Tempers flared on Thursday when star San Diego Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. was plunked by Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Jack Little. With the Padres up 5-0 in the top half of the 9th inning, Little attempted to throw an inside pitch that would tag Tatis on his right wrist. It was the seventh time a batter had been hit by a pitch in the series. Given Tatis’ status as one of the Padres’ most prolific and important players, manager Mike Shildt was none too pleased, and almost immediately took to the field to air his grievances to home plate umpire Mark Hudson. Naturally, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts came out, causing tempers to flare and both benches to clear. In retaliation, Padres closer Robert Suarez plunked Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani in the bottom half of the inning.
When things like this happen, we here at Operation Sports often think to ourselves: Why isn’t this a thing in MLB The Show? Even if batters are continuously plunked, nothing really happens — a pitcher gets ejected, and that’s the end of it. But this is where immersion is so important. If you’re playing Franchise mode and you’ve had some scrappy affairs with a team, nothing in the game’s presentation makes these games feel any more tense or special. And nothing you do in-game seems to have any kind of long-term consequences or influence.
But why is this? And can it change in the future?
Why Don’t Benches Clear In MLB The Show 25?
I couldn’t find anything in terms of any kind of official reasoning for why benches don’t clear in MLB The Show. But, if one simply thinks on it for more than a second, the reason is kind of obvious.
With MLB The Show being an officially licensed video game that gets direct feedback from both Major League Baseball and MLB Advanced Media, one would assume that there is no option to charge the mound or clear the benches because MLB doesn’t want it in their game. Something, something, glorifying violence, something, something. But, to be honest, even that doesn’t make all that much sense in terms of how MLB treats bench-clearing incidents in real life.
If you go to the official MLB YouTube channel right now, you can find a ton of videos displaying hitters being obviously plunked, bench-clearing incidents, and even brawls where actual punches are thrown. They even post some throwback clips, such as the infamous incident involving Nolan Ryan and Robin Ventura, in which the 46-year-old Ryan hits Ventura (allegedly by accident) with a fastball. The 26-year-old Ventura didn’t take kindly to this and decided to charge the mound. Despite being 20 years his senior, Ryan proceeded to give Ventura a legendary headlock-and-knuckle-sandwich special.
People can say whatever they want about bench-clearing incidents in baseball or how rarely they escalate into actual violence. Regardless, it remains a signature of the game.
MLB The Show (namely, its corporate overlords) shying away from this kind of action is honestly kind of puzzling. It would be like the EA NHL games removing fighting, even if fighting and the role of enforcer in real-life hockey have been seriously downsized in real life. Even if it’s only a small part of today’s game, it’s a part of it nonetheless.
There Have Been MLB Games Where Clearing The Benches Is A Possibility
In years past, it has been possible for players to charge the mound, or even for benches to clear. In the early 2000s, All-Star Baseball would occasionally have hitters charge the mound after being plunked. The animation wouldn’t actually show any violence — the batter would strictly run up to the pitcher, come to a complete stop, then ejections would be handed out.
Most notably, MVP Baseball would have cutscenes depicting bench-clearing incidents. Should a player get plunked in MVP Baseball 2005, players would have an option to charge the mound by mashing a button. The batter would then be seen charging towards the pitcher as the game would transition into a wide shot, in which both benches could be seen leaving their dugouts and converging.
Notice how in both examples, there is no violence shown — it is merely implied.
MLB The Show could easily do something like this, especially in single-player games. Imagine a feature like a “Rivalry Meter” in Franchise mode in which two teams can organically develop a rivalry over time. You’ll see some things like a hard slide here, or a batter getting plunked there, all for it to eventually culminate in two teams getting into an incident where the benches clear. Then after that, it’s all over.
You don’t have to have some kind of gratuitous fighting mini-game or anything like that. Just a few cutscenes will do the job.
