MLB 2K6 benched 'til April

There are three things that are almost guaranteed come the beginning of April. Major League Baseball's season starts, Cracker Jack production skyrockets, and gaming gets its first round of baseball titles. This year, however, the latter may be a little late.

Online retailer EBGames.com is listing 2K Sports' MLB 2K6 as now releasing on April 10 for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions and April 24 for the GameCube and Xbox 360 editions. GameStop.com has similar dates for the GameCube, Xbox, and Xbox 360 versions, but lists March 20 as the release date for the PS2 edition. Neither site has a product listing for the PlayStation Portable version.

2K Sports has always held that the game's release date was Spring 2006, so the game may not even technically be delayed. However, the MLB 2K series nearly always slides into stores before the first pitch of the MLB season, which will be tossed out on April 2 this season.

As of this year, 2K Sports is the sole third-party licensee of the Major League Baseball license and has no competition from rival Electronic Arts, which in prior years has seen the two race to get their game out first. It's quite possible that it is using the extra time to fine tune the game and avoid a repeat of last year, which drew gamers' ire with reports of bugs and glitches in MLB 2K5. 2K Sports will be several innings behind Sony's MLB 06: The Show though, as it shipped in late February for the PS2 and PSP.

However, the new date is not official. Reps for 2K Sports had not responded to requests for comment as of press time. For more information on the game, check out GameSpot's recent hands-on with the Xbox 360 version.