In 2013, 2K games released "Major League Baseball 2K13," something no one expected them to do given that their MLB contract was set to expire. They rushed the game out after a short development cycle, and it received some pretty bad reviews. That turned out to be the end of 2K's series of baseball games, as they didn't renew the contract after that and quietly exited the baseball game market. Why is this important? Because with their exit, "MLB: The Show" essentially had cornered the baseball game market all to itself. The series had already been dominating it for a few years, but with 2K formally exiting, there was literally no competition. All "MLB 13: The Show" had to do was be a fun game. And in that, it succeeded.
"MLB 13: The Show" does everything the previous games did very well: the visuals are well crafted and continue the franchise's reputation for emulating the sport of baseball realistically, the gameplay is challenging but still accessible (made even better by the addition of a Beginner difficulty), and the number of modes in the game allows for plenty of replayability. In terms of new stuff, Steve Lyons joins the broadcast booth here and does a nice job, there's a Postseason mode for players who don't want to sit through an entire season (which is nice), and there are also a few decent enhancements to batting that add an extra layer to the game.
Once again, though, the big gaping issue here for me was the lack of huge changes to the core game. It's still as fun to play as ever, but it's just not exactly a shake-up for the series. Again, it was bound to happen at some point, but by 2013, "MLB: The Show" finally started to feel like a yearly sports game. And sure, the gameplay was on point, but it would've been nicer to see some new features here.
Overall, "MLB 13: The Show" was another solid entry in the franchise, and even with a lack of brand-new features, it was still plenty of fun to play. As the final "MLB: The Show" game built specifically around the PlayStation 3, "MLB 13: The Show" did a fine job for the series, and it definitely took plenty of time out of my life. It may not seem like a prime candidate to return to, but it definitely did its job in establishing why the series is so consistent.
Final rating: 8 out of 10 "Great"