Armor & Sword's MLB 25 The Show Clean Screen Classic/Directional Simulation Sliders

Welcome to our slider thread!! I am looking forward to a great year of baseball gaming and look forward to sharing our settings and sliders with you.
I am sure most of you know how we roll here. We play with a totally clean screen and utilize Classic Pitching and Directional/Timed hitting. We tune our sliders to be used exclusively with those batting and pitching interfaces in addition to 100% auto fielding/auto throwing/auto baserunning.
Why?
We are old....and old school LOL. We love to hit and pitch while we let player ratings handle the defense. We also will manual steal bags but auto baserunning I discovered on MLB 23 and 24 is also great and allows baserunning ratings to shine.
We do employ 30 team control and we will have a section all about how we employ that. We also have an injury matrix we use throughout the season if certain events and conditions are met to employ that matrix.
And yes we play a totally clean screen. No meters, no strike zone, no no no. Just pure baseball without any hand holding.
I will have the game at midnight 3/14/25 and start streaming all our test franchise games throughout the next few weeks on our twitch channel. That link is in my signature.
3/14 all day Friday and all night into the weekend we will be playing a lot of matchups around the league to break in the game.
I ask only a few things in our thread here.
1. Be courteous, be excellent to each other.
2. Do not bring in patch gripes, game gripes into the thread. Keep that in the general forum.
3. Play a bunch of games and get yourself a sample size (25 games can give you a general idea of how they play) before messing around with sliders.
I don't expect the sliders to be too difficult to develop. The Show is easily the best OOTB game and not a lot needs too much messing around with (typically). I am starting the testing using HOF hitting and Legend Pitching.
Settings, sliders and our 30 team manifesto are forthcoming.
I look forward to seeing all you peeps on Twitch!
Baseball is back!!!!!
Version 5.0 6/9/25
General Tab
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DIFFICULTY
Gameplay Style - Simulation
Hitting Difficulty - Hall of Fame
Pitching Difficulty - Hall of fame
Tutorial Tips - Off
All other Tips set to "Off"
Fielding Aids - all set to off
Decisions
Auto Bullpen Warm Up - Off
In Game Pitcher Warm Up - On
Auto Defense Shift - Off
RULES
Umpire Accuracy - Personalized
Pitch Clock - Off
Injuries - On
Ejections - On
Balks - Off
Perfect Close Play Calls - Off
Check Swing Appeals - On
MISC
Wind - On
Quick CPU Pitching - Off
Post Game Auto Save - Off
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CONTROL (Hitting)
Hitting Interface - Directional (Timed if you prefer)
Swing Input - Buttons
Directional Camera Shift - Off
Directional Hitting Indicator - Off
Guess Pitch - Off
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Baserunning
Baserunning Interface - Analog Select
Player Lock Baserunning Interface - Directional Analog (RTTS/Player Lock)
Auto baserunning - On
Auto Sliding - On
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Pitching
Pitching Interface - Classic
Pitching Ball Marker - Off
CPU Pitch Suggestion - Off (I call my own game now that there are no signals to keep the clean screen)
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Fielding
Throwing Interface - Buttons
Accuracy Display - Off
Player Lock Throwing Interface - Button
Fielder Perspective Throwing - On
Throw Cancelling - On
Catch Position Indicator - Off
Jump/Dive Assistance - On
Auto INF Jump reaction - On
Auto INF Dive Reaction - On
Player Lock Infielder Fielding Assist - On
Auto Fielding - On
Auto Throwing - On
Vibration - On/Off (users choice)
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CAMERA
Hitting View - Catcher Near
Pitching View - Broadcast (in classic and created parks set to Outfield)
In-Play View Offense - Broadcast (user preference)
In-Play View Defense - Broadcast (user preference)
Inverted Vertical Camera - Off
Inverted Horizontal Camera - Off
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DISPLAY
