Baseball is in the Air, and I Still Hate Shawn F. Estes

Here is what a play at the plate might look like if you had to touch the backstop before you could run home.

Oh, baby. We're coming up on one month until the release of EA Sports's MVP 2005, the Jeopardy answer to the question, "What makes Bradt drool?", and I couldn't be more excited. Ah, the memories of my Cubs in MVP 2004. Sammy Sosa and Moises Alou weren't worthless. Corey Patterson couldn't hit home runs (stupid lefty glitch), but still hit over .400 with a load of stolen bases. Aramis Ramirez, after a slow start, tore the cover off the ball in the second half. Zambrano couldn't pitch, for some reason, but Wood, Maddux, Prior, and Clement could. And pitch they did. The Cubs won the World Series in four that year over the Red Sox. The dream Series we all wanted, but were only able to imagine. Ah, what could have been.

That said, there were a lot of lame things about MVP 2004 that have allegedly been fixed this year.

1. The aforementioned "lefty glitch," which made it quite difficult to hit home runs with left-handers.
2. The complete lack of CPU steals.
3. The idiocy of CPU in-game management. I think I saw the same sequence of relievers in every game against the same team.
4. The disproportionate outfielder/baserunner speed (which, granted, could be fixed with sliders).
5. The fact that there were all day games during the playoffs. I like the Cubs and traditional baseball as much as anyone, but yuck.
6. Having control of your sliding was great, but tagging was brutal.
7. Too many diving catches by the CPU.
8. Too easy to pitch.
9. Not easy enough to draw walks.

Rest assured, sports fans, that these concerns have been addressed. Impressively, EA Sports was allegedly paying attention to the comments of gamers like you and me, and took them to heart. Well, they probably weren't listening to you. You probably have better things to do with your life than write to EA Sports. Although, perhaps not, as you're reading my blog right now. But they listened to me, damnit, and they answered my prayers and then some. They also added some cool new features such as:

1. The Hitter's Eye, allowing you to read the release point and spin of the ball, giving you that extra advantage if you can pick up the high and tight fastball. Speaking of "Hitter's Eye," here is a picture of a hitter who I would like to hit in the eye.
   
2. A much-improved franchise mode, including build-a-ballpark, and forcing you to worry about more minute details like ticket prices. Move over George Steinbrenner. No, seriously. Get the hell out of here.
3. Single-A teams. We had AAA and AA last year, and now we have A to play with. Thanks a lot, EA. Who, exactly, is going to take my spring finals for me?

On a sad bit of news, this may be the last offering we see in the baseball realm from EA Sports. Not to be outdone by EA, who purchased the licensing rights to the NFL, Take Two (think ESPN) purchased the rights to the MLB. What does that mean? Well, my favorite football game from last year (ESPN 2K5) and my favorite baseball game from last year (MVP 2004) may have gone the way of Zubaz pants. Why couldn't it have been the other way around, so my two favorite games would have survived? Because God hates me.