No. The Foul Line Chalk is Not Cocaine. Relax Junkies.
MLB 13 the Show is like MLB 12, which is like MLB 11, and like MLB 10. So if you've played one of those games you know what the other three are like. The players still move like a sack of potatoes, outfielders still jump in slow motion, base runners round bases on right angles, and the animations in general are still a cross between realistic and goofy as all hell.
It's weird that I mentioned I still watch baseball because these days I realize just how boring baseball actually is. I think I watch it more as background noise rather than anything else. Something to listen to while I'm doing some other work.
There certainly is skill involved in playing the Show, but to get to that point where you actually have skill you must suffer through a collection of hours playing The Show. Most gamers wont get to this point. Because most gamers don't love baseball. And the gamers who actually do have some skill at the Show, probably have got there because they (love baseball) started playing The Show five years ago. Since it's practically the same game, skills just transfer over one year to the next.
MLB the Show can't possibly be rated higher than a 6 in my mind. Not because it's the same thing as last year and the years before thats version, but because it is modeled after a game that you can actually go outside and do yourself with friends in real life. If you don't have friends you could easily join an intramural league or wiffleball or slow pitch softball. Not to say you can't go buy MLB 13 The Show. Heck, I just RedBoxed it to get a small taste. The thing is what you get with MLB 13 is exactly what you'd expect: A baseball game.
Baseball games can only be so fun. If you don't like baseball then even the best baseball video game on the planet is still going to be a boring pile of dog dung. The idea of a great video game is that it can be loved by anybody. Sports games modeled too seriously off their respected sport can't win in this respect. So MLB the Show can't go higher than a 6. That's my rule and I'm sticking to it.
But it is a 6 because it is still the best baseball game ever made. So if you love baseball and you just wish you could grind it all up into a powder and snort it, then run onto a baseball diamond and eat the grass like a cow, then what other game you gonna get?