BATTING

Hitting controls – directional interface

Hitting controls – timing interface

Hitting Controls – zone interface

Batting – pre-pitch bunt influence

Note: you can determine your Bunt Influence pre-pitch with the right stick. Controller vibration confirms your choice.

Batting misc.

PITCHING

Pitching controls – pinpoint interface

Note: to use PINPOINT PITCHING, start by selecting your PITCH TYPE and then use the left stick to aim to your desired location in the zone. Next, a gesture meter will display the pattern you must follow for that pitch type and location. Use the right stick to follow the pattern as shown, while timing your motion with the outer ball icon to a good release point. A real-time feedback trail will display to indicate how accurate your motion was.

Pitching controls – pulse interface

Note: to use PULSE PITCHING, select your PITCH TYPE and use the left stick to aim to your desired location in the zone. Press the S button at the smallest point of the PULSE to maximize the accuracy of the pitch as it is released.

Pitching controls – meter interface

Note: to use METER PITCHING, start by selecting your PITCH TYPE and aiming to your desired location in the zone using the left stick. Press the S button one time to start the METER, then again as the bar reaches the top of the METER to control the pitch power. Finally, set the pitch accuracy by pressing the S button as the bar approaches the yellow line on the way back down.

Pitching controls – classic interface

Note: to use CLASSIC PITCHING, simply select your PITCH TYPE, aim to your desired location with the left stick, and press the S button or the PITCH TYPE button one more time.

Pitching controls – pure analogue interface

Note: to use PURE ANALOG PITCHING, start by selecting your PITCH TYPE and using the left stick to aim to your desired location in the zone. Next, pull BACK on the right stick to start the Pitch Delivery and push FORWARD Fast/Slow to set the velocity. You can also adjust the Pitch Accuracy by moving the right stick LEFT/RIGHT during release.

Pitching misc.

THROWING

Throwing controls – button and button accuracy interfaces

Note: to use BUTTON ACCURACY THROWING, first select the base (or cutoff man) you want to throw to. Press and hold the corresponding button to start the throw meter. Try to release the button with the meter in the green for an accurate throw.

Throwing controls – pure analogue interface

BASERUNNING

Default baserunning

Classic baserunning

Classic baserunning – leading off and stealing

SLIDING

Slides at home

Slides at bases

RETRO MODE

Batting

Baserunning (pre-pitch)

Baserunning (post-pitch)

Pitching

Fielding

Game Mode Improvements

Diamond Dynasty

This year we’re bringing the magic of the 2022 MLB® season to MLB The Show™ 22 with Supercharged Boosts, temporary boosts applied to player cards after noteworthy real-world feats! Our new cooperative modes and text/chat feature let you team up with one or two of your friends online, or experience all the highs and lows of a full season in our condensed Mini-Seasons!

Road to the Show

Ballplayers, rejoice! The Show 22 takes everything great about our beloved first-person mode and makes it even better. Create multiple players to take to the World Series and Hall of Fame through Road to the Show, or annex them to your Diamond Dynasty empire with Online Ballplayer. The Pitch Select system is new and improved, so your pitcher can get the arsenal you want when you want it. Plus, we’ve added new Dynamic Challenges to push your Ballplayer to the limit and max out their potential!

Cross-Play and Cross-Progression

With cross-play, you can compete against players on other platforms! To enable cross-play, create and link your Show account to your game. This also enables cross-progression, ensuring your earned content stays with you across platforms and generations!

General Game Improvements

Ballplayer Expansion and Improvements

Why settle on one player? With our expanded archetype, perk, and pitch collection, create an entire team’s worth of players so you’re ready for whatever game comes your way!

Expanded Difficulty

We’ve added two new difficulties for new and casual players: Amateur and Minors.

Custom Practice

You can now practice your fielding skills in Custom Practice!

PCI (Plate Coverage Indicator) Updates

With our nine pre-set PCI Anchor spots, it’s easier than ever to find your ideal position on the plate. PCI now scales with your distance from the centre of the strike zone: the further you are from the centre, the smaller your PCI will be.

