MLB The Show 24 from developer San Diego Studio is a little akin to a championship club re-tooling its roster for continued success.

The long-running series that routinely takes the crown of top sports game on the market now enters its fourth year on next-generation consoles.

It's more of a push for future crowns than a victory lap, though, as MLB The Show 24 offers immersion and gameplay enhancements and perhaps more importantly, listens to fan feedback and further becomes a digital encyclopedia of the sport's history.

Like any club, the game still has to come together well in practice, not just on paper. But past successes and The Show 24's offerings seem to hint at another strong entry.

Gameplay

MLB The Show 24 hasn't been shy in the run-up to release about the minimal changes to the offensive side of the game.

Batting feels fantastic again. It's punchy, responsive and is balanced in such a way that is both rewarding for the offense and doesn't often feel unfair to those playing defense.

Where The Show 24 attempts to evolve on the gameplay side is in the specifics.

Last year's game finally implemented a two-way system with designated hitters and the like, adding a layer of authenticity that had been seriously lacking for a "simulation" game.

Now the series turns its attention to the defense to hit on similar notes via what it dubs an "Impact Plays" mechanic. With the setting on, there are more chances to make game-altering plays. Brief examples include executing a dive for a ball or attempting to throw a runner out.

Granted, on paper, some of these boil down to new positional Quick Time Events (QTE's) and nothing else. In other games, QTEs have become something of a meme, or at least feel outdated.

While that criticism will fly here for some players, it is admittedly nice to have a little more control over a play's outcome. Rather than being tied down to specific animations for certain circumstances, players can at least have some say in a play's result, which in turn, does create a sort of skill gap, too.

Changes extend to the mound, too, where specific overpowered pitches like the sinker have been adjusted. For now, at least, it feels like the right move and doesn't seem to create major imbalances.

There are also little new things, like giving the player more control over step-offs on the mound to deal with the disengagement rule.

Also not dramatically changed at first glance are the excellent tutorials and practice sessions that work overtime to help completely new players learn the game.

Last year's changes felt a little more substantial, though that should be the case when implementing something critical to the sport itself, like a two-way system. This year, additions and tweaks give players a little more agency and when married with the excellent presentation, solidify this as the best-feeling release yet.

Graphics and Presentation

The series was a little sluggish in this regard out of the gates on new consoles, with it smartly focusing on the transition and things like game modes and gameplay before massive graphical leaps.

But now? MLB The Show 24 is a stunner that one-ups the past leaps by majoring in the minor details.

One such major is the droves of new animations, especially in timeframe-specific defensive behaviors, such as the urgency of a fielder trying to throw out a runner compared to, say, an outfielder catching a routine flyball out early in a game.

It does feel like there was a revamp to face scans, which pairs really well with some new lighting that brings a more realistic look to the well-known stars of the sport across most teams.

Otherwise, the usual suspects apply for the series—the physics on hair and jerseys, expressions, field wear, shadows cast by different times of day and crowds all look great and work to pull the player into the experience.

Also getting an overhaul, in a sense, are classic stadiums finally arriving, such as Seattle's Kingdome, made for Derek Jeter's storyline.

Play-by-play commentators John 'Boog' Sciambi and Chris Singleton again do a fantastic job despite some repetitive lines popping up. And special kudos goes to the game mode-specific presentation additions, such as the MLB Network segments for certain storylines.

It's this usual care for detail and targeted upgrades that create the expectation that the latest edition of The Show will look the best with the most top immersion yet, a bar this year's game easily leaps.

Storylines and More

A year ago, Storylines revolutionized The Show's robust suite of game modes, serving as a love letter of sorts to the sport itself while chronicling the seven-team Negro Leagues formed in the 1920s and players from that era.

This year, Storylines: The Negro Leagues Season 2 picks up where the debut left off, serving up a handful more player-focused tales that serve as a history lesson.

By far the most compelling, at least at launch (there are more planned later), belongs to Toni Stone, the first woman to play on a pro baseball team in a full-time capacity.

There's also a Derek Jeter story that is epic in scale, chronicling his rise to the top and the eventual Cooperstown end destination.

Along the way, the mode expertly uses all manner of storytelling to educate players alongside the gameplay, including real film clips.

If there's a disappointment with the mode, it's that the storylines included in last year's game don't make it into this release. In building a robust historical take on key chapters in the sport's history, it would be nice to have them all in one place, even if it's just embedded videos chronicling last year's storylines within the menus of this year's game.

Over in Road to the Show, the captivating solo experience gets the MLB Draft Combine added to the extensive feature list, effectively weaving some minigames and more control over a created character's fate into the hands of players.

Road to the Show: Women Pave Their Way also features an original story of its own while otherwise looping in all of the standard features of the mode to great results.

A special nod goes to the character creator, which is rather robust in its offerings and gives players (notice a theme?) plenty of control.

Diamond Dynasty gets new features as well, though some of it is going back over well-trodden ground to correct mistakes.

Last year's introduction of sets and seasons backfired slightly. While the intention was to help players build top-flight teams with less grind, this eventually led to burnout as players earned what effectively felt like reskins of the game's best sluggers. Getting 99-overall rated players quickly and being able to reuse them became an issue with more cards added during the game's lifecycle.

This year, sets are gone and seasons are multi-month affairs once more, with cards from the previous season no longer usable in the competitive playlist.

At launch, it feels like the compromise strikes a nice balance, though like last year, the end feel will hinge on how additional cards will layer atop the base experience.

Otherwise, the rest of the feature list is rather standard fare. The stadium creator remains a highlight, with simple and complicated creators a nice option. Franchise mode remains, as does the online co-op mode with its newish ranked ladders. The Home Run Derby, postseasons, exhibitions, retro mode and more round out the staggering list of modes.

And on a technical front, everything runs well as expected, with crossplay and cross-progression a nice boon for a game that continues to appeal to as many players (new to the sport or otherwise) as possible.

Conclusion

The Show has evolved in interesting ways over the years, distancing itself from other sports titles in the process. There's a gulf between it and other sports games that, frankly, may never close.

MLB The Show 24 is a good example of why. There are presentation upgrades and small defensive-minded gameplay tweaks that improve the experience.

But it's the willingness to look back to the sport's roots and educate players—as opposed to some sappy fictional story that tries to appeal to as many people as possible—that really sticks out.

Gamers can tell when there's passion and care put into an experience and again, it's palpable from MLB The Show 24. It is, as expected, the best game in the series to date. Also, as expected, annual sports titles should be taking notes.