A blast! Nintendo does it again!
Playing this game with a friend is great from the start. Drafting your team?! It's always a great feeling when you snag Yoshi and Birdo on the same team in the outfield, when Shyguy is playing short and when Toadstool goes 1000% on the day. Wondering who your opponent will take next to put on the mound, what your batting order is going to be, whose going to be playing your infield?! Going on rally's in the bottom of the 9th has never been more exhilarating. The game becomes so complex even though it is simple in nature. After playing this game for a while you begin to wish you were in Mario land and could play with this awesome crew of friends.
If you have more than one friend there is another mode that takes an arcade style spin on the whole Mario Baseball scheme called "Toy Field". This feature provides a turn based game where the main objective is to gain as much points as possible while trying to destroy your opponents.
When all is said and done, Mario Baseball is a good change of pace and should be a definite buy if you have another person to play it with, otherwise it is worth a rental for now and a purchase once the price drops.