Another spring arrives and with it the return of baseball. As sure as the seasons, we are greeted with yet another edition of MLB The Show. While little has changed in this year’s edition since I last played the series in 2014, I feel pretty good about paying full price for it. I can imagine a lot of readers remain perplexed by the enduring popularity of sports games, as each new version offers little more than graphical and roster updates. Judging sports titles by traditional video game standards shows a clear deficiency in new content, but sports games provide something that few other games can offer; the fantasy of professional sports.

As I write this on the eve of baseball’s 2016 season, there is a buzz I am feeling. This buzz is familiar to most baseball fans. It’s the feeling of infinite possibility. Your team, and all other teams, still has a shot at winning the World Series. Everyone is at 0 Wins and 0 Losses, and whether you’re a defending World Series champion or a ramshackle roster not expected to do much, you still have the opportunity to finish the season 162-0. Of course, there’s logic and statistics and projections saying otherwise, but now is the time to dream. MLB The Show arrives at the perfect time to capture this buzz. Who knows how well my beloved Blue Jays will do between now and October? But in The Show Jose Bautista has already set the single month home run record, besting Sammy Sosa’s 20 shots by 6 additional long balls.

I learned at a fairly young age that I wasn’t cut out for baseball, but the dream of making it stuck with me. Through the years I’ve indulged this fantasy with video games, initially through R.B.I. Baseball on the NES through the modern iterations of The Show. Each jump in console horsepower brought with it an even more refined representation of the same game, and the details began to take center stage. The first time I saw Ken Griffey Jr.’s textbook swing captured on my humble SNES left me in awe. To this day I am consistently impressed with the fidelity of experience. Stepping up to the plate in an almost pixel perfect representation of Wrigley Field still takes my breath away and manages to make the fantasy feel all the more real.

In addition to graphical fidelity, MLB The Show indulges the baseball fantasy in a variety of ways. I can manage my team to a storybook season, trade to build the greatest roster ever to dominate the league, or even take a single player from minor league obscurity to the bright lights of the majors. Of course, supporting all this is an incredibly detailed baseball simulation that allows the player to get as deep into the sport as they wish. While I occasionally enjoy playing an exhibition to test my skills and baseball IQ, the fantasy is what keeps drawing me back.

So as I sit here, watching the last bits of Spring Training and refreshing Twitter for the latest rumors and speculation, I’ll keep taking at bats in MLB The Show. Like my MLB TV subscription, game tickets, and a fresh shirsey, The Show is another piece to fuel my obsession with my favorite sport. I’m sure by this time next week I’ll be in the throes of panic and agony as I live and die with my team, but for now I’ll enjoy the calm and keep on racking up the virtual home runs.

Super psyched to pick up The Show this weekend. Best time of the year when the NHL Playoffs are starting and the MLB Season is getting underway. I can only hope the Cubs live up to the hype this year. I can't take another '04 season the way they fell apart after '03.

Hearing you mention RBI made me think of how much time I put in to my Genesis with baseball games. I played tons of RBI '94 and Tony La Russa Baseball '95.

@mightyduck: This is definitely a great time of year, although me being a Toronto sports fan has me more focused on the NBA playoff race. NHL playoffs will be a period of national mourning here in Canada. :-(

Cubbies are looking good and I'll definitely be watching the NL Central closely this season. I lived in the Chicago suburbs in '03 and remember the electricity in the air that autumn. I can't imagine how big it will be to see a consecutive Cubs playoff run.

16 bit was a golden era for virtual baseball. I was a staunch SNES Griffey fan back in the day but the Genesis had some great games too.

@darth_navster: I feel your Canadian NHL pain. I've been a closet Maple Leaf fan for a long time (especially when my Hawks were awful from the late 90s to 07). I'm really hoping Babcock can turn the team around!

Griffey Baseball is a game I always wanted to play, but never had a SNES growing up.

Here's to opening day! If you ever want to get a game of the Show on PS4, my psn is getwhatyagive.

