Okay, so let’s talk about this whole “baserunning cheese” thing in MLB The Show. I gotta admit, I messed around with it a bit, mostly out of curiosity, maybe a little frustration too after getting beat online.
Getting Started with It
So, I first heard people talking about taking crazy leads or exploiting animations. My first step was just going into an offline game, like conquest or play vs CPU on a lower difficulty, just to see what was possible without embarrassing myself online immediately.
I put a fast guy on base, someone with like 90+ speed. Then I started fiddling with the lead mechanics. You know, tapping L1/LB to extend the lead. I pushed it, maybe took one extra tap than I normally would. Then, on the pitch, I’d immediately hit L2/LT to trigger the steal.
Another thing I tried was the aggressive baserunning on hits. You hit a single to the outfield, and instead of just letting the CPU runner do his thing or tapping L1 once, I’d hold down L1 trying to force him to take the extra base, going first to third or second to home.
Seeing What Happened
Alright, so here’s what I noticed during this little experiment:
- Against the CPU (Lower Levels): Honestly? It worked kinda often. Taking that extra lead step sometimes got a better jump. Forcing the extra base on hits? The CPU outfielders, especially on Veteran or lower, sometimes took bad angles or were slow to react. I definitely snagged extra bases I shouldn’t have. It felt… well, cheesy.
- Against the CPU (Higher Levels): All-Star and above? Much harder. The CPU catchers have cannons, pitchers are quicker to the plate, and outfielders play smarter. Taking big leads often got me picked off. Trying to force the extra base usually resulted in my guy getting hosed at the bag. The cheese wasn’t nearly as effective.
- Online Play: This was the real test. Tried taking those aggressive leads? Got picked off. A lot. Good players watch the lead like a hawk. Tried forcing the extra base on a single? If the opponent had a decent arm in the outfield and was paying attention, I was toast. It worked maybe once or twice purely out of surprise, but mostly it just led to easy outs for the other guy. It felt stupid when it failed.
My Takeaway on the ‘Cheese’
So, after messing with it for a bit, here’s my honest take. Can you exploit the baserunning sometimes? Yeah, especially offline or maybe against a less experienced online player who isn’t paying close attention. You can definitely steal a few bases or stretch singles into doubles when maybe you shouldn’t.
But is it a reliable strategy? Nah. Not really, especially against decent competition. Good players anticipate it. The risk of getting thrown out or picked off is super high, and giving up outs like that is just killer.
Honestly, it felt kinda cheap when it worked against the CPU, and just dumb when it failed online. I found it more frustrating than helpful most of the time. I pretty quickly went back to just playing smarter baseball on the basepaths – taking normal leads, stealing in good counts with fast runners, and taking the extra base only when the outfielder’s position or a bobble clearly allowed it. Feels more rewarding to actually earn those bases through smart play rather than trying to glitch the game. So yeah, tried the cheese, didn’t really stick with it. Back to basics for me.
