I did it! - DJ's Blog - Operation Sports

DJ's Blog

I did it!

Posted on June 17, 2013 at 12:52 PM.

(11)

"It" is play all 162 games in an MLB season in MLB The Show. I accomplished this feat using the New York Mets in MLB 12 The Show on both the PS3 and PS Vita (thank goodness for cross-saves!).

I started my franchise around June 10 last year. I tried to play as frequently as I could, but between starting a new job, getting ready to move and getting sidetracked with other games from time to time, it took me just over a year to actually finish every game.

I have to say the process was very satisfying. In my season I had to overcome an injury to Ike Davis that sidelined him for the entire month of May (he still led the team with 24 HR's), as well as various smaller injuries to starting pitchers that forced the call-ups of Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler a little sooner than I anticipated.

In the end I finished with a record of 83-79, good for 3rd place in the NL East. The Marlins and Braves both won 95 games so I wasn't even close to making the playoffs, but I consider it a successful season to have finished above .500 (played on All-Star difficulty).

The offense was very inconsistent, much like the real-life Mets. I wound up hitting .249 as a team, which is right around what the 2012 Mets posted. David Wright was the team MVP; he finished second in the NL in batting at .319. He hit 20 HR's and drove in 92 runs. Those numbers are all very similar to what he actually did in 2012.

Scott Hairston and Jason Bay combined to hit 26 HR's and drove in over 110 runs, while Kirk N. and Andres Torres were solid in the leadoff slot, batting over .270 and stealing over 70 bases between the two of them.

I walked nearly 500 times on the season, something I'm very proud of. My strikeouts were on the high side (around 1,400), but my on-base percentage was .315, which again, was very close to real life.

Starting pitching was real strong. Mike Pelfrey surprised and had a great campaign with 17 wins and a 2.95 ERA. Johan Santana posted a 12-9 record and Dillon Gee also eclipsed 10 wins, going 11-10.

Matt Harvey was outstanding in his 6 starts, and will be positioned as the future ace. The only starter that really struggled was R.A. Dickey, who was 8-12.

Going forward, I'd like to address the middle infield (Ruben Tejada hit .187 and Daniel Murphy struggled, too) and catcher (Thole and Nickeas both were horrid), as well as bolster my bullpen as the middle relief was a little shaky at times.

Now that I've finished playing the games, I'll move into the offseason. I'm not sure if I'll continue on with this franchise or start another in MLB 13 The Show.

Either way, I'm glad I was able to play a full calendar year of baseball with The Show. It was a great ride!

Comments

# 1 Kentucky_Wildcat23 @ Jun 17

Congrats on playing all 162 games. I don't think I could ever make it through a full MLB season.

# 2 bigdoc85 @ Jun 17

Wow! Are you going to pick up MLB 13 now?

# 3 DJ @ Jun 17

Thanks, guys. @bigdoc85, I already have MLB 13, just haven't played it much while trying to finish up my season.

# 4 LowerWolf @ Jun 17

Congrats DJ!

# 5 jyoung @ Jun 17

Congrats. I have only accomplished the feat twice in my life:

Ken Griffey Jr Presents Major League Baseball (SNES)
MLB Bobblehead Pros (XBOX 360)

Both of those have the benefit of only taking 15-20 minutes to complete a game.

It's much harder to do 162 games in The Show since the games last a lot longer.

# 6 DJ @ Jun 17

@jyoung, yeah I miss the 20-30 minute games of High Heat and Power Pros. The Vita version of The Show can be played in 30-50 minutes, though, so that really helped as the PS3 version can take up to 2 hours to play a single game.

# 7 elgreazy1 @ Jun 18

Congrats man, I can barely play through a full season of football, let alone an entire MLB team.

# 8 RandallB21 @ Jun 18

Congrats on the accomplishment. I can't tell you how many times I've said "This is the year I play all 162" and end up simming like half the season. Well done.

BTW - I've said it again for MLB 13. I'm 11 games in (just started about 2 weeks ago).

# 9 DJ @ Jun 19

I've decided to take a break from The Show for a bit. I've got a few non-sports games on the Vita I want to finish, and then spend some time with NCAA 14. I think a 4-6 week break will be good and then I will jump into MLB 13.

# 10 rudyjuly2 @ Jun 20

Congrats DJ? I was 20 games short in MLB 12 in doing that. Didn't feel like grinding out those final ones.

# 11 DJ @ Jun 20

Thanks, Rudy. Yeah, it was difficult to play after I was eliminated from playoff contention, but I had a few individual awards I was in the running for and really wanted to see if I could at least post a winning record, so that kept me going.