Ambush Hitting Controls - Off (does not apply to directional hitting)
Batting Controls - Off
Player Lock Baserunning Displays - Off
Defense
Team Color Player Marker Ring - Off
Player Shield Display - Name + Shield
Reaction Display - Off
Player Lock Throw Prompt - Off
Pitching Information - Off
Pitch Feedback - Off
Shared
Pitch History - At Bat Sequence
Strike Zone - Off
Hot Zones - Off
Pitch Info - Off
In Game Notifications - On
Dynamic Difficulty Updates - New Level
Confidence/Energy Bars - Off
Swing Feedback - Off
Baserunning Diamond - On
Scorebar Display - On
Other
Reverse Game Log Order - Off
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PRESENTATION SETTINGS
Presentation Mode - Broadcast
Pitch Selection Cameras - Always
Pitch Selection Camera Focus - All
Pitch Selection Camera Frequency - High Leverage
Batter Walkup - On
In-Game Ticker - On
Closed Captioning - Off
Interactive Storylines - On
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AUDIO / VIDEO SETTINGS
* These are all user preference
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SLIDERS
Dynamic Difficulty Sensitivity - 5 (Disabled)
Human Contact - 6
Human Power - 5
Human Timing - 5
Human Foul Frequency - 3
Human Solid Hits - 3
Human Starter Stamina - 6 (+1)
Human Reliever Stamina - 5
Human Pitch Control - 5
Human Pitcher Consistency - 5
CPU Contact - 6
CPU Power - 5
CPU Timing - 5
CPU Foul Frequency - 3
CPU Solid Hits - 3
CPU Starter Stamina - 6 (+1)
CPU Reliever Stamina - 5
CPU Pitcher Control - 5
CPU Pitcher Consistency - 5
CPU Strike Frequency - 4
CPU Manager Hook - 5
CPU Pickoffs - 5
Fastball Pitch Speed - 7
Offspeed Pitch Speed - 7
Fielding Errors Infield - 7
Fielding Errors Outfield - 7
Throwing Errors Infield - 6
Throwing Errors Outfield - 5
Fielder Run Speed – 4
Fielder Reaction - 5
Fielder Arm Strength Infield - 5
Fielder Arm Strength Outfield - 5
Baserunner Speed - 5
Baserunner Steal Ability - 6
Baserunner Steal Frequency - 6
Wind - 5
Gameplay Injury Frequency - 10 (+2)
Simulator Injury Frequency - 6
Trade Slider Settings
Trade Slider 5 - April
Trade Slider 5 - May
Trade Slider 6 - June
Trade Slider 10 - July,
Trade Slider 5 - August
Trade Slider 5 - September
Trade Slider 5 - October
Trade Slider 10 - November thru February
Trade Slider 7 - Spring Training
Classic Roster Setting Adjustments for 80's, 90's, 00's
Leave LRP slots empty if possible
CPU/HUM Starter Stamina - 10
CPU Hook - 0
Armor & Sword's 30 Control Team Approach
Spoiler
Armors Gameplay Tips
Armor's Directional Hitting Approach
Armor's Directional Hitting Approach
It is all situational for me. So many factors depending on the type of hitter, counts, situation, score etc etc.
First off as far as swing types and counts:
Normal Swing:
0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 3-1, 2-2, 3-2
Contact swing
0-2, 1-2, - spoil pitches, make contact in pitchers counts, stay alive!!!
2-2, 3-2 - Situational - with weaker hitters to make contact and move runners or sacrifice fly.
Power Swing only with my very best power hitters when I typically have no one on with no outs or no one on with 2 outs.
0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 (green light) 3-1 counts.
Directional strategy:
I position the LS pre pitch and hold throughout the swing however as you know I do not use the visual aide showing the influence (don't need it).
Dead Pull Contact Hitters if the situation calls for a pull
LS at the 9 o'clock for RH 3 o'clock for left handers
Hitters counts only 0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 3-1
Pull Power Hitters with normal swing
LS position
10-11 o'clock positions for RH hitters
1-2 o'clock for LH hitters
Hitters counts only 0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 3-1
Opposite field strategy for RH hitters so I can hit behind the runner...early in counts and hitter counts (0-0, 1-0, 2-0 or 3-1) LS is at 3'clock for LH hitters at 9 o'clock
If I get into a pitchers count or neutral count (0-1, 0-2, 1-1, 2-2, 3-2) I do not use stick influence but I allow the ball to travel deep so I can either slap it the other way or fight it off.
When I simply want to induce a sac fly or ground ball....LS in 12 o'clock or 6 o'clock respectively in hitters counts only.
