Here is part II of our users' Q&A with MLB 08: The Show producers from March. We are slowly compiling the entire list together and will be posting it over the next several weeks as spring marches on.

J-Unit40: Brian, this may have been mentioned earlier, but the CPU outfielders appear to be a tad too fast or maybe they play too deep and cut off a lot of the would-be gappers and down the line shots? Thoughts?

SCEA: That's a good theory. I've noticed certain stadiums make a big difference on certain type of hits in this regard (i.e. stadium factors). You should also see a longterm difference in results between good and bad fielders. The starting 9 players are also slightly superior at fielding compared to the average performance over the year as other players are mixed in. This is certainly a question of degree and precision if we're talking small adjustments.

One tip I forgot to mention is that the speed at which outfielders move is partly related to their fielding ability (which also affects quality of fielding). And reaction of course gives them a good jump too, more apparent on infielders. I don't know about fielding depth and can't speculate. I plan to look at attributes for the roster and explore some theories. If it's a valid issue that the roster would address then it'll happen. If it's working correctly considering all users (a representative sample) to a reasonable degree, that's how it'll stay. Many users have seen a reasonable number of doubles, but again this is a subjective question of degree/precision. If I won't change it because it's working reasonably for the average user, I've at least told you how.

PadresFan104: Brian - I am in my second year of RTTS and I now have about 500 total at bats. I can appreciate your persistence about small sample size, vs. the experience over the long haul.

SCEA: That's great to hear. I've had similar experiences using different play styles, but I recognize there will be a variety of experiences given a variety of players. With certain stats like HRs or Walks there will naturally be some more people on the side of "too few HRs" and "too few Walks" due to the learning curve, and that's fine to the right extent. What's more important than stats is if the stats made sense in context, and happened for appropriate reasons including luck.

Pared: It seems like many hits land just outside the foul line that would be ideal for these kinds of hits but they are very few and far in between.

SCEA: The way the game works, a near miss is a near miss. In fact, a superior contact batter would have landed some of them fair, as would moving the pitches an inch in your favor. Streaks will also happen where a number of hits land just fair in succession.

Pared: Also any thoughts on pickoffs? It would be nice if the user has some sort of input on how this occurs... such as a snap throw to first or a fake to third then first.
Unless I'm missing something... the user has no input in this situation aside from deciding to pickoff, correct?

SCEA: Yes, that would be nice. I don't have the space to discuss software development philosophy and can't justify doing it on company time. But I don't regret our allocation of time and priority for this past year.

There's a lot of strategy regarding steals/pickoffs/leadoffs/pitchouts/hit+runs, and it would take more than a page to cover it in summary. I'd certainly like to improve it more but most of it works under the hood already. Specifically about pickoffs, if you see the runner lead off, you have some chance of getting an out. You usually won't succeed except in the long run (unless the guy's on the 2nd or 3rd extra), but it serves a second purpose by holding the runner (reduced steal chance, reduced success rate, pitcher can focus more on batter, etc..). Alternatively if you see a leadoff and think it's a steal (human or CPU) you could pitch out (1 free out is much better than 1 ball costs). In higher level play that's a good way to think ahead of an amateur.

Handedness and other factors have their influence but it doesn't change basic strategy. In real life I can't recall but it's maybe 200 pickoffs per out - hhowever most are half-hearted pickoffs that can be condensed to equivalent events/balance. I'm talking situations where the pitcher doesn't even have to release the ball to get the runner to return. There is the chance of overthrowing but if you ever see that chances are you'd have picked off a couple guys by now (unless you're picking off at no leadoffs). To wrap this up pickoffs are successful in the long run (in RL you're lucky to net 1 game out of 162 because of it), so it's only for advanced users or competitive play.


Nemesis04: With regards to the pitching fatigue slider, is it a fatigue slider or a stamina slider?

SCEA: Yes, it really means pitcher stamina. A high setting for the "pitcher fatigue" increases pitch count (i.e. decreases fatigue).

traumaip: When i did sim some seasons though i am almost 100% sure the numbers where WAY outa wack

SCEA: I should have clarified something mentioned in last month's Q&A, but simulated numbers have no bearing on the interactive game mode. I don't know about simulated stats and was trying to answer about in-game steals. I'm just a user as far as simulated numbers are concerned, and the way I enjoy the game (RTTS, 2P, Exhibition, Season) I wouldn't know any better.

Garrett67: You commented on the steals and reducing CPU steal aggressiveness but my issue with that is User steals. I can steal 2nd with any player and do it repeatedly on AS and HOF

SCEA: I'm not discounting what you're saying, but it's worth noting that statistically you'll have streaks of success. It's hard to tell what the chances really were in hindsight. For example if we ignore the surprise factor, getting 4 for 4 on steals with a good runner is comparable to hitting 0 for 4 with a normal batter. Take a look at several box scores and count the 0 for 4s or 0 for 5s even. Then notice the occasional 2 for 4s and 3 for 4s. In other words, success and failure can clump up.

This is a topic in the math of randomness and simple formulas describe this clumping. It's observable by seeing how queues of lines at a small store vary up and down at a frequency not explainable by the time of day. Or how you can see two shooting stars in a minute then 10 minutes before the next.

As far as sustained success rates, I doubt most people get to this extreme but check out the season success rates for some of the better teams. Can you beat the Rangers' sustained ratio for example? A top stealer very much can steal well despite the defense's best efforts - the question is when stealing can net you a win. In some scenarios the win-value of steals are statistically weak enough that the defense is completely indifferent (100% success) and it's not scored as a steal.

In addition to your slider change, your high number of pickoffs may be an AI reaction to your previous steals. The slider isn't that drastic. I've seen that same type of scenario in real life several times, with 5+ pickoffs followed by the runner giving up and staying at normal leadoff. In real life it's normally the runner that gives up in that kind of battle not the pitcher, so an unothodox decision to keep leading off will continue this chase as long as you like. The pitcher's not going to pick over at your default "safe" leadoff.