NEW YORK (AP) Blake Snell, Juan Soto and Bo Bichette are among the
baseball stars switching over to PlayStation with America’s pastime
on hold.
Thirty big leaguers – one from each team – have signed on to play a
round-robin regular season on the MLB The Show video game with the
real season on hold due to the novel coronavirus.
Snell, a Cy Young Award winner with Tampa Bay, will face Cincinnati
reliever Amir Garrett in the opener Friday night. That matchup will
air on Snell’s
and other games will be streamed via Twitch and YouTube with MLB
Network host Robert Flores providing commentary.
The venture was launched Friday by Major League Baseball, the
players’ association and Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Participants range in age from 36-year-old San Francisco outfielder
Hunter Pence to 21-year-old San Diego infielder Fernando Tatis Jr.
There are 11 All-Stars, including Milwaukee reliever Josh Hader,
Texas slugger Joey Gallo and the New York Mets’ Jeff McNeil.
Players will complete a 29-game regular season – one three-inning
contest against each team – through April. The top eight teams will
qualify for the postseason, expected to mirror MLB’s current format.
The NBA is running a similar esports tournament on NBA 2K featuring
16 pro players, including stars Kevin Durant and Trae Young. Those
games have been airing on ESPN.
MLB, the union and Sony are contributing $175,000 to Boys & Girls
Clubs of America as part of the initiative.
—
Follow Jake Seiner: https://twitter.com/Jake-Seiner
—
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and
https://twitter.com/AP-Sports
###
Copyright © 2020
TTWN Media Networks Inc.
Comments