MLB The Show 2020 Simulation

You’re bored. I’m bored. Let’s do baseball things.

The powers that be have made the decision to push back Opening Day even further than initially expected. That’s probably the right decision but we all have to cope with it in our own way. You know what we don’t do? Throw pity parties. Those are for Marlins fans.

So I, a man of the people, have something that can’t be cancelled (unless my wife tells me to turn off my PlayStation): MLB The Show 2020’s new-and-improved Franchise Mode. And I care about all of you so much that I’m letting you play it with me until baseball is back.

I’ll even let you play it FOR me!

So here’s the deal…

We’re starting a new Phillies franchise. It’s March 26^th, 2020 and we’re about to take the field in Miami. Everyone on the team is injury-free. Coronavirus doesn’t exist, but the salary cap still does. Best of all, YOU are in charge.

Well, YOU in the collective sense.

You’ll collectively own every aspect of the team, including setting the 40-man roster, lineups, rotation, bullpen, picking up free agents, making trades, and even managing the morale in the clubhouse (yes, that’s a real thing in The Show 20).

The most upvoted comments on each post will go into effect immediately, no questions asked, no do-overs. It doesn’t matter if it’s the kind of move that puts your name on the Wall of Fame or the kind of suggestion that gets you beat up on Broad Street, the only rule is that majority rules. If your comment gets voted up, it’ll be put into practice in our digital world.

Once we have made our collective decisions, we’ll sim the following series and see what happens. We’ll make new decisions before each new series and see what kind of ballclub we can put on the field.

Think of it as a social experiment. Will we restore the Phranchise to the glory of the 2000s, or will you be chasing the Marlins from the cellar by July?

We’ll have to see.

First, let’s review our goals as GM:

For the first time in MLB The Show, full AA and AAA rosters are available for your enjoyment in addition to complete MLB rosters. With that in mind, let’s set the starting lineups. You want Realmuto leading off, or is a newly-healthy Cutch going to get things started? This is what The Show has for you to start off with, let’s make our edits:

One more thing before we can get this show on the road: rotation and bullpens. Check it out! Robertson is healthy! This might be even better than real life.

We’ll make changes based on top comments on Thursday and will push the next installment of The Phranchise out following that, complete with mini post-game recaps and stat updates.

Baseball might be gone for now, but it will be back. Until we get to see the Phils trot out to take the field on a bright, beautiful spring (summer?) day in the near future we at TGP will continue to do our best to fill the hole that’s been left in our lives with creative content such as this.

If you have suggestions on how to improve this particular line of content don’t hesitate to put it out there, this is supposed to be a fun distraction during uncertain times and we’re more than happy to make changes and improvements as we go.

Play Ball!