Since its release, MLB The Show 26 has been generally considered a high-quality game - the batting feel and content updates have been well-done. However, a major problem has recently emerged: some pitchers have bugs, making Weekend Classic gameplay extremely unfair.
According to some players, if you encounter Michael King or Josh Hader in Weekend Classic, you're likely to have a very frustrating experience–even with good aim and timing, your pitches are weak and easily caught out.
This isn't due to poor skill; it's a bug in the game. I will explain this bug in detail below for your reference.
Weekend Classic Bugs
In MLB The Show 26, during normal gameplay, batters can choose different swing styles. Michael King has a swing style called "Sinker" - a fastball that dips downwards, while Josh Hader has a swing style called "Two-seam Fastballs" - a fastball that moves horizontally to the same side as the pitcher.
This wouldn't normally be a problem, but the issue lies in the bugs inherent in both swing styles. If you're playing Weekend Classic against an opponent using Michael King or Josh Hader and employing Sinker or Two-seam Fastballs, even if you press Normal Swing, the system will force a Contact Swing.
As experienced players know, a Contact Swing sacrifices power for a larger contact area, resulting in an extremely low Exit Velo, making it almost impossible to land a power hit or home run.
This means that no matter how accurate your aim or how perfect your swing timing, in most cases, the ball will simply become a pop-up, easily caught by your opponent.
This glaring bug completely ruins the competitive environment of Weekend Classic. Weekend Classic is a highly valued timed competitive mode in MLB The Show 26. Normally, players would race against time to deploy their teams and devise strategies to climb the leaderboards and win various rewards.
However, this bug gave players a "sure-win strategy": simply use Michael King as the starting pitcher and only pitch his Sinker; once Michael King's stamina drops, switch to Josh Hader and only pitch his Two-seam Fastball, and victory is guaranteed
This not only stripped MLB The Show 26 of its original competitive spirit and turned the entire Weekend Classic into a competition of "who can exploit bug the best," but it also directly contributed to the soaring prices of Michael King and Josh Hader - Michael King's card even reached 70,000 MLB The Show 26 Stubs at one point.
Other Bugs
In fact, besides the serious bugs mentioned earlier, this game has numerous other long-standing bugs, game design flaws, and cheating issues. Let's look at some of the main ones.
Perfect Becomes Pop-up
Perfect is the most difficult maneuver to achieve in the game - requiring perfect Swing Timing; theoretically, such a pitch should at least be a power hit or even a home run.
However, in reality, even perfect pitches are often easily caught and hit, sometimes even resulting in a pop-up, which is completely illogical.
Freeze-off
MLB The Show 26's tendency to freeze is a well-known issue among players, who have even devised methods to mitigate it.
However, in 2026, many games can maintain server stability even with millions of concurrent players. The fact that this game freezes so easily with only 20,000 concurrent players suggests that San Diego Studio needs to maintain their servers.
Also Read: From Glory to Ghost Town: MLB 26 Battle Royale's Collapse
PCI Shrinkage Imbalance
To simulate realistic baseball, this game incorporates the following features: When a right-handed batter faces a right-handed pitcher, or when a left-handed batter faces a left-handed pitcher, PCI Shrinkage aiming circle shrinks for sharp changeups and curveballs, making it more difficult to hit accurately and creating a more realistic baseball experience.
The design was well-intentioned, but its actual effect in the game was that ambidextrous hitters became the strongest, as they could hit with their preferred side regardless of whether the opponent threw a left or right pitch, avoiding PCI shrinkage penalties.
As a result, everyone's roster consisted entirely of ambidextrous players, making it monotonous. However, if the goal was to simulate a realistic game, ambidextrous hitters should also be subject to PCI shrinkage penalties.
Dreadlocks Delay
This bug is even laughable - players with dreadlocks, like José Ramírez, would experience frame drops and stuttering due to the complex hair modeling. This led to ridiculous hairstyle discrimination in MLB The Show 26, with very few players using dreadlocks. This problem has existed for several years and remains unfixed.
Cheating Issues
Some players believe that cheating is rampant in the game and suggest that San Diego Studio should only ban IP addresses of cheaters. In reality, this is no big deal for experienced cheaters; however, cheating turns what should be a fair and competitive baseball game into a joke.
These players commented that cheaters should be punished by having their consoles banned - like Nintendo does, forcing them to acquire another console to play the game again. This level of punishment is the only effective way to deter cheating.
This concludes the introduction to the bugs in Weekend Classic of MLB The Show 26, as well as other long-standing bugs and issues in the game. If you haven't encountered any of the bugs mentioned in this article, please be careful.
