Here is my case for why playing baseball online is the best online sports video game experience out there...And why, if you haven't already...you should give it a shot!

Let me start by saying that playing baseball online (2K7, Show 08, Show 09) has pretty much ruined every other sports game for me, which is unfortunate because I used to love them all, especially football. But because baseball is such a superior experience it makes other games less fun in comparison, and because I am so used to competition from a real person I cannot play against the AI in other games anymore...I haven't done a full season in any sort of franchise mode in any sports game since the '06 titles.

So why is this? The biggest reason is that other sports titles are marred by the AI. In an online game of football at any one time there are two human controlled players and twenty AI players...That's weak. Now I completely understand that skilled players and strategists will always beat less skilled players...But between two equally skilled players too much is left up to the AI. Everybody who has ever played football online has b*tch*d because the computer held somebody or because their RB fumbled at a key moment...Or my favorite that the lineman have no idea how to block, how to reach the next level, or how to recognize the most dangerous man. Again, I understand that skilled players overcome this and win, but it still taints it for me.

Hockey and basketball are similar in that you can always control the person with the puck/ball but here the AI needs to get into position and on defense 4/5 of the team is computer controlled. And in hockey arguably the most important player, the goaltender, is controlled by the computer (unless you control the goalie in which case all of the scoring is up to the computer). I've played a bunch of games of NHL 10 online and the AI goaltending is frustrating. Sometimes I'll be a team with a crappy goalie and he'll stop 29 out of 30 or something silly and other times I'll have Luongo and he'll allow 3 goals on 5 shots. It's realistic in that anything can happen, good goalies can have bad games and bad goalies can have good ones, but either way too much of it is out of my control.

I've already mentioned twice that I understand that these small issues don't prevent good players from winning...But the ability to win or lose is not my point in this. The point is best online experience, win or lose. The problems I have mentioned bother me just as much when I win. Anything that happens that wasn't an error of skill or strategy by myself or by my opponent, be it a holding penalty, fumble, or 10 minute game misconduct to computer controlled Joe Thornton (it happened!), really kills the experience for me.

OK all that being said, what's so good about baseball? To put it simply, when something bad happens it's your fault! There are a few exceptions like passed balls or fielding errors (though most fielding errors can be prevented) but 95% of the time you control everything. You throw every pitch and take every swing. You control the baserunning, fielding, pinch hitting, warming up pitchers, and relief pitching.

See, in online baseball the "game" stays out of the way and it's all on you. If you are getting lit up then your pitching strategy is bad. Keep the ball down, change speeds, and keep them guessing. If you can't score then you're not swinging at good pitches and not watching enough balls. I love when people complain that their opponent threw too many balls so it's not 'fair' or 'realistic'. Nobody is forcing you to swing at balls...take walks all day if you get all balls! That's how it would happen in the bigs.

Playing nine innings of baseball is also more time consuming than any other sports game, so it makes it so much sweeter when you win, and heartbreaking when you lose. If I lose a game of hockey I'm kind of like, "meh whatever next game," but if I put a half hour (or longer) into a baseball game and come unraveled blowing a 3-run lead in the 8th then getting owned by Papelbon in the 9th, I'm devastated. The opposite is also true. I threw a perfect game in MLB2K7 and two no-hitters in MLB 08 (all three with Jeremy Guthrie!) and it has to be the most satisfying thing ever in a video game.

That level of joy or devastation cannot be matched when playing offline. Nowadays when I lose against the CPU I feel like it screwed me or the difficulty was too high...And then when I win I feel no satisfaction from beating the bone-head AI. So it's a lose/lose situation.

So there you have it. Can you tell I'm excited about MLB 10 next week? (I'm actually going to be on a business trip so I have to wait until the 5th, which makes me furious!) Does anyone else feel the same way? Anyone disagree? Anyone going to give it a shot?? Let me know!