Not even close.

The exclusive agreement for baseball games does not extend to first party. Microsoft could develop a baseball series if they wanted.

And this is what I don't get, they purchased the rights for the High Heat series when 3DO went bankrupt and haven't done anything with it.

High Heat was my favorite before the MLB series came out.

High Heat was alot of fun.

High Heat wasn't bad.

And as far as Microsoft ever developing a baseball game... I suppose they could give it a shot, but how to you make a better game than The Show series? honestly?

The old Microsoft Lineup was pretty bad...but they did manage to make the best basketball games of all-time. Too bad they pulled the plug on that division.

High Heat was great but Front Page Sports Baseball was my favorite of all time.

High Heat 2001 was the best baseball game ever until MLB 08. MVP 2005 is 3rd.

'Nuff said.

I wish these A-Holes that pick the cover guy for the 2K AND Show series would pull out a map and realize baseball is played west of Philly. Wright/Howard/Pedroia....sense a trend there? How about Zambrano, Sizemore, or Haren?

They want to attract as many casual buyers as they can. It's that simple. Those teams have the biggest followings-nationwide, not just regional. The Pedroia selection is pretty lame to me, too, but at the end of the day I couldn't care less who is on the front of the box. Sony used to be a bit more diverse with their choices, too. I recall Shawn Green, Eric Chavez, and Vlad Guerrero all being on the box in past years.

Yeah, who is on the box isn't a big deal to me, too. For example, I bought NBA 2k9, and Kevin Garnett is on the cover. I am a Lakers fan.

Maybe it's good news for Red Sox fans, though. The Phillies won the WS in 2008 when Howard was the coverboy, right? Also, the Celtics won the NBA title when the forementioned KG appeared, although they did announce him appearing on the cover during the NBA Finals.

I just read that Sony is involved in product placement for the new Yankee Stadium. Basically, besides having a bunch of Sony HDTV's all throughout the park, they will have games like MLB 09. I wonder how Yankee fans will like seeing a Red Sox player plastered on a nearby wall

Let's not forget, a Red Sox player was on the very first MLB: The Show game... David Ortiz in '06.

I was somewhat surprised they didn't put Heroin Hamilton on the cover. He seems like the perfect cover boy for this year.

I think they should just go with whoever wins the MVP or Cy Young the year before. So as much as I despise the little prick, Pedroia does make sense.

Just do what I do and print out another cover. The only bad thing is that last year I made a Tom Brady Madden cover. Madden Curse!

Have they mentioned anything about improved load times? Maybe an install to the hard drive? My only beef with this games was the wait time between innings, other than that, it was the only game that lasted more than an hour in my PS3.

lol me too. great game. And I know its not show related but the 2k series this year is putting Tim Lincecum on the cover.

God no. I hate that guy.

Hell yeah. Baseball Stars is right up there too.

Best outfielder in the bigs. All around.

Say what now?