NBA 2K26 Hits Game Pass Today, Plus What Else You Missed This Week

It’s an interesting part of the sports calendar where you can dream about endless potential in some ways while dreams are crashing down elsewhere — depending on your choice of favorite team and sport.

I split my time between Philly and Pittsburgh teams (oh the joys of having family from both places), so I’m even more of a weird mashup because I’m a Flyers, Sixers, Pirates fan. I’m still not sure where my allegiances lie between the Steelers/Eagles on any given day, but honestly since both NFL teams have won Super Bowls and been good for extended stretches in my lifetime, I’m fat and happy when it comes to the NFL either way and don’t take losses very hard anymore because of it.

But what this means is I’m gearing up to watch Konnor Griffin debut for the Pirates today. He’s the most exciting Pirates prospect of my lifetime, and I have hope for the Pirates for the first time in years. At the same time, I’m in anguish after watching the Flyers lose a game with massive playoff implications last night against the Red Wings. It’s the give and take of being a sports fan, and it’s the same give and take that comes along with being a fan of sports games.

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.

If you had an OS Account, you could be partaking in our first community event using them, which was free for everyone to join. The March Madness bracket will end with a winner getting an OS hoodie engraved with their championship status on it.

Lastly, please join the OS Discord.

The ebb and flow throughout a calendar year is real because regardless of the quality of the sports games, most of us will still get tired of even the best of games. For me, and probably many of you, this means I still have dreams and plans for MLB The Show 26 right now but am trying to think of ways to suck the last bits of intrigue out of something like NBA 2K26.

Some of you have maybe avoided playing sports game X or Y until now, or maybe some sports game is of no interest to you, but either way the sports calendar mimics my feelings about sports games overall right now. I’m hopeful when it comes to baseball and not so hopeful about anything else — I need an offseason and a little breathing room to get juiced again when it comes to the other sports.

This is how I’m approaching the news this week as well, so let’s get into it.

NBA 2K26 Hits Game Pass TODAY

If you haven’t played NBA 2K26 at all, then now is the time to play it for “free” if you subscribe to Game Pass. I’m used to seeing NBA 2K on PS Plus (and maybe it will still get there), but for now Xbox gets the first crack at the basketball juggernaut.

Look, I don’t love this year’s game, but once playoff basketball rolls around I know I’ll get a little surge of energy and want to dabble for at least a little bit again. Plus, once the WNBA season starts (thank the gods the lockout won’t be happening), I’ll get another itch to play again.

If you haven’t played this year’s game, then it’s always worth checking out MyGM and there is so much fan-created content for rosters, sliders, and so on that you can find some enjoyment here. Plus, as I always say, the WNBA action is arguably the best part of NBA 2K these days as I like the flow of gameplay there more game to game.

I’m Ready To Get Hurt Again

The other game I’m willing to give another chance to is Rematch. Speaking of “free” games on Game Pass, I was super high on this title when it came out (I racked up 80 hours in the first month), and I continue to believe their model is a good idea for other sports games even if the execution didn’t all work out.

Having a multiplayer-focused experience with unique mechanics should work, and I want to love this game again, so Season 3 is now ongoing and it’s on my to-do list.

If you don’t want to deal with that level of competition, then just get Super Battle Golf while it’s on sale as there’s about to be another content drop for a fun party golf game.

But It’s All About Baseball

Right now, baseball is dominating my time. From OOTP to The Show to Backyard Baseball, there’s a lot going on right now. I was in Boston for vacation and PAX East was going on while I was there. My buddy (and wayyyyyyy in the past OS writer) Ben did go to PAX East one day (I did not).

Backyard Baseball was there, and he came away impressed.He said the 3-D came off better than he expected, and the game looked better than he thought it would, so I’m officially excited for its July 9 release.

As for the here and now, OOTP got an update that should now mean Live Rosters work right. Every baseball fan needs to experience at least one version of OOTP in their lifetime, and why not let it be OOTP 27 for some of you?

It’s a little daunting, a little scary, but I assure you that you will not regret it once you get into it.

And finally we have MLB The Show 26. Even with some of the issues being reported, and some online-focused folks being big mad about the server issues, I’m having a good time and have committed to playing all 162 games with some team for the first time in a couple years.

I’m still not quite sure who I will go with — even after previewing every AL team and every NL team — but I feel confident right now that I’m going to go through with it. And to go through with it, I’ll of course need a little assistance from the OS community.

I might use The TrueSim Roster Project as my roster. I interviewed Cy on Wednesday, and the roster he’s working on with others is on the horizon. I might go with someone else I’ve interviewed in this space, which means JW’s roster he did with SGR. That one is out now and available for download.

When it comes to sliders, I tend to go my own way, but S&B and Armor & Sword both have sets out now.

Whatever I end up doing, the point is hope springs eternal right now, and I love that I have so many potential options to choose from right now. Enjoy your weekend y’all, I’ll see you again next week.