Dynamic PAR (Perfect Accuracy Release)

Perfect Pitch now considers pitch type, location, and player fatigue/confidence to give a clear trajectory of where your pitch will land. Use these factors to choose your pitch strategies!

Miscellaneous

All-New Commentary Team

This year we welcome our all-new Commentary team to The Show: play-by-play announcer Jon “Boog” Sciambi and colour analyst Chris Singleton!

March to October and Franchise

Use custom uniforms, logos, and fields (made in Stadium Creator) to personalize every aspect of your run to World Series glory! We’ve also made improvements to free agency and trade logic so you can make clearer deals.

Note: Ranked Seasons, Events, and Battle Royale sub-modes require a PlayStation®Plus membership, which is sold separately.

Diamond Dynasty is the ultimate fantasy baseball experience – a chance to play as your own team composed of real Live Series players, plus hundreds of Legends and Flashback players spanning over 100 years of baseball history. Collect their baseball cards from Packs to build your 25-man squad, and then compete against opponents online or computer-controlled teams in Single Player mode.

New to Diamond Dynasty

Supercharged Boosts

When an MLB baseball player performs a real-life feat in the 2022 MLB season, their player cards in The Show will receive a Supercharged Boost and unique border art! This temporary boost stacks with other Parallel boosts and overrides the day-to-day Inside Edge boosts.

Mini-Seasons

Looking for a compact single-player experience? With Mini-Seasons, compete in a 28-game season of 3-inning games for a chance to enter the playoffs and Mini Seasons Championships!

To play, set your difficulty and assemble your squad. Mini-Seasons consist of four games against seven other teams (two home, two away): the top four teams in the league advance to the playoffs. Playing on a higher difficulty earns you more XP towards the active Featured Programs!

Additionally, each Mini-Season comes with Missions such as “Win four games in a row” or “Make it to the Mini Seasons Championship.” Complete Missions to earn rewards like Stubs™ and experience points!

Cooperative Play

Use our all-new voice and text chat features to join forces with one or two friends! There are four cooperative game modes: 2v2 and 3v3 games, Exhibition Co-Op (teams made of Major League rosters), and Diamond Dynasty Co-Op (teams that combined your Diamond Dynasty rosters).

How to Play

Diamond Dynasty begins with a simple set of tutorial missions to teach you the basics. Your initial team is chosen automatically, but you will get plenty of chances to earn new players, upgrades, and rewards as you learn your way through the mode.

But before any of that, your team needs a name, logo, and uniforms. Use The Show’s uniform creator to give your team a unique look that shows off your own personality and style, or choose a modern-day or flashback MLB uniform to outfit your squad. Armed with your dream team and personalized look, you are ready to take on Diamond Dynasty!

Having trouble choosing a logo? Check out the online Logo Vault and choose from hundreds of logos lovingly created and graciously shared by other members of The Show community. Of course, this means you can upload your custom logos and see if your creation becomes a fan favourite, too!

You will earn rewards as you play such as Stubs and XP. Stubs are the in-game currency you spend on cards, either in Packs or from the online Community Marketplace. This year, XP is tied directly to our Featured Programs. The more you play in any mode, the more (and better) rewards you earn!

Ways to Play

Note: Ranked Seasons, Events, and Battle Royale sub-modes require a PlayStation®Plus membership, which is sold separately.

New: Mini-Seasons

Mini-Seasons are 28-game seasons consisting of 3-inning games. Play four games (two home, two away) against each of the other teams in the Global Baseball League and finish in the top half of the league to advance to the playoffs and take your shot at the Mini Seasons Championship. You earn rewards for each game you play: the higher the difficulty, the better the rewards!

Coach Tip: Mini-Seasons is the first single-player mode in Diamond Dynasty to utilize a season-long stamina system for pitchers. Using a relief pitcher in back-to-back games will result in a stamina penalty, so don’t waste your high-leverage stopper mopping up an inning in an uncompetitive game!

