Until 1948, African-American players were not allowed to play in Major League Baseball and therefore came together from 1920 to organize and compete in their own championship separately, the Negro Leagues. Recognition of these leagues by MLB only took place in December 2020, but this momentous gesture allowed nearly 3,400 players to have their stats and records incorporated into MLB history. However, some very successful figures have evolved in these leagues and it is precisely their stories that the Storylines mode of MLB The Show 23 hear tell. An idea from PlayStation who contacted the MLB authorities a year and a half ago to discuss the implementation of this project, which required special contextualization work.
Pay homage to unsung champions
The mode will therefore tell the story of each of these players using a video introduction similar to a documentary, giving way to the phases of the game which will reflect the important moments in the career of the player in question. Produced in partnership with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museumthis project will be spread over several years, MLB The Show 23 including the first 8 episodes of season 1. These episodes will highlight the stories of Leroy Paige, Jackie Robinson, Andrew Foster, Hilton Smith, Hank Thompson, John Donaldson, Martín Dihigo and John Jordan O’Neil, who will also be playable in the other modes of the game. Season 2 will be discovered the following year in the next MLB The Show.
Note that San Diego Studio will donate 1 dollar for the benefit of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum for each sale of the special editions (Collector, Digital Deluxe, Captain Edition) of MLB The Show 23 in the United States until December 31, 2023. A presentation of this mode will take place on Thursday on the Twitch and YouTube channels of San Diego Studio in the presence of Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. MLB The Show 23 will be released on March 28 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One and Switch as well as in the Game Pass subscription.