AARON WILLIAMS '26//THE LOYALIST
WILLIAMS ADMIRES his "Diamond Dynasty"
The 2025 Major League Baseball season is officially underway, meaning so is MLB: The Show 25.
The MLB: The Show video games are some of the most popular sports games of the decade, usually generating over a million dollars in sales annually. The most popular game mode on MLB: The Show is called “Diamond Dynasty,” the equivalent of “Ultimate Team” in FIFA and “MyTeam” in NBA 2K. This mode allows the player to create their own “Dream Team.” Diamond Dynasty had long been recognized as the best ultimate mode across any sports game, with players loving that it was not pay-to-win like other sports games, and it was quite easy to build up a solid squad.
Benji Taylor ‘27, a Diamond Dynasty enthusiast, said, “It’s my favorite mode in MLB: The Show. I like it because we can play against other people online with a team you can customize and build.”
However, in the past two years, San Diego Studios has made it much harder to build your team without spending money. This led to many players shying away from the series and choosing other games. It seems the game developers have realized their mistake and have announced that this year’s iteration of the series will return to the original format.
However, not all fans are happy with the new game. Another popular feature in the MLB: The Show series is “Franchise mode,” where a player can take control of any major league team and make decisions as if they were its General Manager. MLB: The Show and similar sports games are notorious for neglecting this game mode. Unsurprisingly, the 2025 release didn’t add anything new to the mode.
One of these disappointed fans is Enzo Decena ‘27, who stated, “I won’t be buying MLB: The Show 25 this year. My favorite mode on the game is ‘Franchise’ and it’s practically the only game mode I play on MLB: The Show, so it makes me mad that the game-makers still do not care enough about it.”
While opinions are divided on how well San Diego Studios handled the making of the game, most critics and online reviews have been very positive about the game. Metacritic.com rated MLB: The Show 25 an 83 on their scale, making it the highest rated game in the franchise since 2019, which received an 86. The rating significantly improved from last year, when 2024’s installment received only an 80 from Metacritic.
Overall, this game is a step in the right direction for San Diego Studios and the MLB: The Show franchise. The 2025 installment of the series is the most fun I have personally had since MLB: The Show 21.
If you are a big fan of baseball or similar sports video games, I would recommend buying MLB: The Show, a great game that is lots of fun to play online or with friends.