First Impressions

A few days ago I was asked to participate in the latest closed Alpha of MLB The Show 19, and as always I accepted. The restrictions this year do not allow streaming, so the best I can do is provide a few screenshots of my new custom team later on in this post.

So here are my first impressions on the game that I typed into chat while playing my first few games.

The field(s) (there's only 1 now) seem to play "bigger". What I mean is, in this same default stadium in MLB The Show 18, it seemed tougher to get a ball to land in front of an Outfielder or go over an Infielders head. Now this could be due to the ball physics off the bat being adjusted, which is highly likely, but even the appearance of the park seems "bigger", like there's just more space in the OF to hit to.
Overall it was much easier to hit on All-Star mode than the previous year. The ball out of the pitchers hand seems easier to pick up, possibly due to the timing being adjusted. One game against the Houston Astros I racked up nearly 20 hits and scored 14 runs in the first 3 innings. This simply did not happen in the previous years game on All-Star mode vs a good team.
Dinking singles over Infielders is now actually a thing! In previous iterations of MLB The Show it seemed nearly impossible at times to simply drop a lazy fly over the infield for a hit. I was able to accomplish this a handful of times in a single game this year.
There are way more foul balls than last year. I haven't played that many games yet, but so far I have to say the amount of foul balls has increased and the direction those fouls go to is more varied. The ball boys/girls seem to have been adjusted as well to attempt more snags.
The player animations appear smoother and more realistic overall. Infielder throwing animations while moving away from the target seem to have more options than the "jump up, turn and throw" animation that seemed to happen most often last season. Outfielders appear to approach the ball with a longer animation than previous years, actually taking control of the player from you a bit earlier to enter the animation than in the past.
I noticed a few different fielding cameras while fielding ground balls on the infield that appeared to give a wider and higher view of everything. Perhaps I simply missed a camera setting, but I'm fairly certain there are new fielding cameras being presented by default.
The Pitchers look at the bases far more often. You will see them sometimes swing their heads back and forth repeatedly before throwing the ball. My eyes quickly picked up on this, being a former Pitcher myself (*dusts off shoulder*), and it added another layer of realism to the game. It's nothing major, but it's the little things that can make a game cool sometimes. That attention to detail is appreciated by me.
Batting simply feels more realistic. The timing and contact seem to match what I expect to happen more often than in the past. If you've ever played MLB The Show you know what I'm talking about. That said, batting needs to be tuned way down from where it is right now in the closed Alpha.
You can now have more than 1 Dynasty roster/lineup! Now you can tailor several different variations of your roster into custom lineups to suit any needs you may have against various teams, players or challenges. This should be useful for completing various missions and goals to earn more cards.

Custom Team

Each season I create a highly customized Dynasty Team. This season I chose to create one that promotes Scorum.com. It's a work in progress, but the uniforms are looking pretty OK for my first version. It's hard to tell how the uniform colors will look in different lighting until they're on the field and I haven't had many games so far, but they look nice I think!

I have since placed "SCR" on the caps and helmets instead.

I have since placed "SCR" on the caps and helmets instead.

Overall

I like what I see so far in MLB The Show 19. The game just feels smoother than previous years. Outside the tweaks and additions mentioned above there's not much else I can report back on since Dynasty mode is the only mode available in the closed Alpha.

As soon as I am allowed to stream games I will be doing so on DLive. You can follow my channel here : https://dlive.tv/tuckfheman

If anyone picks the game up when it's out, hit me up for a game!

eSports / mlb the show 19

MLB The Show 19 - Closed Alpha Review

MLB The Show 19 - Closed Alpha Review

MLB The Show 19 - Closed Alpha Review