New: Cooperative Play

Cooperative Play comes in several different modes: 2v2 or 3v3 games, Exhibition Co-Op (Major League rosters), and Diamond Dynasty Co-Op (player-created Diamond Dynasty rosters).

Coach Tip: Always support your teammates! Remember, this game is played by people of all ages, skill levels, and baseball know-how. If your teammate makes a mistake, have their back!

Ranked Seasons

Ranked Seasons grant you rewards as you win full-length games against online opponents and climb the leaderboard for that Season. The leaderboard resets every month, providing fresh incentives to stay at the top.

Coach Tip: Don’t give up! Some players in Ranked Seasons (especially in the lower divisions) feel like the sky is falling and quit out of the game if they initially fall behind by a couple of runs. But nine innings is a long time, and momentum can swing. Plus, your stats count towards Parallel XP and Featured Program Missions whether you win or lose!

Events

Events are dynamic, time-limited challenges where you build a team based on a set of themed restrictions (such as West-division exclusive teams, “Gold and Diamond hitters only,” or “Common pitchers only”). You then play games with non-standard rules (such as Quick Counts active, three-inning games, or no visible strike zone reticule). Compete against other players in your quest for rewards!

Coach Tip: Even if you’re not too intrigued by the Featured Rewards, Events are a great way to accumulate stat goals and Community Parallels experience online when you don’t want to risk a hit to your Ranked Seasons rating – or if you simply don’t have the time for nine whole innings.

Battle Royale

Battle Royale is a player-versus-player experience where you draft a team from sets of cards chosen randomly and grouped by tier. You then try to outlast your rivals in a fierce double-elimination tournament of three-inning games. The pitchers get tired faster, the strategy is tenacious, the rewards are wonderful, and every pitch counts!

Coach Tip: Inside Edge, Supercharged, and Parallel Boosts do not reclassify cards for Battle Royale draft categories. A 77-OVR player whose boost buoys him to the 80s will still pop up in the Silver round even though his card has Gold attributes in the game. Conversely, the 77-OVR base player who is downgraded to 73 by Inside Edge will still count as a Silver too – even though he’s playing like a Bronze today.

Conquest

Conquest is The Show’s beloved spin on a classic turn-based strategy game, pitting your Diamond Dynasty squad against real MLB teams in a race to take over the map. Conquer the territories controlled by your rival MLB teams, complete the Conquest-specific Missions, and upgrade your team as you progress.

Coach Tip: The ratio of attacking fans to defending fans determines the difficulty options available for you. New players of The Show should take this time to gain an advantage by playing on Rookie or Veteran; hardcore players can rush Spartan-style into hexagons held by significantly more fans and conquer them with a win on Hall of Fame or Legend. Some of our more advanced Conquest programs will inevitably force you to attack from a shorthanded position if you wish to attain maximum rewards!

Showdown

Showdown is a Diamond Dynasty mode unlike any other. Instead of using your usual squad or a pre-set team, you’ll draft a small set of players at the outset to anchor your line-up and staff. As you complete Showdown-specific Moments, you’ll earn and choose additional players to round out your squad, as well as Perks to boost your team’s performance. This all leads up to the Final Showdown, where your performance in the Challenges directly influences how difficult your task against the Final Boss will be!

Coach Tip: Boss Battles are a unique feature of The Show, and they play very differently from a regular game. Always remember: the point of Showdown is to beat the Final Boss, not to beat all the Moments. Your strategy when drafting should reflect these priorities—don’t be afraid to stack your line-up with favourable platoon splits!

Moments

Some Moments might take you back in time to re-live the game’s lore, while others showcase the highlights and happenings of the 2022 season as they occur. Moments might use your DD team, a pre-assigned roster, or, new to this season, you may need to build a themed roster from scratch with Squad Builder moments. Try them all!

