The history of baseball in the U.S. has given the game a romantic view many fans of the sport share, regardless of which team they may support. This love allows America's past-time to transcend the ballpark into entertainment, with various video games and movies celebrating baseball. MLB The Show 21 will now bring these two worlds together in its latest update paying tribute to the beloved baseball film, Field of Dreams.
1989's Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones, is widely considered to be one the best sports films of all-time. It follows an Iowa corn farmer who, after having a vision of speaking with baseball great "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, builds a baseball field on his farm where baseball greats of the past begin to appear and play. It's through the field Costner's character is also able to address his own past, reconciling with the spirit of his late father through a shared love of baseball.
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Developer San Diego Studio shared a look at The Show's next update which will transport players from MLB's ballparks to the cornfields of Iowa. The update coincides with the MLB's planned game on August 12 in Dyersville, Iowa, dubbed the "MLB at Field of Dreams Game" between the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees. Players can take to the field Costner built in the 1989 film, with some fresh touches to have it fit in with MLB The Show 21's overall stadium design.
The studio's announcement post on the game's official website outlined how the team went about designing the field, first pulling from the original film. The development team was then given some of the MLB's stadium designs for the planned August 12 game so it could meld the old with the new as accurately as possible inside MLB The Show 21. San Diego Studio's attention to detail stretches to the uniforms as well, with throwback uniforms the Yankees and White Sox will be wearing also being available in game.
Throwbacks and tributes are nothing new in the world of sports, especially within professional baseball. The sport has well over a century of history to pull on, whether its something team-specific like the Yankees' annual Old-Timers Day or all players wearing 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson on Jackie Robinson Day. It makes sense for MLB The Show to follow a similar path, especially given the growing need for post-launch content in the modern gaming landscape.
It wouldn't be surprising to see San Diego Studio pull on various events across Major League Baseball going forward and give players the chance to be part of the events they could only watch from the stands before. The same could be said for other sports games as developers continue looking for ways to expand and improve sports games' immersion for the playerbases.
MLB The Show 21 is currently available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X.