A quick scan of Xbox One's digital store revealed a product listing for RBI Baseball 18, scheduled to release on March 19. After giving the last installment in this annualized series a 2 out of 10 review rating, I was curious to see what the developers at MLB had in store for this year's game – hopefully huge changes. The summary listed fits that bill, and enthusiastically states "it's a whole new ballgame!" The additions are significant for this series; the biggest being the inclusion of a franchise mode that allows players to make trades, pick up free agents, and call up rookies. RBI Baseball 18 also delivers the series first home run derby, and completely redesigned player models, stadiums, and UI.

It really does sound like a whole new ballgame. Now let's see how it looks in action...

The trailer doesn't show one second of footage, and instead plays out like a strange Pigeon John music video about baseball. So what do we see exactly? The logos for every MLB team, live-action footage of baseball players looking tough, and maybe, just maybe, a look at a player model from the game. Odds are those models were made for the video, but they at least looked like they could be in a game.

This series has been in the doghouse since it debuted a few years ago, and not showing any footage in the debut trailer is a huge red flag.

Our Take

Baseball fans want to see a great (or even good) MLB experience on Xbox One and Switch. RBI Baseball is the only game that can fill that void. The game ships in a few weeks. Show us what you have been working on, MLB.