Coach Tip: Remember how we said in Ranked Seasons you want to try and play every game to completion? Moments is the exact opposite: there is no penalty for restarting a Moment, so if you are not on a good pace to complete the requirements in the time allotted, you might want to restart rather than chase a miracle.

Featured Programs

Featured Programs are available for limited times. Every bit of gameplay earns you XP, with rewards given for each inning. Rewards can be just about anything, but eventually, you’ll own an elite Diamond-level card for one of the best players in baseball history!

Coach Tip: If you’re looking for a more in-depth guide to The Show than these pages contain, check out the forums on theshownation.com for tips and advice from some of the sharpest gamers the MLB The Show community has to offer.

Specialty Programs

Every Specialty Program is different: some are time-limited, highlight a particular player’s career, or are themed around an event. Progress through a Program by achieving milestones in Diamond Dynasty gameplay, completing Moments, or exchanging relevant Live Series players, and in return you’ll earn a card (or cards) for some of your favourite MLB superstars!

Coach Tip: Most Specialty Programs have more XP than needed to complete the program, especially if they feature Repeatable Goals, so play however you like to earn those rewards and own the Specialty Programs!

Parallel Boosts

No two Diamond Dynasty squads are alike thanks to Parallel Boosts. Earn Parallel XP for each and every card you own as you use them on your Squad: each card can be boosted a total of five times, ultimately securing a +5-stat boost across the board for all of that player’s attributes!

Coach Tip: Parallel numbers are forever in The Show: even if you sell a copy of that card and buy a new one, your Parallel XP and all boost levels carry over to that new card. Getting a card to Superfractor Tier first in the community is a great honour, one that many of the grittiest The Show veterans dream of accomplishing someday.

Collections

Collections are completed by locking in a required number of cards from a certain set. Completing each Collection’s milestones earns you unique rewards, such as powerful players and equipment. Keep an eye out for new Collections with more powerful rewards as the season goes on!

Coach Tip: If you have the necessary Stubs, use the Community Marketplace to bridge that last gap or two in a Collection you’re working to complete.

Community Marketplace

The online Community Marketplace is The Show’s official digital bazaar. Place your buy and sell orders at the price you want, or use Buy/Sell Now to let the market dictate the price.

Coach Tip: Buy Now and Sell Now gets you a transaction instantaneously, but your buy price will be high and your sell price will be low. Buy Order and Sell Order offer better deals, but you’ll need to wait for someone to complete your order.

In MLB® The Show™ 22’s long-time fan-favourite mode, you will embark on your very own baseball journey. As a fresh young prospect, you will grow and improve your custom-created ballplayer and compete for baseball greatness along the way.

New to Road to the Show

This year is all about giving you more control over your ballplayers – yes, ballplayers with an “s” at the end. Support for multiple players is back by popular demand! Pair this with an overhauled and expanded Perk and Archetype system, and you can bet it’ll be an incredible Road to the Show!

Your Ballplayers, Your Way!

This year, own your Ballplayer experience in as many ways as you want – pitchers, hitters, and everything in between! Use the improved Perk and Archetype systems to maintain several players and prepare yourself for any scenario on the field.
Your ballplayer will grow their skills on the field and in off-day workouts. As you collect XP you will earn items that you can equip to your star-in-the-making for stat boosts. With multiple slots for stat-boosting equipment and Perks, there are nearly unlimited customization options at your fingertips! Archetypes also grant significant stat boosts, but they can only be equipped one at a time. Animations do not affect your ballplayer’s stats, but what’s the point of hitting more home runs than Shohei Ohtani if he celebrates with a cooler bat flip than you?

Take Your Ballplayer Online

In The Show 22, take your ballplayer off the Road! Add your ballplayer to your online Diamond Dynasty squad to prove them against the best. Stat Missions in Diamond Dynasty can be used to level up Archetype Programs and you can gain experience and loot through specially designed Moments! Place your favourite ballplayer in a historical fantasy line-up and take your domination to the next level!

