ESPN Major League Baseball Review (xbox)

It’s 45 games into the season and the Phils are 25-20, tied with the Braves atop the NL East. Nevermind what the papers say, this is how it stands in my season on ESPN MLB 2004. Firing up my xbox, I go to my calendar and see that the Braves are next up on my schedule. I can either play this game, simulate this game, or simulate through any game on the calendar. I decide that this is a game I need to play.

There is an option to “Gamecast” the game, which simulates the play by play, similar to what you would see in a post game report. Sometimes, I like to simulate the first 4 innings and then jump into the middle of it. Nine innings is a long time for me and I have short attention span problems. This game, just for you, I start off from the top. The next screen allows me to juggle my lineup and shows me if anyone is tired and should be rested.
Top of the 1st
Stepping up to the plate is Philly’s favorite ballplayer, JD Drew. I start off by winging a fast ball right at his head. There is something tremendously satisfying about this as he hits the ground clutching his head. (In one game, I hit 45 players until all my pitchers were thrown out. Interestingly, the game won’t throw your final pitcher out of the game no matter how many people he hits or how exhausted he is.) The pitching in ESPN MLB is pretty straightforward. There is a strike zone that you aim against with your left thumbstick. Depending on your pitcher’s attributes, you choose from a variety of pitches by using the buttons on the controller, then you throw the ball by hitting the A button. There is a “Effort Meter” that increases as you hold down the A button before you throw it. It will make the pitch more effective but it quickly tires out your pitcher. I find that you don’t really need to use it much.

There is also a graphic to the side that emulates the ESPN K-Zone technology, which shows you hot and cold spots in the strike zone for that batter. By default, the pitching cursor is turned off but for new players, I suggest turning it on. You should, however, turn it off eventually because when you play online, there is no pitching cursor and you need to learn how to use the vibration feedback to find the edges of the strike zone.

Chipper Jones is next up and he hits a single into left field. My outfielder picks up the ball and throws it to third base. The button arrangement of the xbox controller corresponds to the baseball diamond. If you hold down one of the buttons, the player runs towards that base. It you simply hit the button, the player will throw to that base. You get used to it after a few games. After an infield single, I make a pitching mistake and Julio Franco hits a grand slam. 4-0, Braves.

I get the next three batters to either ground out or pop up. I like the way ESPN MLB handles pop ups. It shows a red circle on the ground where the pop up will end up and if your player runs anywhere near it, he will make the play. Some might say it makes it too simple, but really, do major leaguers not catch popups? Ground balls are pretty routine too but if you try to throw to a base before you get the ball in your glove, the fielder will sometimes boot it.

Bottom of the 1st
Batting is pretty easy in ESPN MLB. You really have two choices, A for regular stroke or B for a power stroke. Jimmy Rollins settles into the batter’s box and strokes a single up the middle. Baserunning is pretty automatic but there are times when you need to override the “smart baserunning”. You can tell your player to advance or retreat to a certain base by aiming your thumbstick towards that base and hitting X for advance or B to retreat. If you have more than one baserunner, you can tell them all to advance with the L trigger or retreat with the R trigger. Running to first base, however, is strictly handled by the CPU.

With Jimmy on first, Polanco steps up to the plate. I have Jimmy take some steps toward second but only to help avoid the double play. I find it almost impossible to steal a base unless you have a tremendous jump and a big lead. In typical Phillies fashion, my next three batters strike out.

2nd inning
1, 2, 3 out. 1, 2, 3 out.

Bottom 3rd
David Bell is up and singles. I have Eric Milton sacrifice bunt by holding down the Y button. Alternately, you can have your player bunt for a hit by holding the Y button after the pitch is delivered. Sacrifice is successful and Bell advances to second. Rollins is up next and loops a fly ball to the shallow outfield. This is one part of the game I find unrealistic. It seems that infielders make a tremendous amount of basket catches in the shallow outfield. Seems to me the outfielder should catch those or they should fall as bloop singles. Polanco strikes out and the side is retired.

5th inning
Still 4-0 Braves. There are some frame rate issues when someone hits a foul ball as the crowd is rendered poorly. Overall, the game is really slick looking except for this part. The other glaring problem is the announcing in this game. It is terrible. Calls are routinely late on the play by play and the color commentary is ridiculous. For example, on a routine play to first, your player will be out and headed back towards the dugout and you’ll hear “play to first. In time. He’s out!” Uh, thanks, I knew that already. Sometimes, out of nowhere, the play by play guy will say “and it heads out all the way to to the wall!” As Lil John would say, “WHAT!?” As for the color, I don’t know who Rex Hudler is but he keeps talking about when Doc Gooden used to pitch to him and he sounds just like Tom Tolbert; hence, I hate him.

7th Inning
The Phillies finally break through on a RBI double by Pat Burrell. As the camera focuses on Burrell standing on second, you see his confidence meter go up. Every player has a confidence meter that goes up or down depending on how well he plays. If his confidence is up, he’s more likely to make a good play the next time. However, the only person you can manually increase the confidence of is the pitcher with a mound visit.

Speaking of pitchers, I check the pitch count of Eric Milton and see that he’s in his low 80s. The white button will show you the confidence of all the players, the lineups and pitcher status. Bewilderingly, you can only see if your pitcher is tired by going to the pause menu and checking the bullpen. You don’t want to toss any pitchers in the game cold (I’ve done it and they end up giving up a lot of hits.) so you should always have some relievers warming up if your pitcher is having a rough time or if his strike count gets up there. The bullpen screen shows you ratings for each of your pitchers and what pitches he has in his repertoire. I warm up Telemaco and insert him after the Phils end the inning.

Botton of the 9th
I wanted to mention the hecklers, or really, just one heckler who is in every stadium. Some of the comments are pretty stupid but you have to give them credit for being customized to certain players: “Why don’t you go fly away, Byrd?” My favorite is “Hey Andruw, it’s spelled with an E!” Good stuff.

Last gasp for the good guys and I’m going up against John Smoltz. I mount a mini rally by scoring two runs in the inning but Burrell strikes out to end the inning and end the game.

Post Game

ESPN MLB is a good game that handles all aspects of the baseball experience really well, with the glaring exception of announcing. The fielding and baserunning take a couple of games to master but the pitching and hitting are easy to learn but hard enough to make it a constant challenge. The stadiums are realistically rendered, even down to the advertisements. Of course, due to contractual obligations, the real advertisements aren’t displayed. For example, in SBC Park, there is a Chevron advertisement in left field. In the game, it’s been replaced by a generic Cal Oil graphic. The giant Coke bottle is also there but the logo has been replaced.

ESPN MLB also has xbox Live support. The Live mode is pretty decent but there are three minor problems. 1) It seems that whether they update your win-loss record is strictly arbitrary; 2) there’s hardly anyone on; and 3) you can use the same pitcher for every game. I’m sick of playing against Pedro all the time. They should keep track of who you’ve started so you actually have to go through your pitching rotation to make it more realistic.

ESPN MLB 2004 retails for $40. I give it a value of $30.