So I think you can see my approach. In hitters counts I can be far more selective with my pitches and use the LS influence. Basically depending on what I want to do I am looking for one pitch in one spot on 0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 3-1 counts (I rarely green light on 3-0 unless I am up big or down big or have a gut feeling). When I am in pitchers counts or neutral accounts I am simply using my normal or contact swing with no stick influence as I am in battle mode and trying to work the count.
I hope that gives you a good idea of my approach at the dish.
Classic Pitching Approach
So Classic Pitching is such a sublime experience and with it comes a lot of nuance. First of all pitcher confidence plays a huge role in how well you are going to throw all your pitches, so make sure when you see he is going good on a few pitches you take advantage of that. Setting up hitters is also critical. Also don't be afraid to walk guys in certain situations.
Warm up your relievers with the 8 pitch warm up.......huge. This build confidence with all your pitches if you warm up throwing strikes.
As far as the "Art of Classic" here are some pro tips:
How long you hold the button matters. It affects pitch speed, command, and the amount of break on breaking pitches. It just isn't 'push a button and go'...there is far more subtlety in it. In fact, if you simply tap the button, it is an excellent way to get shelled".
When pitching in classic, you have about a 1 second time period before you get the controller vibration (i.e. max-effort). The following are my observations...
Max effort pitches (holding the button down till the vibration) result in the following:
More velocity
Less control
A sharper break on breaking pitches
Pitches tend to rise more
Minimum effort pitches (tapping the button) results in the following:
Less velocity
Better control
"Loopier" breaking balls (especially curves/sliders
Pitches sink more (due to lower velo) - changeups will pretty constantly wind up in the dirt
In many cases, an "intermediate" duration is optimal. However, you can vary this from pitch to pitch (i.e. like a pitcher adding/subtracting from the speed of the pitch). This is a tremendous way to keep hitters off-balance to help to avoid them getting solid contact/timing.
This is just a basic overview...I'm sure there are more subtleties involved.
Dowies Wind Modifier System
A very simply random number check when you get to the 5th innings. Use random.org and generate a number between 1-10 and use the table below:
1-3 Move Wind Slider to 2
4-7 Stays at 5
8-10 Move to 10
If it is a rain game move wind slider and throwing errors for both HUM/CPU up +1. Then do a Wind check in the top of the 5th and if it is raining the modifier will be in addition to the rain mod of +1 (so if the number comes up 1 2 or 3 and it is a rain game your wind slider goes from 6 down to 3 keeping that +1 for the rain, if it was not a rain game the wind slider would go down to two for the same result).
The Slider +/- Card System is back!!!!

So here is a really cool card system. It's very easy. Before each game shuffle a deck of playing cards and draw three cards anyway you want. Use the chart to apply the modifications to your slider set for that game. This adds a total "Strat-O-Matic layer to the game!!!!
So for example...you shuffle your deck of cards and draw in order:
The 8 of clubs,
Ace of spades and
Jack of spades
What does that mean?
Look at the chart.....8 of clubs means the card you drew second is now worth 2X the value so what does the Ace of Spades do on it's own? +1 contact to the CPU...well now it's +2 to contact for the CPU (huh oh). Jack of spades is +1 to OF errors. So wow some serious variables here.
I do this before every regular season game. I do not use this card system in the post season.
One modifier I do use to start games is if it is a rain game we +1 to all errors and +1 to wind and then we do the 5th inning "Dowies Wind Modifier" check.
Enjoy these exciting and fun dice roll elements!!! Purely optional.

So here is a really cool card system. It's very easy. Before each game shuffle a deck of playing cards and draw three cards anyway you want. Use the chart to apply the modifications to your slider set for that game. This adds a total "Strat-O-Matic layer to the game!!!!
So for example...you shuffle your deck of cards and draw in order:
The 8 of clubs,
Ace of spades and
Jack of spades
What does that mean?
Look at the chart.....8 of clubs means the card you drew second is now worth 2X the value so what does the Ace of Spades do on it's own? +1 contact to the CPU...well now it's +2 to contact for the CPU (huh oh). Jack of spades is +1 to OF errors. So wow some serious variables here.
I do this before every regular season game. I do not use this card system in the post season.
One modifier I do use to start games is if it is a rain game we +1 to all errors and +1 to wind and then we do the 5th inning "Dowies Wind Modifier" check.
Enjoy these exciting and fun dice roll elements!!! Purely optional.
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