@darth_navster: Colorado may be bad, but at least they have CarGo and Parra. Try Atlanta or Philly, who are both in "rebuilding" years right now if you want to see a real ramshackle roster.

Also, I loved RBI and World Series Baseball growing up. Those games were awesome. These days I just don't have the time to play virtual baseball games, unless someone wants to do a remake of Base Wars.

@dochaus: No disrespect intended for Colorado. I mean, they did give us Tulo so I've got a soft spot for those purple knuckleheads.

Also, I totally forgot about Base Wars! What an incredible game. We need more arcade style baseball games, or arcade sports games in general.

"While little has changed in this year’s edition since I last played the series in 2014, I feel pretty good about paying full price for it."

I obviously don't know much about The Show series, but is this actually the case? It's a criticism I hear aimed towards FIFA and Pro Evo a lot, but if you play the game regularly you see that the improvements or tweaks they make (because not every change is positive) are actually meaningful and can have a huge impact on the overall game. Like I wonder if you now switched back to the old version of the game you have, would you find it limiting in the same way I would if I tried to go back now to FIFA 13 or something...

Anyway, despite knowing nothing about baseball, I generally enjoy playing baseball games. There is definitely something satisfying about making a clean hit and knocking it out of the stadium or whatever!

@kmfrob: I suppose I was being hyperbolic with that statement. There's plenty of new things (including sharper graphics, revamped controls and bespoke animations for popular players) that series fans would appreciate, but from the perspective of a someone who doesn't play sports games I can see how these changes seem insignificant. You're right, going back to previous years' versions of the game would feel like a step back for serious players.

MVP 2005 will forever be the greatest sports game of all-time to me - I still go back and play that at least once a year. I used to get the year's baseball game every year until about 2014, as I dont have the time to play through seasons like I did as a kid. Also, it doesnt help that it's hard for me to get into the 2016 season since I'm a Phillies fan and they suck this year...

Yeah, FIFA and Pro Evo have kinda settled on their engines for the foreseeable future. EA will mess around with the presentation whilst Konami are still trying to get people in whilst also trying to make the most of their audience. Didn't realise their EURO 2016 content was decently licensed, though. Not fully, sadly. Stade de France now packed in and some nice presentational touches. And its free for some reason I can no longer remember. Not a bad bonus if you already have PES 2016.

@shindig: While both games do generally keep the same engine for each generation, those engines are still versatile enough to allow significant changes. In a football game, quite often you don't need to reinvent the wheel, you just need to balance. Although saying that, I do feel like EA should start looking towards a new engine because the one they are on now is still essentially the same one they used for FIFA 08 and it is getting a bit long in the tooth.

As for the free to play Pro Ev, I haven't tried it to be honest. I think that's their new model and I think there's probably some merit to that, but at the same that does mean the game will generally be static for some years to come, with just squad updates coming in every year. Some people want that so I guess this is something they can enjoy, but personally I think football games still have a long way to go yet before reaching a level where they can just sit back with their feet up. I would like to see 2K give a football game a go, because NBA2K is a really awesome playing series and it would be interesting to see what fresh ideas they could come up with!

As a PC primary gamer these days, there may be nothing I miss more from Consoles than a quality Baseball game.

I love Springtime, my teams got about 2 days before they are in last place for the rest of the season.

Still, Hope springs eternal!

I've always wondered how 2K would handle a license for football / soccer. The NBA and NFL are such a focused pool of talent that getting the fidelity and mannerisms of players down are a lot less time consuming than the thousands involved in professional soccer. That's kinda the thing Konami get right. EA don't go near that kind of detail with player appearances. The free to play version of PES 2016 is the MyClub mode which is their crack at EA's Ultimate Team. I've never dabbled much in it. I much prefer the Master League which they focused a lot on this year to get a few new people onboard.

Apparently there is a physical release due for Euro 2016. I wonder how much that'll differ from the patch PES 2016 got last month.

To bring it back to sports games in general, atmosphere goes a long way. That's the thing I like to see nailed.