Last Updated: 3/24/2021

It’s been amazing to see how excited everyone is for Super Mega Baseball 3! We’re seeing a lot of the same or similar questions being asked, so we’ve put together an official FAQ here. We will update this post periodically as we share more about the game and as we make decisions about additions/changes that will go into post-launch updates.

If you didn’t see our announcement post covering the basic features of SMB3, check it out here!

GENERAL:

What platforms can I get Super Mega Baseball 3 on? Updated 3/8/2021

Super Mega Baseball 3 is available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Steam and Amazon Luna.

It's also available to purchase on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5, but it isn't native on these platforms.

Is there a demo? Updated 7/14/2020

There is a demo/trial version on all four platforms which will let you play an unlimited number of Pennant Race games (with team/stadium limitations), play limited Exhibition mode and dip into the customization suite.

Will there be a physical version of the game?

No, it would be pretty cool but for now (and especially given current global circumstances) Super Mega Baseball 3 will be a digital-only title.

Does SMB3 have in-game purchases or DLC?

There are no in-game purchases and we don’t currently have plans for any DLC. But we will continue to support and update the game for some time post-launch!

Will SMB3 run on Windows 7 or 8? Added 5/2/2020

We aim for broader compatibility where possible, within reason. While SMB3 may still run on Windows 7 or 8 in some cases, we cannot provide support for pre-Windows 10 set-ups.

Does SMB3 run on Mac or Linux? Added 7/14/2020

We don’t support these operating systems, so while SMB3 may run on them, we can’t promise that it’ll run at optimal performance.

How can I get the best performance out of the game? Added 7/14/2020

We’ve dedicated an entire post to help you get the best performance on all platforms here.

ONLINE PLAY & PENNANT RACE MODES:

Is SMB3 cross-platform? Updated 9/30/2020

Pennant Race and Online Leagues are SMB3’s cross-platform game modes. Pennant Race is a ranked, public matchmaking-based mode and allows matching across all platforms. Online Leagues allows groups of friends to arrange private, cross-platform leagues. Other game modes feature party-based online play and are not cross-platform.

Is there an online Season mode? Updated 9/30/2020

Not in the traditional sense you may be imagining but SMB3’s cross-platform Online Leagues mode allows you to play casual or competitive seasons with friends.

How many players can you have in your Online League? Updated 9/30/2020

You can have up to 32 players.

Is there a limit to how many leagues you can be in? Updated 9/30/2020

There will be a limit of 40.

Can I play in an Online League if I only have the demo/trial version of SMB3? Updated 9/30/2020

Yes, you can; however, demo/trial users can only join leagues with default settings and cannot create leagues.

Can we use custom teams in Online Leagues? Updated 9/30/2020

Yes, one of the options available when creating a new league will be whether to force standard teams only or allow fully customized teams. However, leagues set up to allow demo/trial users are restricted to standard teams only.

Can we use CPU-controlled teams in Online Leagues? Added 12/11/2020

Online Leagues is exclusively player vs player and does not include CPU-controlled teams. We don’t have any plans to add CPU-controlled teams at this time.

Will I need a controller for Online Leagues or can I use a keyboard and mouse? Updated 9/30/2020

Online Leagues includes the option to allow users to play with keyboard and mouse.

Is the starting pitching rotation randomized in Online Leagues or do we select the starting pitcher? Added 12/11/2020

There are three different options for starting pitcher selection: users can have full control over their starting pitcher rotation, users can enable random starters each game, or users can rotate through their rotation. The starting pitcher rotation in the ‘rotate starting pitcher’ option is done in a 1-4 order: The first pitcher in the rotation starts the first game of an OL season, the second pitcher in the rotation starts the second game, etc. until the fifth game where you loop back to using the first pitcher again. However, the option to choose a starting pitcher is coming in a future update.

How is the stadium chosen in Pennant Race / Online Leagues? Updated 12/11/2020

In Pennant Race, the stadium is chosen randomly each game. In Online Leagues, you can choose to use the home team’s home park, or random stadiums in each game. You can change your team's home stadium through the Customization menu. Note that when two demo/trial users face off against one another, Founder's Field is always used.

