The most dedicated of MLB The Show players love to get into the nitty-gritty of things. This is evident with the success and buzz around our community’s Armor & Sword Clean Screen Sliders. The base game may be enjoyable for most players, but others like to see what the community has to offer in terms of tweaks, sliders, and custom rosters. If that idea piques your interest, then you’ll appreciate The TrueSim Project.
Simply put, this is an entire custom roster and sliders overhaul created by talented folks over at our Operation Sports forum. Published by OS forums users Cycloniac, TrueSim is vital since it addresses the simulation bloat and the tendency for potential ratings to inflate. The team meticulously re-rates a majority of the MLB players and 500+ prospects, grounding every attribute in real-world Statcast data, K%, and BABIP.
By aligning the game’s internal mechanics with real-world baseball, TrueSim ensures that your franchise doesn’t just feel like a game. The community buzz surrounding this year’s release is electric as players look to maximize the new systems in MLB The Show 26.
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The Ratings System
The TrueSim Ratings System is a cornerstone of the TrueSim Roster Project, designed to fundamentally overhaul how players are rated in MLB The Show 26. This system eliminates “simulation bloat” by preventing common franchise issues in which potential ratings inflate, and league logic collapses after only a few seasons.
Since the foundations of each aspect of this project are data-driven, every attribute is grounded in real-world metrics. This includes Statcast data, K%, and BABIP, rather than arbitrary developer ratings, which, at times, make the game feel unrealistic to some of our passionate players. The Ratings System is all about long-term realism, as it focuses on multi-year trends rather than hot streaks. It ensures your franchise maintains a realistic, sustainable competitive balance for years, which is why many regard it as a better approach.
The system differentiates among everyday players, platoon specialists, and various relief roles, ensuring greater authenticity and more role-aware evaluation. It even perfectly balances recent performances with career history, avoiding overreactions to small data sets that can skew player value.
Let’s get into how the system actually works. Stamina is calculated transparently using game averages to determine roles. Makeup is evaluated using four core metrics (H/9, HR/9, K9, and Control. The hitter ratings are based on contact and power, which are derived from 3-year weighted averages, with explicit adjustments for platoon splits. This ultimately helps ensure bench and role players are rated correctly.
The system employs a dual-method approach combining statistical performance and scouting reports. This ensures the more conservative rating is selected to avoid prospect overhype. The team also audits rosters to ensure accurate lineups, rotations, and injury statuses, providing the franchise-ready polish. You can find the final ratings and stats here.
The Prospect Rating System
Although it is integrated into the Ratings System, the prospect system bridges the gap between amateur potential and major league reality. This system applies a more rigorous, data-grounded approach to talent evaluation, ensuring development feels authentic.
The Prospect Rating System utilizes a dual-method approach, weighing statistical performance against professional scouting grades. It cross-references data with recognized prospect reporting and promises a grounded, balanced ceiling for young talent. To prevent prospect overhype in default modes, the system consistently opts for a more conservative rating between statistics and scouting reports. This creates a realistic progression curve in which players earn their MLB status rather than being granted high-potential labels.
Long-term roster integrity is also maintained by aligning prospect ratings with the same metric used for active MLB players. This ensures that farm systems remain balanced and prevents the league from collapsing, which often occurs when young players reach elite ratings far too early. Read more about the prospect system here.
Sliders
An overhaul like this is incomplete without some custom sliders, so here are the settings that the TrueSim Project recommends:
General
Difficulty
- Gameplay Style: Simulation
- Hitting Difficulty: All-Star or Hall of Fame
- Pitching Difficulty: All-Star or Hall of Fame
- Fielding Difficulty: User Preference
- Tutorial Tips: Off
- Other Tips: Off
- Fielding Aids: Off
Decisions
- Auto Bullpen Warm Up: Off
- In Game Pitcher Warm Up: On
- Auto Defense Shift: Off
Rules
- Umpire Accuracy: User Preference
- ABS Challenge System: On
- Pitch Clock: Off
- Injuries: On
- Ejections: On
- Balks: Off
- Perfect Close Play Calls: Off
- Check Swing Appeals: On
Control
Hitting
- Hitting Interface: Directional (or User Preference)
- Swing Input: Buttons
- Directional Camera Shift: Off
- Directional Hitting Indicator: Off
- Guess Pitch: Off
Baserunning
- Baserunning Interface: User Preference
- Auto Baserunning: On
- Auto Sliding: On
Pitching
- Pitching Interface: Classic or Pinpoint
- Pitching Ball Marker: Off
- Fixed Pitch Location: Off
- Pitcher Delivery: User Preference
- Pitch Com: Audio Only
Fielding
- Throwing Interface: Button
- Auto Fielding: On
- Auto Throwing: On
- Jump/Dive Assistance: On
- Auto INF Jump Reaction: On
- Auto INF Dive Reaction: On
Sliders
- Dynamic Difficulty: 0
- Contact: 6
- Power: 5
- Timing: 4
- Foul Frequency: 5
- Solid Hits: 2
- Starter Stamina: 8
- Relever Stamina: 8
- Pitcher Control: 7
- Pitcher Consistency: 7
- Strike Frequency: 3
- Manager Hook: 0
- Pickoff: 0
- Pitch Speed: 5
- IF Fielding Errors: 7
- OF Fielding Errors: 3
- IF Throwing Errors: 10
- OF Throwing Errors: 0
- Fielder Run Speed: 8
- Fielder Reaction: 4
- IF Arm Strength: 0
- OF Arm Strength: 10
- Baserunner Speed: 8
- Baserunner Steal Ability: 0
- Baserunner Steal Frequency: 6
- Wind: 5
- Gameplay Injuries: 6
- Simulation Injuries: 6
All the listed values will be the same for both the CPU and the player. The creators of the project also mention that if you see a setting that isn’t listed, that particular setting is up to player preference.
Why You Should Try The TrueSim Project
The TrueSim project is the ultimate tool for anyone who wants to turn MLB The Show 26 into a professional-grade simulation. The project aims to reduce overall simulation bloat and improve CPU roster management. Ultimately, it ensures that teams perform, trade, and build rosters with real-world intelligence rather than chaotic logic.
In TrueSim, every rating is calculated using the TrueSim Projection System (TPS), which leverages three-year weighted averages and Statcast metrics. It even prevents the league from becoming oversaturated with 90+ overall players, maintaining competitive balance throughout your multi-year save. Overall, it seems perfect for anyone who seeks a more authentic experience from the game and wants a more realistic approach.
With that said, as I discussed when discussing custom rosters before, they can have unintentional consequences. For example, bumping up potential ratings can affect long-term realism, with your whole league having too many high-OVR players. Given how the TrueSim project is designed, it likely won’t have the same problem. However, if there are potential issues, we won’t know till we’re several years (in-game) deep into franchise saves. Regardless, the TrueSim project is still worth trying out as it is based on meticulous research and data.
Published: Apr 23, 2026 04:32 pm