This game has made me realize what a fanboy I am.
The Good: Graphics are gorgeous.
The Bad: Playing this game feels like playing 08 online, with a bad connection. I do not mean that it is choppy or laggy there is just an obvious delay between when you hit or release a button and when that is seen on the screen. This is most noticeable in pitching when the meter continues to moves past your targeted location long after you have hit the button.
The Ugly: Every new addition to this game ruins what was once a great franchise. The advertising line "Most realistic baseball game ever" is terribly inaccurate. What they have done new from 08 is add several new aspects to batting that are not realistic but rather painstakingly tedious. You must now use the left analog stick to adjust where your swing will cross the plate. This makes any pitch with good movement almost impossible to hit unless you have already guessed correctly. Which places an unnecessary amount of importance on guessing correctly, guess wrong and you're not getting a hit. Meaning your only playing a realistic baseball game when you guess correctly (so say 25% of the time).
Beyond the poor additions, they have tweaked this game making extra base hits seemingly non-existent. I have played through 3 months of my RTTS and with my .252 BA, and 13 RBI, I have 0 extra base hits. No doubles, no triples, no home-runs.
Pitching has fewer problems when compared to the batting in this game but it is still a downgrade from last years game.
Again saying this pains me. I love my PS3 and feel as though I am cheating on it by saying such awful things about one of its greatest franchises but I had to do it. I know a lot of people love this game. I just don't know why. So to any person sitting on the fence, not sure whether or not to buy this game. If you have 08 and still enjoy it, keep it. If not and you just really want to play this game, rent it. But my suggestion is just avoid this game until 2010, as I will once I have returned this game to Blockbuster.
Edit: I could not bring myself to accept this games poor quality and I spent probably 30 hours playing this game in the week I had it for (about 20 hours of play after writing this review). I have softened my stance from what it once was but this game is still a poor addition to a great franchise. After 30 hours of game play I can not find a single reason to buy this game since I already own 08. The graphics are really the only aspect of this game to take a significant step forward. Beyond graphics this is just a $60 roster update plus a couple of new and disappointing game play mechanics.