When it comes to MLB The Show, I would categorize myself as a serious player of two of the game’s modes, franchise and Road to the Show (RTTS). With the latest iteration out for early release, I’ve been able to take some time to play and experience what the mode offers in 2026. So let’s get into two takeaways.

TAKEAWAY #1: MORE COLLEGE ADDS TO THE EXPERIENCE

One of the biggest additions to last year’s game was the inclusion of colleges and opting to play in college to build up the resume of your created player before pro baseball. This year, the college experience is expanded. And we don’t just mean because San Diego Studios (SDS) increased the number of college teams in the game from eight to nineteen. (Although that does make for a fun time playing for and against all the different programs.) But it’s also about how the bracketing and playing of the games leading to the College World Series is also included in this year’s game. Adding these additional games and rounds of baseball to the college experience makes the mode feel even more immersive, as it builds your player’s resume before pro ball. Also, SDS added Jessica Mendoza to the RTTS college commentary team, which just adds another additional bonus separator to the mode.

TAKEAWAY #2: SURFACE LEVEL INTERFACE CHANGES HIDE STALE FORMAT

One thing that hinders the RTTS mode is how quickly the mode becomes repetitive. If anyone else is like me and creates an RTTS player for each position, the replay value just isn’t there, aside from the positional aspect and the possibility of being drafted by a different team. The slight changes to the presentation in RTTS don’t really make it feel like a different experience, except when you change positions. In surveys sent by SDS about MLB The Show, they ask about changes or opportunities to improve the game and enhance the overall RTTS experience, and the answer is quite simple. If SDS wants to build the best version of RTTS that it can, and they will need to look no further than NBA 2K’s single player career mode, entitled “MyCareer,” and create the “community” that your created player can interact with to grow and improve as a player. Obviously, to reformat the structure of the mode takes time, more time than is available through the ten-month lifecycle of the traditional yearly model that sports games currently function under. However, if SDS were to announce that they will be skipping RTTS in MLB The Show 27 because they are overhauling and rewriting the entire code for the mode to include not just the narrative story but also the in-depth accessible community, fans like myself would be thrilled and looking forward to the future of the mode. Right now, I’ll continue to build out a player for each position, but it doesn’t really change much in the repetitive RTTS process.