Joe Mauer Gets MLB 10: The Show Cover
by 
Thanks to the ESPN preview for MLB 10: The Show the cover athlete has been confirmed as Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer. Speculation had him as one of the most likely candidates and was determined to be the top possibility in the prediction article last month. It was also worth noting that the first screenshots released for the game had him prominently displayed in two of the six. The choice of Mauer represents a refreshing move out of the Northeast for cover representatives. Previous years of the SCEA franchise have featured Dustin Pedroia, Ryan Howard, David Wright, and David Ortiz.
Mauer won the AL MVP after a year in which he led baseball with a .365 average with 28 HRs and 96 RBIs while also winning a Gold Glove at catcher. He helped lead the Twins to the playoffs after a comeback in the AL Central resulted in a one-game playoff win over the Tigers. Mauer will get to usher in the brand new stadium Target Field and new uniforms along with his cover appearance this coming year.
December 17, 2009 at 11:30 am
kool
December 17, 2009 at 11:39 am
Holy fuck this game looks epic,
December 17, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Epic indeed… it'll probably be the only sports game I buy in 2010, because it seems like every other sports game just can't get it done like the SCEA MLB team can.
December 17, 2009 at 3:38 pm
I hope the catcher will toss his mask on pop ups this year!
And where are the Ball boys and ball girls?
December 17, 2009 at 4:55 pm
can't wait to get this and bring back all my former Indians players to Cleveland
December 17, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Cant wait to see the new stadium. Good pick to have Mauer.
December 17, 2009 at 5:59 pm
We Xbox 360 owners don't have a baseball game! *sniff*
December 23, 2009 at 11:16 pm
well the buy a ps3 or wii dehe
December 17, 2009 at 7:09 pm
some of these new features are nice but what I would still love to see them ADD:
ADD a HISTORY section :
As you complete each season in your franchise, you create pages of history, stats, boxscores, Playoff scores, League leaders, Final Standings, etc that can be easily referenced and looked up by season in a neatly organized section of the game called HISTORY or ALMANAC. This way you can always look back and reference information from previous seasons. This is critical in baseball and gives true depth to a FRANCHISE MODE
ADD an IMPORT FRANCHISE feature:
We all have probablly cursed this under our breath many times not only in MLB the Show but in ever single Sports video game, "Damn it, now I gotta start my Franchise all over again…!" Why should upgrading to a newer version of a Sports game force you to start the work that you've done before all over again??….It shouldn't! Would you accept having to get a new cell phone number just because you bought a new phone? In fact, it would be in a companies best interest to add this feature. Im sure there are a certain percentage of sales LOST every year because people are content with their existing franchise progress and dont want to start all over.
ADD USER CREATED TEAMS to Franchise Mode:
This would be just cool. Alot of people would like the ability to merge their fictitious team creations with real life players and teams and create WHAT IF Scenario Franchises!
STADIUM CREATOR:
Anyone old enough to remember the days of Earl Weaver Baseball?….How freakin cool was it to be able to build your own ballpark? Think about it. Madden offers this feature but in football its really just an aesthetic reward because it adds no real value to the gameplay dynamics. But in baseball, Ball park dimensions can literally change the dynamics of an entire team!…(see NY Mets)
ADD Dynamic and Individual AI MANAGERS:
Why with a game THIS deep and advanced do we have to settle for one AI style manager making decisions for every single team in your Franchise? We all know how diverse each managers philosphies and priorities are in the MLB, why not flesh this out further and represent it in the game?
December 17, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Those are some great suggestions darkfudge. I like the way that you think especially in regard to import franchise. In football there are only 16 games so you can play multiple seasons but in baseball it's 162 games and very difficult to play more than 1 season. There were times that I would try to get 6-10 games out of the way each weekend because to keep my season progressing. I started my franchise in the summer and one Saturday I knocked out 5 games in the morning and 3 more at night and I'm still in my 1st season with 1 month to go. Probably by the time I'm halfway into my second season The Show 10 will be out. That would be a nice feature to add but how would they add it? They would have to change your ratings and rosters for every team mid-franchise. What do you suggest?
December 17, 2009 at 10:47 pm
I have been wishing for an import franchise feature for a LONG time. The thing is… I know it's doable. Especially now that the Xbox & Ps are basically computers now. I've only seen this feature in one game and that was when I played High Heat Baseball on my CPU from 2000-2003. i used the same franchise mode I started when I got 2000. I was always excited to buy the new game because I knew it would be better than the one before it.
December 17, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Good choice for MLB 10 The Show Cover boy in Joe Mauer. Mauer is in my opinion and their are good catchers the best catcher in the AL.
December 17, 2009 at 10:57 pm
mccann says hi
December 17, 2009 at 10:48 pm
As to how it would be incorporated, Mo, it's basically just a roster file. It could keep the stats, ratings and everything from the exported file. I mean I know it's possible, they've been doing NCAA imports for years. the only problem would be when they add ratings like they did this year with Madden. Madden added the SAC/MAC/DAC accuracy ratings that Madden '09 didn't have. In those cases, they'd have to write some logic code and let the computer assign the ratings. Perhaps looking at previous stats for the logic (QB1 has a 15 ypa average, give him a higher DAC/QB2 has only a 6 ypa average, but still completed 70% of his throws, give him a high SAC rating; for example) Games like Out of the Park baseball have ways to assign new ratings to old files, so I know it can be done.
And darkfudge, you're right. I think it would help sales. I usually only buy sports games every 2-3 years because I hate just forgetting about all the work/play I've put into a team. This is a no brainer and should have been done years ago.
I like your other ideas, too. nice post.
December 17, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Great choice. Don't think there was anyone better they could have picked for this year's cover.
December 18, 2009 at 3:18 pm
I thought MLB 09 was the best baseball game I've ever played so I can't wait for this game! It makes you wonder what the guys that make this game could do with a NFL game….
December 19, 2009 at 5:28 pm
thats why you only play one game a series.. its too long to play all 162 games so what i do is play one game a series and if i lose i just play the next game.. and once i get to the all star break if i have a 10 plus game lead on who ever is in second place i just sim to the playoffs.. but if im not in 1st it makes everything much better
December 22, 2009 at 3:29 pm
MLB O9 THE SHOW BEST BASEBALL GAME OF ALL TIME CANT WAIT FOR. MLB 10 THE SHOW.
January 10, 2010 at 5:31 pm
I got a ps2
February 21, 2010 at 12:03 pm
is there going to be batting pratice mode in mlb 10 the show for ps2. They REALLY should ADD the bp mode.ps2
February 21, 2010 at 8:03 pm
is there going to be batting pratice mode in mlb 10 the show for ps2. They REALLY should ADD the bp mode.ps2