MLB 15 The Show, like a number of modern simulation sports games, contains a mode that allows you to play along with the real-life Major League Baseball season. Known as The Show Live, the mode loads up the actual lineups and starting pitchers for all 162 games for each of the 30 MLB teams. MLB 15 developer Sony San Diego went one step further in recreating yesterday's surreal, historic-for-all-the-wrong-reasons matchup between the Chicago White Sox and the Baltimore Orioles.
Baltimore residents have been engaging in peaceful protests since the death of Freddie Gray last week. Gray, a 25-year-old black man, suffered a spinal cord injury on April 12 while being arrested by the Baltimore Police Department, allegedly for possession of a switchblade. Gray fell into a coma and died a week later. Following Gray's funeral on Monday, April 27, riots broke out in addition to the protests.
Major League Baseball canceled Monday's and Tuesday's games between the White Sox and Orioles, which had been scheduled to be played in Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, due to safety concerns stemming from the civil unrest. But because making up a third game would have proved difficult, the league decided to have the teams play Wednesday afternoon in a game that was closed to the public — a first in baseball history. The Orioles defeated the White Sox 8-2 in front of 45,971 empty seats.
MLB 15 players can relive that matchup in The Show Live, playing a game with no spectators in the seats. We've captured the first inning for you in the video above and the screenshots below, which are almost as eerie as the real thing was yesterday. Sony San Diego didn't turn off the crowds entirely — you can still see a few fans inside the ballpark in standing-room sections like the Flag Court along Eutaw Street — but the effect is stunning nonetheless.
MLB 15 launched a month ago on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. For more, check out our review, in which we said the game serves to "uphold the series' stellar track record."