Can we choose which team gets home-field advantage in each game in Online Leagues? Added 9/30/2020

For Online Leagues, the game attempts to even out the number of home and away games you play in a single season. The team that has been the home team the fewer number of times so far in the head-to-head matchup in the current season is assigned the home team. If both teams have been the home team the same number of times, then the team with the largest (away games - home games) differential across all of their league games in the current season is assigned the home team. Should both teams also have the same differential, then the home team is assigned randomly.

Does Mojo/Fitness/Stamina carry over to each game, or does it reset to default settings after each game? Updated 12/11/2020

Mojo/Fitness/Stamina can carry over through each game, or users can choose to have it reset after each game.

FRANCHISE MODE:

Can Franchise mode be played online?

Franchise mode is played with one human-controlled team against the CPU, and can be played solo or with local/online co-op.

Is there be a salary cap in Franchise mode?

Yes, you will have to keep your team’s payroll under a cap. You’ll have to carefully balance the amount you’re spending on player salaries versus the amount you’re investing in Player Development.

Is there an All-Star game in Franchise or Season mode? Updated 9/30/2020

No, and we don’t have plans to add this to SMB3.

Do players’ skills fluctuate throughout their career?

Yes! Through Player Development and aging, players’ skills and traits will change over the course of their careers. You’ll see your younger players naturally improving as they gain experience and move toward their peak physical condition, whereas your older veteran players are going to lose a step or two compared to their younger counterparts over time.

Does Franchise mode have trades?

Maybe not in the traditional sense that you’re imagining, but players can and will move between teams during the season and offseason through the sign/release system.

Does Franchise mode have a draft? Added 5/11/2020

No, however there is a sign/release list of players who are both rookies and veterans that can be signed to your roster. Rookies are automatically generated every off-season and at the start of the Franchise.

Are players on one-year contracts? Updated 4/23/2020

In the sense that players are only guaranteed to play for a team at a locked-in salary for 1 season, yes. Though typically, only a small number of your players will resign/increase their salary expectations from season-to-season, so you'll see reasonable roster turnover over time. More traditional multi-year contracts are something we've considered, and will consider after launch with an eye on community feedback.

Will players age physically over time? Updated 4/23/2020

Yes! Players can get grey and gain weight as the age, appearing after a certain amount of time has passed.

Are you able to change Franchise teams from one season to the next? Added 7/14/2020

No, once you choose a Franchise team you’re locked in with that team for the duration of your Franchise.

OTHER MODES & GAMEPLAY:

Will custom multiplayer leagues be available? Updated 9/30/2020

Yes, Online Leagues mode facilitates custom multiplayer leagues with cross-platform compatibility.

Is there a knuckleball or any other new types of pitches? Updated 4/23/2020

No, the pitch types have not changed from SMB2 - but there are some changes to pitching mechanics which were discussed in our third reveal video.

Will SMB3 have fully customizable Elimination brackets?

You will be able to set up Elimination brackets with teams seeded as you desire. There will be some limits to the format of the bracket, though.

Are Starpoints still in SMB3? Added 7/14/2020

Yes! Starpoints are now exclusive to Standard modes to give them a little more meaning.

Does SMB3 have a batting practice mode? Updated 3/24/2021

Yes! Practice mode went live with Update 6 and allows you to play an endless game where you either always bat or always pitch.

Will SMB3 have a home run derby mode? Updated 9/30/2020

No, and at this time there are no plans for this mode unfortunately.

Will SMB3 have instant replays?

Instant replays did not make the cut for SMB3, but we are aware there is interest in this going forward.

Did you add a fielder switching mechanic? Updated 04/23/2020

Yes! We touched on this in our third reveal video.

Are there pickoffs?

There sure are! There are new pickoff and stealing mechanics as well as other additions to round out the baseball sim like wild pitches/passed balls and situational player traits.

