

It is awesome having the little robot dude talking to me through the controller while the stadium is bumping because it feels even more like I’m actually pitching. And I can also lean into enjoying the presentation more because I can ignore the visual prompts from my catcher now and just take in the scene while listening for my next pitch.

I don’t know about all of you, but I like letting the catcher mostly call the game for me, but in the past you couldn’t use the cinematic cameras pre-pitch because then you didn’t really know what pitch and location were being called.

Now, I hear every pitch and every location. It might sound small — especially because I can’t show it to you in a video because the controller audio isn’t picked up — but this is a massive deal.

And along those same lines, the ABS Challenge System is fun. I’m going to lose my mind in this game at some point losing challenges — I lost both my challenges by the end of the second inning in this game only to see a ball called a strike in the third in a big spot — and I’m here for it.

I can go totally clean screen and challenge a pitch and then be on the edge of my seat as I wait and see if I made a good call or not. I really think this system will feel better in a video game where you’re fully in control versus how it plays out in real life, but I’m happy to have it.

The two other “small but big” changes I want to point out are the Depth of Field option for hitting, and then the PCI Sensitivity slider.

You could probably see the Depth of Field tweak in some of the gameplay videos I’ve already posted above, but here’s the option and still image so you can see how it looks:

I don’t think I’ll always use it, but if certain stadiums or batter’s eyes really piss you off, this is a great option. It focuses me even more at the plate as well, and it just feels like one of those obvious in hindsight things that I can’t believe it took this long to come around.

Along with that, the PCI Sensitivity slider is a godsend already:

Again, I do total clean screen so I don’t see my PCI anyway, but I am a fat thumber and so being able to lower the sensitivity is probably going to allow me to play on even harder difficulties and sliders at the plate. This may be the first year where my pitching and hitting get on the same level.

I already feel more in control at the plate, and being able to toy with this slider is going to take my hitting to the next level.

Feeling A Little Too Same-y + Sports Game Non-Negotiables

I don’t need to spend too much time on this and this won’t be media intensive, but a couple of the things you would expect do show up here. Namely, the graphics are what they are, and I’m actually never really bothered by the graphics themselves. I think players are emotive, and the hair and general look of everyone isn’t bad.

What I am bothered by is the graphics feel too familiar. I didn’t do my usual thing where I play a game or two of MLB The Show 25 in the week before the game comes out to remind myself about where we’re coming from, but I don’t think it would change the way I felt about the general vibes of the presentation and graphics here.

Sticking with the trend of small things can be big things, if the grass and dirt just looked more “alive” then I really do think that would add so much to this series. But ultimately, those things still look less than impressive in live action (probably for a variety of reasons, including not wanting to hurt the frame rate), and so the game comes off feeling a little too sterile.

I do think the soundscape wasn’t bumping enough for me as I was beating down the Jays, but the audio isn’t what makes the game feel sterile to me. Instead, it’s the general color palette and how everything from the crowd to the grass feels too clean. We need a little grime in this game.

As for pitching, yes we get the “bear down” mechanic, but I just want this game to have more pitch types and variety. They may have updated the usages of pitches, and I’ll have a better idea of the “control” aspect of that in the coming days, but it feels a little too familiar on the mound at this point.

Beyond that, sports game non-negotiables is something I’ve brought up in recent times, but I want to point to one place SDS passes the test, and one where they fail.

I don’t care what baseball game you are, you need to show the defensive setups for each team. SDS does not. We get lineups, but no defense. I do not accept this!

On the other end, SDS does get the sports game intro right. Sports games that try to get out of doing a full-on intro are not ones I accept. They don’t all have to be up to the level of Ludacris getting us hyped up in the Madden 2000 intro, but they can’t skimp on it either.

SDS put in the effort here, and so they at least understand some of the sports game bylaws.

Need More Time

Lastly, I will need more time with fielding to really know where it’s at this year. There’s been a big focus on additional defensive ratings and trying to make defenders feel different — and we’ve heard similar things before.

I can’t say much about “pop times” or how players feel ranging to their left/right/back/forward yet, but I had a somewhat familiar misplay crop up at first base:

(Also, note again, the camera change feels great here.)

The only thing I truly noticed was that it felt real bad with Crawford at SS. He has sub-50 arm strength, and I could feel it for sure. But in terms of ranging to each side or running in or back on fly balls, that’s TBD.

Finally, SDS seems to have added a ton of options to pitch history — during ABs specifically — and I want to dig more into that because it could be a great data point to keep an eye on both in comp games and in offline games, but I just didn’t dig into all the options quite yet.

Bottom Line

Is the game good? I dunno. I’ve said a hundred times that I don’t like “reviews” in that sense, and I’m not going to have massive snap reactions after one game, but I didn’t have a bad time. A couple of the “small” changes do feel like genuine game changers, but I’ll need to dig into franchise mode and also see if players do really feel different enough in the field and on the mound. If players feel like they have true strengths and weaknesses that you need to worry about beyond speed, power, contact, and arm strength, then that will be a big win for this year’s game.