The Importance of the First-Pitch Strike

I discovered something new about pitching in MLB 14 The Show.  I seem to have better success when I get the first pitch over for a strike.  If I make sure that I mix up my pitches I can essentially throw anything right over the plate without incurring very much damage at all.  Also, a high percentage of first pitch swings have ended up as outs lately.  I've pitched a lot of quick innings of late.

I've also recently switched from meter pitching to classic pitching because I had a hunch that some movie streaming in the household might be causing control issues when I'm pitching.  So far, Classic pitching has helped immensely.  As long as your pitcher is well trained you can be very effective with Classic pitching.

Offensive Diamond Dynasty Logos

Be careful how you design your Diamond Dynasty logos.  If they are offensive in any way to a user they will file a grief report which will cause your logos to be removed permanently.

Last month, I had a game with Wade2813.  He messaged me a 'GG' but I failed to respond.  He sent a follow-up message complaining that I didn't return the favor. So, I apologized and sent him a 'GG'. He replied back saying he was going to report my team name and logo. The next morning, I found my team name was changed from "Las Vegas Hookers" to "Las Vegas Moderated name"!

Luckily, I had previously exported my main logo to my PS4 so I was able to import it back but this time I slapped a 'Censored' bar on it!

How to throw a spitball in MLB 14 The Show and get away with it

When you are pitching, force a balk to be called when a runner is on base.  Until a patch is released, this can possibly cause the game to freeze.  The last gamer to shut down MLB 14 The Show will be given the win.  Another way to force a standoff is to throw dirtball.  The game might not freeze but it has been known to cause your batter to go into an endless warmup loop in the batters box.  The only way to get out of this loop is to shut down the game.  Again, the last player to quit gets the win. 

I know of one user who has a reputation for abusing these glitches.  I faced x42Moonwalkerx (also known as Mike_Jackson42) last night when he threw a balk and the game froze up.  Mike_Jackson42 is an experienced player and most experienced players usually won't throw balks so easily.  There's no way for me to prove that it was simply an accident on his part but he does have a reputation for his cheesy style of play:

1.  Last year, Mike_Jackson42 lived off of sidearmers.  Now that most of the sidearm deliveries are disallowed in Diamond Dynasty 3.0 he has switched to the legal Dennis Eckersley style delivery for all of his pitchers.

2.  He also plays about 90% of his games in his home ballpark.  During the matchup phase, if he can tell that he'll be the visiting team he'll backout and try to find another matchup.  He claims he does this to help avoid laggy games but it's still unfair for everyone else.

3.  See videos below:

Pitchers With Movement

 I had a game with GaMinG_FrEaKzz and his a starting pitcher didn't have any 4-seam fastball in his arsenal.  It's pretty rare to see a pitcher without a 4-seam fastball.  So, all of his pitches had movement including his main pitch which was a 2-seam fastball.  I usually have problems with these types of pitchers but this guy was pretty wild.  In 4 innings I was able to draw 3 walks and his pitcher eventually got tired out.  Then, I was finally able to put some runs on the board.

At least in my game, GaMinG_FrEaKzz would swing at everything he saw.  I can see why because it seemed like every batter I faced in his lineup was trained to tear the cover off of the ball.  The wind was also blowing out at Yankee Stadium so I don't blame him for swinging freely to start the game. 

I was able to hold a 1-0 lead until the 5th inning and then things began to fall apart.  By the 6th inning he was up 8-1.  I was able to get the score to back 8-6 but I eventually ran out of time and lost this one.

Diamond Dynasty Tip of the Day
When facing a pitcher who does not have a natural fastball it shouldn't take very long to pick up his pitches.  Just wait for some movement on each pitch and then swing away.  Also, most pitches are likely to drop down in the zone so you can usually start looking low in the strike zone and swing influence up.

Swing influence MLB The Show

I recently challenged mightymundo7 and the Warriors at Industry Center Stadium.  Starting for mightymundo7 was Chris Sale and he pitched pretty well against me.  I kept hitting pop-ups because he was pitching high in the zone for most of the game.  I eventually adjusted to his pitching style and used swing influence down for most of the game and this allowed me to turn on one that went into the seats for a home run.

Diamond Dynasty Tip of the Day
Adapt to your opponents pitching style with swing influence.  If they pitch low in the strike zone influence your swing up.  If you find yourself hitting a lot of lazy fly balls try influencing your swing down.

Most Important Pitch in Baseball

Diamond Dynasty Tip of the Day
Throw a changeup every once in a while to ensure your your pitch speeds are different.

I faced an extremely good hitter (sodamnrill05) at Polo Grounds last night.  He was able to get a hold of any ball thrown in the strike zone and he was using the power swing throughout the whole game.  I'm perplexed why he currently only has a .254 batting average. 

Maybe I'm not training my pitchers well enough.  I probably should pay more attention to velocity on individual pitches.  There was one weakness sodamnrill05 had that I was able to expose and that was to throw changeups in the dirt.  I think the changeup in MLB the Show is the single most important pitch to have in your arsenal in MLB the Show.  For changups, I always increase the pitch velocity to the max to help ensure the pitch is as slow as possible.

I was luckily able to beat sodamnrill05 (9-8) in the bottom of the 9th after my runner scored from 3rd base when his catcher made a throwing error over the first baseman's head.