Meet the Press

As any MLB superstar will tell you, what you do on the field is just the tip of the iceberg. As part of the next-generation Road to the Show experience, watch and listen as some of the most thoughtful and respected MLB leaders and former players give their take on your ballplayer as they progress from an up-and-coming prospect to emergent young sensation – and maybe a league MVP!

Put your baseball knowledge to the test by taking control of your favourite team and guiding them to victory! You call the shots on all aspects of management, from drafting and training players to signing free agents, hiring new staff, choosing the home stadiums for your Minor League affiliate, and managing your budget.

Franchise Launch Pad

These features give players a variety of ways to play Franchise games based on their individual playstyle and time commitment:

Critical Moments

Critical Moments prompt the player when late-inning, critical game situations occur, so you can have a direct effect on the standings without playing full games. You will also be prompted to step in on statistically significant events, such as hitting for the cycle or a potential no-hitter.

Retro Mode

Play Retro Mode with your franchise team!

Player Lock

Player Lock lets you choose a player to lock on and play as in a shortened Road to the Show-style game.

Quick Manage

Use Quick Manage to speed things up and simplify your responsibilities. You’ll make all managerial decisions during simulated games, such as setting up your rotation and batting order. You can also quickly input in-game team strategies, while your players handle the in-game action. Easily jump between Quick Manage and standard gameplay for a flexible, fully customizable Franchise experience.

Franchise Responsibilities

Running an MLB franchise is no easy job! There are many factors under your supervision: balancing the team budget, maintaining player morale, signing new players, keeping up with your GM goals, and more. These Franchise responsibilities can be broadly divided into three sections: Coaching, Player Development, and General Manager. When creating a franchise, you can distribute these tasks between yourself and your staff by setting them to Auto or Manual. Tasks can easily be reassigned at any time.

In MLB The Show 22, running point on all these front office tasks is smoother than ever. The Franchise Menu has been retooled to be more intuitive and user-friendly – everything you need is now accessible from just one screen!

Note: Play Now – Online Rated, Online Home Run Derby, and Custom Leagues sub-modes require a PlayStation®Plus membership, which is sold separately.

March to October

Experience the most exciting moments of your favourite MLB® team’s season! Each game episode comes with unique narrative content and mode-specific commentary that reflects your in-season performance. With an interface focused on rapidly getting you from one game to the next, you can tear through each episode and quickly take your team to the Postseason and beyond!

Custom Leagues

Custom Leagues lets you play flexible season formats with fully customizable rules and options. Play against your friends in competitive or relaxed games!

Play Now Daily Rosters

Want the most up-to-date baseball experience? Play a game from the MLB schedule using up-to-the-moment line-ups loaded directly from MLB.com.

Play Now – Online Rated

Play online matches using MLB rosters and see how you rank against the best players around the world!

Mini Modes

Moments

In Moments, experience baseball’s most historic moments first-hand, or pit your favourite players against Hall-of-Fame legends. Moments updates all year round, so be sure to check back regularly!

Custom Practice

Practice your fielding, batting, and pitching abilities to become the best player you can be!

Postseason

Build your fantasy Postseason bracket and compete for the World Series Championship.

Options Explorer

Looking to improve your skills? Want to try the control scheme your favourite streamer recommends? Check out Options Explorer to learn about and sample different gameplay options.

Home Run Derby

In this mode (available online or offline), you are pitted against up to seven other players to hit as many home runs as you can within the time limit. Whoever hits the most homers advances to the next round!

Challenge of the Week

Face off against a CPU pitcher with a steadily increasing difficulty and try to outscore players around the world. Bonuses boost your total!

Coach Tip: Just because nobody is fielding the ball doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hit smart! Taking a ball boosts your active Multiplier by 2—getting that multiplier built up is the secret to posting high scores, so don’t chase! Foul balls don’t get Multiplier bonuses, but their distance does count towards your score—and, of course, they keep you alive with two strikes.