This should be a big year for Sony's baseball franchise, The Show. Not only has the series received two new releases for its current systems, but it also makes its debut on the PlayStation 3 next month. It could usher in a new era of baseball goodness for the company, just in time for opening day ceremonies. That said, MLB '07: The Show offers a good game of baseball on the ol' PlayStation 2.

The game hasn't changed much from last year's version. SCEA avoids the analog control swinging that 2K Sports' uses in its Major League Baseball 2K7, instead opting for the traditional button-press controls. However, the intuitive pitching and batting mechanics make up for its simplicity. With batting, players can guess the type of pitch being thrown. Guess correctly, and a light-up icon indicates where the ball will cross in the batter's box. On the other side of the spectrum, pitchers receive recommendations for pitches from the catcher, along with a light-up box showing a "hot spot" where the ball needs to cross in order to get a strikeout. It makes the game relatively easier, but these options can be switched off if players prefer more of a challenge. Both of these control set-ups work very well, despite the primitive approach.

Fielding works surprisingly well. Getting under a fly ball and lobbing it back to the chosen base works effectively, thanks to an easy-to-read ball icon and power-adjusted throwing controls. However, when the ball rolls into the outfield, control automatically gets assigned to the person closest to the ball. This can lead to a sliding grounder that slips by a player. Either the computer should assist with the fielding, or it should just be turned off altogether. Base-running has its own errors as well. Players who try to steal a base and cancel the run mid-way through may end up being tagged out.

MLB '07: The Show features a decent presentation. The players animate wonderfully, the field details don't look half bad and the camera never becomes problematic -- a huge plus. However, the frame rate jumps around, the crowd doesn't come to life as well as it should and the occasional bug pops up. As for the occasional bugs, they usually happen when switching from hitting/pitching to outfield...but they're very quick and don't affect gameplay