If you were to ask any random baseball fan what the most exciting part of the sport is, you’d likely get many different answers. For the most part, I’d expect people to say that home runs are the most exciting aspect of baseball. After all, in a modern baseball landscape where things such as exit velocity and launch angle have become such huge talking points and narrative drivers, the long ball is the logical conclusion. Maybe you’ll get some people who say a triple is the most exciting, as the three-bagger is one of the rarer hits you’ll see. But what about robbing a home run on the defensive side?
For anyone who might not be a baseball fan (hello, welcome), robbing a home run is, in my opinion, the baseball equivalent of blocking a fast-break dunk attempt in basketball. For a second, it looks like it’s a foregone conclusion. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a hero comes to the rescue and absolutely stuffs it. That’s what robbing a home run feels like.
But does MLB The Show 25 accurately capture this kind of incredible feeling when it comes to robbing home runs?
Robbing Home Runs Feels Good, But Stadium Choice Can Kill Any Chance Of It
MLB The Show 25 made big changes when it comes to robbing home runs this year. In years past, robbing home runs was a difficult feat and relied just as much on animations and timing as it did on skill. However, you pretty much needed to be in the middle of a full sprint in order to rob them, as standing at the wall and doing a simple leap was seldom enough.
This year, there is a new meter that allows you to more properly time each rob attempt, so that you’re always getting a favorable animation. However, it only seems to work if players actually have a shot at getting to the wall in time — any 108 MPH scorcher that sails out on a line drive is effectively guaranteed to go over.
When it does work, it feels great. Nobody can deny that. But oftentimes, it doesn’t, which I suppose is realistic. But due to other changes made to the game this year, the chances to rob home runs in MLB The Show 25 aren’t as common as you would think, even when taking into consideration that it’s a rare play to begin with.
To help make stadium selection a bit more diverse this year, San Diego Studio essentially nerfed elevation in all of the created minor league parks. This means that fields like Laughing Mountain or Shield Woods are incredibly uncommon these days. The only park where elevation still plays a major role is Coors Field, the Colorado Rockies’ home park. And because of many players complaining about not being rewarded for perfect-perfect hits this year, this seems to be the default choice for most players on ranked.
When it comes to the center and left-center field fences, Coors Field is as traditional as they come. They’re at reasonable heights and decent distances. However, the right field and left field fences are a different story.
If you are a righty batter and slug one directly down the left field line, there is no chance of the left fielder robbing the home run because the height of the fence simply doesn’t allow it. And all of the right field has walls that are way too high as well. Now you might be thinking, “But Christian, virtually half of the outfield walls are reasonably short.” Sure, but the problem is that most of the best hitters in the game are disproportionately left-handed or switch hitters, and a majority of the best pitchers are right-handed, meaning that switch hitters will mostly bat from the left side of the plate.
More often than not, a good or perfectly timed swing will result in a pull swing, especially on inside pitches. This means that if you’re a lefty slugger, your home runs will predominantly be going into right field. And, if you’re a seasoned Ranked player, you’re likely playing at Coors Field, meaning that even the wall scrapers have no shot of being caught.
Now, I have robbed a handful of home runs this year. And yeah, it has felt great every time I’ve done it. But I’ve rarely done it as the home team, only when some poor schmo I’m playing has decided to play in Yankee Stadium, or PNC Park, or something like that.
