If you’ve played MLB The Show 25 (especially Diamond Dynasty), you’ve likely found yourself in this situation.
You have a runner in scoring position. You’re trailing by a couple of runs late in the game. With two outs and a 2-1 count, you know the fastball is coming. Like clockwork, the pitcher throws exactly what you expected, middle-in, and you are all over it. You square it up, the PCI reads “Perfect”, and everything feels right.
Then the ball rockets straight to the shortstop. Instead of an RBI gapper or a game-tying two-run shot, you’re walking back to the dugout empty-handed. The inning ends, your momentum evaporates, and the frustration sets in.
It’s arguably one of the most frustrating and deflating feelings in sports gaming, and it has been a major point of criticism for years, especially in online play. However, this is a completely normal aspect of baseball — not everything hit well finds the seats or grass. And that shouldn’t change.
Perfect-Perfect Is An Input, Not A Guaranteed Outcome
Players typically see “Perfect” on the feedback screen and assume that it means the ball should automatically result in a hit. In other sports games, this would be true, as perfect timing almost always results in a favorable outcome. A perfect swing in PGA Tour 2K produces a straight shot, green timing in NBA 2K guarantees a bucket, etc.
Baseball is not built that way, and MLB The Show has always reflected that. Perfect-perfect contact simply means that you’ve executed your part of the equation. You read the pitch correctly, squared it up, and maximized exit velocity — you gave yourself the best chance of success.
What perfect-perfect contact does not do is override everything else on the field. Defensive positioning, ratings, launch angle, hit direction, stadium size, and pure randomness all still matter. A 108 MPH line drive at a fielder is an out in real life, so it can be an out in The Show as well.
In MLB The Show 26, this reality will likely not change, nor should it.
The Frustration Is Completely Justified
Even knowing all of this, the frustration when it comes to great contact not resulting in a hit is completely understandable and somewhat justified. MLB The Show trains players to develop good timing, have a disciplined approach at the plate, and work on their PCI placement. And when you hold up your end of the bargain, do everything correctly, and still come away with nothing to show for it, it goes against the typical feedback loop that other games have taught us for decades — be perfect and reap the rewards.
You are awarded for mechanical mastery in almost every other title. That is why players naturally expect a perfect-perfect swing to be rewarded instead of being a coin flip. Losing an inning, a rally, or even a full online game because of it creates the feeling that something is out of your hands. In competitive settings, that can be maddening.
But this is where MLB The Show separates itself from the rest of its contemporaries. The game is grounded in what baseball actually is, not what other games have conditioned players to expect. Hard contact is supposed to raise your odds of success, not guarantee it.
Removing Perfect-Perfect Outs Would Kill The Game
If every perfect-perfect swing resulted in a hit, the entire balance of MLB The Show would collapse. Pitchers would have no reason to challenge hitters. Online games would devolve into slugfests where one well-timed swing could decide a matchup. Diamond Dynasty hitters with elite contact ratings would become unstoppable.
More importantly, the game would lose the tension that makes baseball baseball. Real hitters can do everything right and still line out. Real pitchers are rewarded for smart sequencing, even when the ball is struck well. That dynamic is crucial to the sport’s identity. MLB The Show would feel less like baseball and more like an arcade title if perfect-perfect swings always produced hits.
Also, let’s not pretend that players — especially in Diamond Dynasty — haven’t already found ways to game the system. Despite San Diego Studio nerfing elevation in fictional minor league stadiums like Shield Woods or Laughing Mountain, online players have shifted to Coors Field, where even mediocre swings often find the seats.
What SDS Can Do
While removing perfect-perfect outs would certainly hurt the game, improving clarity around them would certainly help. If MLB The Show 26 can make the feedback loop more transparent, frustration would naturally drop.
There are a few areas where SDS can make real improvements on this front:
- More consistent hit outcomes tied to exit velocity and launch angle
- Clearer expected batting average (xBA) feedback at contact
- Better differentiation between great defense and unlucky contact
- More visible defensive positioning indicators before each pitch
None of this eliminates the randomness baked into baseball — it simply makes players feel like they understand why something happened. And in a competitive environment where every swing matters, feeling informed goes a long way.
Perfect-perfect outs are not a flaw in MLB The Show. They are a reflection of how baseball works. MLB The Show 26 should embrace that realism while improving the communication around it. If the game can strike that balance, the community may finally accept that doing everything right does not always guarantee a reward.
