MLB: The Show Series

RF's Unofficial Closing Pitching Guide

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Hall of Fame Gameplay, Regular Sliders, Realistic Stats.

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Affliates

I am affliated with ReignOfDeath's Pitching Tutorial. If you are a SP, check his guide out.

BLOG link -  http://mlbtheshow.livejournal.com/

PITCHING TUTORIAL EXCLUSIVE LINK! - http://mlbtheshow.livejournal.com/2008/07/27/

He is gone and did play on Rookie, but the pitch charts help some.

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For the few and the brave, I am making a guide for a closing pitchers. Short but sweet, I hope it helps some people. I will be constintely updating as well.

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I. Starting to Create your Closer

Okay! First off, make your pitcher whatever the heck you want it to look like. You want to be 18, since you have a longer career. Pitching wind ups do matter, but for closers it won't really make a diffirence. What you really want to do is raise your stats, the most important thing. Don't raise STA, you won't need it. Raise your /9, and as many pitchers as you want. For importance of pitches, I go in this order:

Speed

Break

Control

In real life, pitchers want control first, but this is a video game. xD And sometimes, you will want to switch and do break first, but I will get into that later. An example of that would be your third pitch, you don't want it to gain speed just yet since your first pitch is very fast ( should be by then ) and you would want to max break. Especially for 12-6. The only exception would be a change-up, since raising the speed slowers it down.

You always want your X pitch to be a cutter or RFB. They are pretty much the same except for RHP, cutter breaks left and RFB goes right. They are both great closing pitches because of the fast movement and break. Your second should be a slider or a slurve, or just a good pitch that can break a lot. You want it your second because you will have more control over it, and you want more control over complex pitches. Your third will be something slow, so you can change speeds..something like a 12-6, Change-Up, any curve real, and a Knuckle if you want but I don't recommend it.

TIP: If you are going to have a slider as your 2nd or 3rd pitch, go with the RFB. They break diffirent ways, left and right, while cutter and slider break the same way. It's a great way to fool a batter and a good repitore.

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II. Starting the Season

You want to sim the spring since you will most likely be in AA, and then use or save your ST points. I usually save them, your stats won't decrease until the beginning of May.

When they offer you a contract, extend it to three years. You don't want to be in AAA and then just get demoted right back to AA by getting released. So make sure you pick a team you like. By the end of the contract, they will be kissing your feet begging you to come back and sign another contract :) 

What important is that you should NEVER EVER EVER EVER sim your games. As a reliever, you sometimes earn MORE points then a closer. It will help you a lot. Always play yo games.

This part of the guide I would say is the most important: How to use and save your TP while still gain ranks with your ADV G. This is what I do and helps a lot:

-------------Advancement Goals: How To Deal With Them

First, save before your goals.

Second, do EVERY SINGLE goal possible.

-   If you rank up to the closing position instead of what you are now, you are good to go and will earn more points since you said you barely get playing time.

If you don't rank up, then quit the game and skip all of the adv goals and start concentration on raising your pitching stats.

IMPORTANT: You may think I am crazy, but in retrospect it helps a lot. If you do not have enough TP to do your ADV G AND maintain your stats, Adv G are more important. You may be thinking 'This guy is nuts' but look: If you are not earning enough TP, that means you are getting starts. With the help of ADV G, you will get starts ( hopefully ) and then will start to earn more revenue for you to maintain your stats. See?

---------------Your Stats: How to Keep Them From Decreasing 

On the 1st of every month except April, raise your pitching stats so they dont decrease. Dont care about sta at all. This is what I do:

By 40 points raise:

H/9

HR/9

K/9

BB/9

For your pitches, raise any one of the stats: Speed, Control, Break. If you raise one, they won't decrease. Dont care about any other thing. And also, ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING. Like ReignOfDeath said, dont care about your third pitch. Just concentrate on your two.

After that, use all the spare points in raising your cutter in whichever section you want. Remember, closers develop more slowly then starters. Just be patient and you will get there soon.

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III. Continuting the Season

NOTE: For me, my closer didn't make it to the big leagues until 2011, just stay patient.

So, you should be playing every game now in AA as a reliever, working on your TP. Every month, you should raise your pitching stats, and before every adv goal, save and check if will do you any good.

Once you get to be a CP, it should be a little more fun since you only play one inning and you get some good points. Sometimes they will call you in a non-save situation, but just remember: It's all About the TP One tip for getting a lot of points in a closing game is, just try to get the batters out 1-2-3. You will usually get 55 TP unless there was a goal you did. One more tip is try to get K's. They give you a lot, especially for more then one.

What I think is most important for a closer is, don't let the batter get on base. If you keep everyone going back into the dugout, you'll be fine.

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IV. Not getting enough games?

Okay..well this is a little cheap but hey use it for your own will. A lot of times you will sim to next appearance and...well...it simms to next month. Annoying right? Well, there isn't anyway to change it, but there is one -cheap- way I guess. After every game, save. Go to next appearance and if takes awhile then....quit and go back. Closers in this game are, well, difficult. It is pretty random if there is a save situation or not. So it's either, take the game as it is, and sometimes get close and sometimes get 19 saves in a season, or, cheat a little and save and quit. I know it is bad, but being a closer is not a consistent thing, there is no ROTATION or SCHEDULE. If they need you, they put you in. If you like consistency, then use this tip. If not and you are being realistic, don't.

Another thing, in the post season, you get double for TP, and sometimes they wont even PUT you in the games. That's when this tip comes in handy.

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V. Season Ending

Well, you should at least be an AA closer or in AAA by now. What you want to do is look at your overall stats. It should according to this guide:

+7+ overall: Excellent, you are on the right track.

+5-7: Pretty good, you might develop slower though.

+3-5: Not that good, you need to start using your points wiser.

+2 & below: Horrible, you just wasted that whole year. Consider starting over.

IV. The Continuation of your Career

My guide is kind of a cycle that you have to do all season each year to become good. You should be in AA 2008-2009, AAA 2010, and get called up in 2011, and be a reliever there. You won't do big as a full starter until 2012. If you get in any earlier, thats great, you just crushed this guide And any slower, one year behind won't really matter, but any more and you should consider picking up the pace a bit or you won't have a much fulfilled career.

Now, you may be thinking, what do I raise once all my pitches are maxed. Well, you should do your /9 stats, but there are a couple of things you could do as well:

1. K/9

2. H/9

3. BB/9

4. HR/9

5. New Pitch ( out of these pitches ) Four seam, 12-6 curve, knuckle ( for fun ), Sinker, Screwball, Fork

6. Max that pitch

7. Fifth Pitch

8. Max it

9. Durability

10. Stamina to 25% since it should be zero now lol.

11. Clutch

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Pretty much all your pitching stats are maxed, so then work on what your **** adv goals said to do.

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12. Arm Acc

13. Fld Ability

14. Arm Str

15. Reac

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To max all of these will take a long time, you should finish in your late 20's or early 30's. Then, you work on your batting

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16. Speed

17. Contact

18. Drag Bunt

19. Power

20. Everything else, in what order you want itt to be.

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VI. PS2 Freezing

I found an increasing number of cases where there PS2 freezes at the Post Game Menu. I already wrote this but the internet froze so it won't be as thorough.

What you need to know is that it freezes only on the first and last day of every month. So what do you do?:

-You sim that day, or, you play a little of the game and then exit it. Never play the full game.

What if it freezes sometimes in the middle of the month?

- When it shows the clubhouse, press X rapidly, and then exit. If the top right hand logo disapeers for a second or permantely, you are good to go.

Hope this helps.