The beauty of video games is, ostensibly, the ability to imagine and create better worlds than our own. It’s a phenomenon especially germane to sports video games, where with a little bit of luck, you can, for instance, lead Plymouth Argyle to the Champions League title.
In recent years, several sports video games have embraced the opportunity to rectify real-world inequities within their universes. The WNBA appeared in NBA 2K20, and female players have been part of the FIFA franchise since FIFA 16. On Tuesday, MLB: The Show went a step further, creating a mode through which women can forge a career in professional baseball.
Predictable misogynistic backlash followed, but fans of all genders stepped in to respond to fans who decried the mode as unrealistic.
Everyone has Major League dreams. Now it's your time to unlock them.
— MLB (@MLB) March 5, 2024
Announcing Road to The Show: Women Pave Their Way, a new way to play @MLBTheShow's Road to The Show mode as a female player! pic.twitter.com/BtpcQFPCpX
The consensus: realism has never been a huge concern in sports video games—and especially in MLB: The Show‘s Road to the Show mode.
“YOU CANT PUT WOMEN IN THE GAME! IT’S UNREALISTIC!”
— spencer🦕 (@spen______) March 5, 2024
The average MLB Road to the Show player: https://t.co/GSNIdGvP9k pic.twitter.com/yPFwbAXXwL
This is, after all, a world where the cash-strapped Oakland Athletics can win ...
Comments: “That’s unrealistic!”
— Thomas Carrieri (@Thomas_Carrieri) March 5, 2024
*Turns on PS5*
Opens MLB The Show franchise mode and turns off budgets, turns off injuries, and turns on force trades to go 162-0 with the Oakland A’s. https://t.co/KQ2fYUXh4Q pic.twitter.com/AcLhikLrXd
... players can take to the air ...
Stop complaining that it's unrealistic to have women in MLB the Show
— Antonio (@TheAntOrtiz) March 5, 2024
You can literally fly in the game https://t.co/UMhHTmxM8L pic.twitter.com/L1tfcwkJZU
... Honus Wagner can play against Mookie Betts ...
How DARE MLB: The Show include women in my very realistic game that lets me make an all-star team of dead baseball players to go up against the current Los Angeles Dodgers! 😡
— Jordan Cicchelli 🤍 (@jordancicchelli) March 5, 2024
... and the extraordinary becomes routine.
I’m very mad the MLB The Show has lady baseball players. Now if you’ll excuse me, my Cubs team with Babe Ruth and Mike Trout is about to start their game in a stadium built into a mountain.
— 🤌🏼Super Nintendo Chalmers🤌🏼 (@snchalmers79) March 6, 2024
The moral of the story: if you can construct any sports world you want, why not build a more inclusive one?
