MLB: The Show
MLB: The Show is an American baseball video game series created and developed by San Diego Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series has received critical and commercial acclaim, and since 2014 has been the sole Major League Baseball simulation video game on the market for consoles.
The series debuted in 2006 with MLB 06: The Show for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable, following the MLB series from 989 Sports. There has been a new release in the series every year since 2006.
The series was released on PlayStation 2 from 2006's MLB 06: The Show through 2011's MLB 11: The Show and was available on the PlayStation 3 from MLB 07: The Show through MLB The Show 16. Portable versions of the series for either the PlayStation Portable or PlayStation Vita accompanied every entry from MLB 06: The Show through MLB 15: The Show. The series started releasing on the PlayStation 4 with MLB 14: The Show.
After over two decades of exclusivity with PlayStation consoles, MLB: The Show ceased to be released only on PlayStation, and started to be released on other consoles by MLB Advanced Media, though the edition of the game at the time—MLB The Show 20—was a PlayStation 4 exclusive. MLB The Show 21 is the first title in the series to feature on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S; MLB The Show 22 is the first game of the series to be on a Nintendo console, released on the Nintendo Switch.
Gameplay
Gameplay simulates a game of professional baseball, with the player controlling an entire team, a team's manager, or a select player. The player may take control of one of 30 Major League Baseball teams in any game mode and also is able to chose from 6 special team including NL and AL all star teams. and use that team in gameplay. The Series has variable game modes in which a player takes control of a team for a single game, one season, or a franchise.The online gameplay mode Diamond Dynasty allows users to create teams through collecting cards of current players and MLB legends. Players take their teams into various online matches to earn rewards to continue upgrading their team.
The offline gameplay mode Road to the Show allows users to take control of their own ballplayer on their journey through high school, college, the minor leagues, and on to the MLB. Players earn upgrade tokens and equipment packages to level up their player.
Predecessors from 989 Sports
Games
Special Edition covers
International covers
| Game | Star | Team |
| MLB 06: The Show | Chan Ho Park | San Diego Padres |
| MLB 14: The Show | Shin-Soo Choo | Texas Rangers |
| MLB 15: The Show | Shin-Soo Choo | Texas Rangers |
| MLB The Show 16 | Jung-ho Kang | Pittsburgh Pirates |
| MLB The Show 17 | Hyun-soo Kim | Baltimore Orioles |
Commentators
Reception and sales
| Year | Game | Sales | |
| 1997 | MLB '98 | ||
| 1998 | MLB '99 | 2.52 million | |
| 1999 | MLB 2000 | ||
| 2000 | MLB 2001 | ||
| 2001 | MLB 2002 | ||
| 2002 | MLB 2003 | ||
| 2003 | MLB 2004 | 660,000 | |
| 2004 | MLB 2005 | 900,000 | |
| 2005 | MLB 2006 | 400,000 | |
| 2006 | MLB 06: The Show | 940,000, 350,000 | |
| 2007 | MLB 07: The Show | 930,000, 280,000, 280,000 | |
| 2008 | MLB 08: The Show | 420,000, 700,000, 330,000 | |
| 2009 | MLB 09: The Show | 330,000, 720,000, 270,000 | |
| 2010 | MLB 10: The Show | 410,000, 730,000, 210,000 | |
| 2011 | MLB 11: The Show | 130,000, 590,000, 180,000 | |
| 2012 | MLB 12: The Show | 930,000, 200,000 | |
| 2013 | MLB 13: The Show | 840,000, 150,000 | |
| 2014 | MLB 14: The Show | 430,000, 730,000, 120,000 | |
| 2015 | MLB 15: The Show | 400,000, 1.01 million, 40,000 | |
| 2016 | MLB The Show 16 | 380,000, 960,000 | |
| 2017 | MLB The Show 17 | 1.16 million | |
| 2018 | MLB The Show 18 | 1.06 million | |
| 2019 | MLB The Show 19 | 2.52 million | |
| 2020 | MLB The Show 20 | ||
| 2021 | MLB The Show 21 | 2 million | |
| 2022 | MLB The Show 22 | ||
| 2023 | MLB The Show 23 | ||
| 2024 | MLB The Show 24 | ||
| 2025 | MLB The Show 25 | ||
| Total | 14.03 million | - |