Spring Training has begun and that means new baseball video games for fans of America's pastime to rush out to the store and pick up. I must admit I've been a player of 2k Sports' baseball games over the past years so committing to Playstation's MLB The Show was a big step for me. I'd heard amazing reviews for past iterations of The Show and figured that since I finally own a Playstation 3 I would give MLB 09 The Show a chance--it also helped that Dustin Pedroia from my beloved Red Sox was on the cover.

And I was not disappointed. I can easily say that MLB 09 The Show rivals some of the best baseball video games I've ever played. It might be because this is my first time playing The Show but I hold it up there with Ken Griffey baseball on N64, EA's MVP Baseball 2005, and Tony La Russa's Baseball for Sega Genesis. Ok, that last one was a joke.

It's hard to detail all the ways MLB 09 The Show keeps its players busy. Whether you enjoy firing up a Franchise with your favorite club, playing others online in online leagues and tournaments, or creating yourself for the new and improved "Road to the Show v3.0" mode--MLB 09 The Show is bursting with options. Since most of my time playing The Show has been spent with the "Road to the Show" mode I figure I can start there. The purpose of this mode is to create yourself, or what you want yourself to look like as a baseball player, and take him to spring training with the hope of being picked up by a club and work your way through the majors and become a MLB legend. When creating your character you will pick what position he plays as well as all the little visual accessories he uses in the field and at bat and then, once in game, you will only play the moments in games that directly involve your created character. For example, I made myself a CF (a callback to my baseball playing years) and only take part in the plays where the ball has a chance of being hit to me. If there is a flyball to right/center, I will play that sequence. Then the game will simulate to my next moment of play. If I get up to the plate to bat, I will play my at bat, and if I reach base I will only control myself running the base-path, or if I ground out/ fly out, the game is move forward. "Road to the Show" mode is completely about you progressing through the major leagues. While it's important for your team to win, even more so when you contribute that winning RBI, it's not as important as you having a kickass batting average or base stealing percentage. Now this might seem boring but it's actually a huge time vampire, in a good way. You will get so wrapped up in your stats and training your player to become a better hitter/ fielder that the hours will fly by. It's easily the best part of the solo experience MLB 09 The Show offers.

What is also cool about "Road to the Show" is that unlike Madden's "Superstar mode" you aren't guaranteed a slot on a professional roster after spring training. If you suck during your first spring training, which you most likely will as you're character's stats aren't nearly as outstanding as professional players, you'll be picked up by either a AA or AAA minor league club and have to work your way to be called up. When starting "Road to the Show" I let the computer pick the club that invited me to spring training, which was unfortunately the Pirates, and because I blew so badly (like a .130 batting average) I got signed to a 3-year, $90k, contract with the Pirates' AA club--the Altoona Curve. So I'm currently working on rising to the big time again and prove I deserve a slot in the majors. "Road to the Show" makes you work hard for your money, which means the game is much more engaging and worthy of spending a lot of time playing it.

Now when you want to take a break from sucking up the diamond with your rookie created character in "Road to the Show" mode, you can jump online and play versus thousands of people in leagues and tourneys. While I haven't entered any online leagues yet, as I haven't had the time to commit, I have jumped into a number of ranked games and had a blast. The only drawback during these games is a lot of the matches I had experienced rather nasty lag which was detrimental when playing a baseball video game vs. human opponents. Pitching can become a hassle, causing you to toss up a number of meat balls for your opponent to rock out of the park. I've truthfully played more games where my opponents have quite because of the lag then games I've completed. But when it does work smoothly, it's a fantastic time.

Now there are a ton more features in The Show but if the game doesn't deliver an authentic baseball experience what would be the point. Luckily MLB 09 The Show does just that. In fact, it's the most realistically animated, and presented, Major League Baseball experience I've ever had. Players transition smoothly from one animation to another, the broadcast announcers make the action of the field exciting with their dynamic dialogue, and the camera angles for mid-play cutscenes make it seem like you're watching a baseball game on television instead of playing a video game. Everything in The Show screams top notch presentation which makes this baseball fan a happy camper. And if I can't make it to a real ballgame this year, I know that I can at least pop in The Show and come close.

The only real gripe I have with MLB 09 The Show would be the lack of a next generation pitching technique. I was quite fond of 2k Sports' MLB 2k8 motion pitching, as it added a much needed user-error dynamic to pitching. Where all current baseball games have updated to throw meters for fielders--allowing balls thrown away to be chalked up to user error--I feel the same is needed for pitching outside of a simple bar where if you miss the mark, you'll throw it away. Having a pitching system where the player controls the exact location of a delivered pitch with how accurate he/she was with the motion of said pitch was a great next step in delivering an authentic baseball experience. Sadly, MLB 09 The Show doesn't take that concept and improve upon it with their own unique pitch system. The Show still chooses the old throw meter instead of embracing the more creative motion pitching started last year with MLB 2k8, and that seems like a decision moving in the wrong direction. Evolution not regression. I like my old school sports titles as much as the next person but as these games get more and more realistic from a broadcast standard, so should the game-play follow suit. Don't take the easy way out and do what you know works, developers need to be a bit more creative and come up with something that is practical while still being evolutionary for such a large part of the baseball experience--the pitcher/ batter face-off.

Overall I can easily, without a doubt, recommend MLB 09 The Show to any fan of baseball video gaming. Hell, I would say that if you've ever been on the fence about buying any sports video game then this is the one to start with. This is major league baseball to a tee and has so many game-play options that your interest should easily hold until the fall classic is over. Hopefully next year Sony can find a way to improve on pitching and then The Show will be about as perfect as you can get for a baseball video game.

Crave Online Rating: 9.5 out of 10