MVP Baseball series

MVP Baseball is a baseball game series published by EA Sports, running from 2003 to 2007 with five games produced. In 2003, MVP became the official successor to EA's long-running Triple Play Baseball series, and it simulated Major League Baseball from 2003 to 2005. However, an exclusive licensing deal between Major League Baseball and Take-Two Interactive in 2005 prohibited EA Sports from making another MLB game until 2012. In response, EA made NCAA college baseball games in 2006 and 2007, but discontinued the series in 2008 because of poor sales.

History

MVP Baseball 2003

MVP Baseball 2003 was released in 2003 as the successor to EA's Triple Play games, though it bore little more than a graphical similarity to its predecessors, which had been heavily maligned by critics in the series' final years.

Introducing an innovative pitch meter and zone-based hitting system (see below), MVP 2003 was well received by critics, most of whom considered the game's overhaul to be a major improvement over Triple Play′s last entry. At the review-aggregation site Metacritic, MVP 2003 was given a score of 81/100 for the PlayStation 2 and 82/100 for the Xbox.

World Series

The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in North America, contested since 1903 between the American League (AL) champion team and the National League (NL) champion. Prior to 1969, the team with the best win-loss record in each league automatically advanced to the World Series; since then each league has conducted a championship series (ALCS and NLCS) preceding the World Series to determine which teams will advance. As of 2015, the World Series has been contested 111 times, with the AL winning 64 and the NL winning 47. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and the winning team is awarded the Commissioner's Trophy. As the series is played in October (and occasionally November), during the autumn season in North America, it is often referred to as the Fall Classic.

The 2015 World Series took place between the New York Mets and the victorious Kansas City Royals. Five games were played, with the Royals victorious after game five, played in New York. The final score was 7-2; the game went into extra innings after a tied score of 2-2. This was the second World Series won by the franchise and the first in 30 years.

MVP Baseball 2005

MVP Baseball 2005 is a baseball video game developed and published by Electronic Arts. It features then-Boston Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez on its cover. The game features full Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball, and Major League Baseball Players Association licenses. It holds the 98th spot on IGN's reader's choice top 100 games ever as of 2006. As with previous versions of the game, the announcers are Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow, real-life announcers for the San Francisco Giants.

A PlayStation Portable version of the game, entitled just MVP Baseball, was later released in May 2005.

Gameplay

MVP Baseball 2005 includes all 30 official Major League Baseball teams, stadiums, and all 30 unique dynasties, as well as the more than 1,000 individual players that populate their respective teams. A notable exclusion is Barry Bonds, who does not appear in the game due to his withdrawal from the MLBPA's licensing agreement. His "replacement" is a fictional player named Jon Dowd. Dowd bears no resemblance in appearance to Bonds, but his skills mimic those of Bonds. The game also includes authentic minor league teams and actual minor league players by including double-A and triple-A-level farm teams. 2005's installment includes ballclubs from the High Single-A ranks as well, giving each MLB team three levels of minor league farm clubs. 2 legends teams, 63 legendary players, 15 classic stadiums, 5 fantasy parks, and more than 100 retro uniforms round out the list of unlockable features. Rosters are current as of January 12, 2005, and the game included the then-new Washington Nationals, along with their then temporary home, RFK Stadium. At the time, new rosters could be downloaded to the Xbox and PS2 versions by accessing their online play menus.

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern United States and is the United States' 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border in the Atlantic Ocean with Rhode Island, east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the north and Ontario to the west and north. The state of New York, with an estimated 19.8 million residents in 2015, is often referred to as New York State to distinguish it from New York City, the state's most populous city and its economic hub.

With an estimated population of nearly 8.5 million in 2014, New York City is the most populous city in the United States and the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States. The New York City Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City is a global city, exerting a significant impact upon commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment, its fast pace defining the term New York minute. The home of the United Nations Headquarters, New York City is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural and financial capital of the world, as well as the world's most economically powerful city. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State. Two-thirds of the state's population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% live on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th century Duke of York, future King James II of England. The next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany.

Most Valuable Player

In sports, a Most Valuable Player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best-performing player (or players) in an entire league, for a particular competition, or on a specific team. Initially used in professional sports, the term is now also commonly used in amateur sports, as well as in other completely unrelated fields such as business and music. In many sports, MVP awards are presented for a specific match—in other words, a man of the match award.

The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In other cases, "Player of the Year" is used. In Australia, Australian rules football clubs and leagues use the term "Best and Fairest", while those playing rugby league use "Player of the Year", such as the Dally M Medal. The National Basketball League, however, uses the American-style "MVP" for its awards. Insofar as there is a distinction between an MVP and a Player of the Year, a "player of the year" describes the greatest individual talent, while a "most valuable player" is a person most responsible for their team's success.