MLB The Show 22 announces its first esports tournament

MLB The Show 22 has announced its first event of its 2022 esports circuit. Developer Sony San Diego Studios has formally introduced MLB The Show 22 Summer Circuit, where competitors will compete for $25,000 in prizes and millions of stubs in the first of multiple esports events. 

MLB The Show Summer Circuit is open to all players ages 13 and up. Here’s how the tournament works and how to enter the biggest baseball esports circuit of 2022.

The format for MLB The Show 22 Summer Circuit

The 2022 MLB, The Show Summer Circuit will start on May 21, 2022 with the initial qualifier.  A second preliminary event will be held on May 28, a third on June 4, and a final fourth qualifier on June 11. The finals will decide which players will take home a piece of $25,000 starting on June 18.

On day one of the Summer Circuit qualifiers, all players will compete in a Swiss-style group stage. Initial matchups will be decided randomly. After the first round, players will be matched up against other with a similar record. For example, if a player goes 4-0 in the qualifier, they will then take on somebody that is also 4-0 as well. In the case of an odd number of entrants, players may be matched against slightly different records.

On day two of each qualifier, the top 64 players plus ties will compete in a single-elimination bracket playing nine-inning games. If players reach day two, they will receive at least 11,000 stubs. Stubs function as virtual currency in MLB The Show.

As for prizes, first-place qualifier champions get over 1 million stubs, second place gets 600,000, and people who finished in the top 10 will get 70,000 stubs.

Grand finals winners will get real money on top of bonus stubs. The grand champion will get $15,000. The runnerup earns $5,000, the third-place finisher gets $3,000, and the fourth-place player gets $2,000.

How to pick teams for the MLB The Show Summer Circuit

 

As for the ruleset, MLB The Show Summer Circuit will be set to Legend difficulty, which is something that MLB The Show fans have been asking for throughout the past few years. Luckily, when Battlefy took over the event last year, the company switched MLB The Show esports over to Legend difficulty.

However, the previous method for drafting a team remains in place. Competitors will pick their teams from a limited pool of players using a point system. In past years, MLB The Show esports has used random drafts, similar to the battle royale game mode. Fans generally disliked the system, so Battlefy came up with a new draft specifically for the esports circuit.

The developer’s willingness to listen to fan feedback on MLB The Show esports rulesets shows that the game has potential to make it big. If the current circuit grows, MLB The Show could become featured on BetUS which is expanding their esports offerings alongside NBA Lines, Stanley Cup odds, and more.

It’s going to be tough for The Show to compete with existing sports games like Madden and FIFA, but if the developers continue to host events like this, MLB The Show could become a top-performing esport title.