Goodbye MLB, Hello MLB The Show: A TV Station Aired a Videogame Simulation of the Mets’ Opening Day Game

Today was gonna be the day. The Major League Baseball season was scheduled to start this afternoon, back when things like baseball seasons were still a part of life—back when the COVID-19 crisis hadn’t yet derailed everything. Baseball fans have been holding private vigils for the loss of their favorite day of the year, and the baseball establishment has responded with a variety of well-meaning but insufficient make-goods. Only one outfit has come close to figuring it all out, though, and that’s the regional sports network SportsNet New York.

Yes, this lifelong Atlanta Braves fan is about to praise the home of the goddamned New York goddamned Mets.

Instead of airing an old game or a documentary about Marv Throneberry, SNY bridged the small (and closing) gap between sports, TV and videogames. As reported by Lifewire, the channel simulated what would’ve been the Mets’ opening day game through MLB The Show, the top baseball game on the market. Sony’s overwhelmingly detailed baseball sim is a perennial candidate for “best sports game of the year,” and that attention to the minutiae of the game (along with the often lifelike graphics) makes it a smart way to replicate America’s bygone pastime.

If you’re desperately missing the crack of the bat, check out SNY’s simulated game below—or just pick up MLB The Show 20 for your PlayStation 4. Heck, 19 would do, too, or even 18. There’s a lot of Show to go around.

Oh, and if you’re wondering, the Mets can’t even win when it’s a fake game being played on their own network. Defending World Series champs the Washington Nationals took this game 3-2 in 11 innings. Honestly, I’d root for the Mets over the Nats any day now, which felt super weird to type.