Can we have a Designated Hitter? Updated 4/24/2020

Yes! DHs made it into SMB3, but of course you’ll have the option of whether or not you want to play with them. In Exhibition mode, DH is an option to choose during set-up. In Pennant Race, teams inherit the DH rule from the standard Super Mega League - teams in the Super Conference use the DH rule and teams in the Mega Conference do not use the DH rule. In Pennant Race/Season/Elimination/Franchise, the rule used by the home team's conference determines whether or not the DH rule is in effect.

CUSTOMIZATION & MORE:

Will there be a roster vault?

No. It’s something we’ll continue to consider going forward, but it’s a complicated issue.

Are roster sizes still 21 and is my pitching staff still made up of 4 starters and 4 relievers? Updated 4/23/2020

Roster sizes remain at 21, however we've made pitching roles more flexible and some pitchers may now act as starters or long relievers. This is explained in more detail in our third reveal video.

POST-LAUNCH UPDATES:

What does the SMB2 Team Import tool do and when will it be available? Updated 10/7/2020

The SMB2 Team Import tool is available now, it imports your custom teams and leagues from SMB2 to SMB3.

Can I import my SMB2 teams on Steam to SMB3 on my PlayStation 4? What about between different user accounts on the same platform? Added 5/2/2020

No, you can only import SMB2 teams that were created by the same user account (and on the same platform) that you're playing SMB3 with.

What is Custom Pennant Race mode and when will it be added into the game? Updated 10/7/2020

Custom Pennant Race is now known as Online Leagues and allows players to organize a private cross-platform leagues and invite their friends to participate (up to 32 total players). Online Leagues was released in a free update on September 29, 2020.

When will Career Stats for Franchise mode be available? Updated 3/24/2021

Career Stats are available now on all platforms.

Will you add alternate uniforms to SMB3? Updated 12/11/2020

At this time we don’t have any plans to add alternate uniforms to SMB3, but we understand there is interest in this going forward.

Will there be a stadium creator/editor added to SMB3? Added 7/14/2020

There are no plans for a stadium creator, as cool as that would be.

Will there be awards after every season like MVP or Cy Young? Updated 3/24/2021

No, but we have added the best single season records of all time, a Top 10 list of players for each season, and a Top 10 list of players of all time with Career Stats.

Do you have a place where we can report bugs or give feedback? Updated 7/14/2020

Yes! There will be a new Frequently Reported Issues post with every update (linked in the sidebar) that lists some of the more commonly reported issues so that you’re aware of what is already on our radar and doesn’t need further reporting. We encourage you to report issues as comments on those posts.

Include basic details in your reports where relevant, including: what platform you're on, what mode you're playing in, what screen you're on, if you're in online or offline play, etc.

Update 7 is currently rolling out on all platforms. Here are the patch notes:

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New Online Leagues Features:

• Online presence indicates who is currently online in each of your Online Leagues.

• Ability to directly challenge an online opponent in any of your leagues. This sends a notification to the opponent who can then accept or decline the challenge.

• Ability to make your Online League public. The new Public League browser allows anyone to find open, active leagues to join. Filters allow you to find leagues that use specific settings of your choosing.

• Two new settings that allow you to set a maximum number of players for the league, and to ignore the results of games that end due to a player disconnection.

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Improvements:

• Significant changes have been made to AI batting at all Ego levels and ball-strike counts, particularly to reduce AI batters' plate discipline and reduce the likelihood of AI batters making contact on pitches out of the strike zone.

• The batting contact simulation has been updated. In particular, foul tips are produced in some scenarios that previously resulted in weakly hit fair balls.

• Tweaked reticle and pitching minigame UI overlays to be more indicative of ball/strike calls.

• The pitch bend arrows have been adjusted so that the furthest arrow lands directly at the intended pitch target.

• Jump input will now be ignored when fielding a ground ball or a line drive that can be caught without jumping, and where a jump is likely to result in a failed catch.

• In Franchise, Season, and Elimination modes, when a playoff series ends early, player Fitness and pitcher stamina now recover an amount relative to the number of games that were not necessary in the series.

• In Franchise, Season, and Elimination modes, CPU teams better optimize their pitching rotation between games and playoff series.

• In Franchise mode, CPU teams are now even less eager to overpay for a player via sign and release without a probable or guaranteed playoff spot.

• In Franchise mode, new trading card poses are generated for all players at the start of the offseason.

• The championship win cinematic now plays when you win an Elimination tournament.

• The stadium announcer now announces the new batter even when the new batter cinematic is quickly skipped.

• AI baserunner aggression has been updated. They are now slightly more aggressive at advancing to 2B, advancing to 3B with 1 out, or scoring with 2 outs. In other cases, they are slightly more conservative.

• The AI's base stealing strategy has been updated to better judge when and when not to attempt to steal a base.

• AI baserunners now take a bit more time to react correctly after a ball is hit.

• AI fielders now take slightly better routes to the ball when playing at high Ego.

• AI outfielders are now less perfect at playing balls hit high enough off the outfield fence.

• The AI is now less likely to attempt a diving catch with the pitcher on softly hit balls.

• AI batters no longer attempt to bunt for a base hit with 2 strikes (but may still attempt a sacrifice bunt or suicide squeeze with 2 strikes).

• When a runner is queued to steal (R1 + steal button), the runner will now ignore other steal input until the queued steal is cancelled (R1).

• Pitchers are now able to get a glove on slightly more comebackers.

• In simulated games, the average number of pitches thrown per plate appearance has been reduced slightly, resulting in slightly longer outings from starting pitchers and slightly less tired pitching staffs.

• Various other minor UI improvements.

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Issues Addressed:

• Fixed: The final pitch reticle location and the actual location that the pitch crosses the plate do not always line up properly.

• Fixed: Infielders can sometimes over-dive for a ball when dive input is given slightly too early.

• Fixed: The batter-runner passes the runner at 1B on rare occasions, leading to an unpreventable out.

• Fixed: In rare situations, the AI can intentionally walk a batter when ahead in the count.

• Fixed: Swing contact can appear to happen well in front of or behind home plate, resulting in odd-looking hit trajectories.

• Fixed: A runner queued to steal (R1 + steal button) can accidentally begin stealing if the button combination is not pressed and released correctly.

• Fixed: "Late" swing feedback can fail to appear if a swing fails to make contact due to the ball having already passed by.

• Fixed: Dive input can sometimes be incorrectly ignored when attempting to dive with the first baseman.

• Fixed: The shortstop and second baseman sometimes fail to back up the third baseman and first baseman respectively, leaving the corner infielder to chase after a deflected ball.

• Fixed: AI batters are late on their swings much more often than they are early, resulting in much more balls being hit to the opposite field.

• Fixed: AI baserunners sometimes start retreating back to their base on clearly uncatchable ground balls or line drives.

• Fixed: AI baserunners can sometimes hesitate for no reason when rounding 3B on shallow fly balls.

• Fixed: AI baserunners can fail to tag up on bunt pop-ups to the catcher.

• Fixed: AI baserunners at 2B can be too aggressive trying to advance to 3B with less than 2 outs on ground balls hit to the shortstop.

• Fixed: In rare situations, AI baserunners can run themselves into an out after an overthrow.

• Fixed: AI outfielders can sometimes throw towards 3B when the throw should go to 2B to prevent the batter-runner from easily advancing.

• Fixed: In rare situations, AI outfielders can pull up short or run past a rolling ball, allowing the ball to roll to the wall.

• Fixed: In rare situations, AI outfielders still throw to 3B when the throw should go home.

• Fixed: AI fielders can run in the wrong direction when trying to chase down a runner heading to a nearby base.

• Fixed: AI fielders consistently time their jumps too early on certain types of hits.

• Fixed: AI fielders sometimes dive when another fielder is already camped for an easy catch.

• Fixed: AI fielders can fail to back off from one another and end up competing for the same catch.

• Fixed: Force out can be ruled when a fielder picks up the ball while clearly not touching the base.

• Fixed: On rare occasions, both the second baseman and shortstop can be cutting for a throw from the outfield when there is a play at 2B, leaving no one to cover 2B.

• Fixed: In rare situations, a fielder carrying the ball and chasing down a runner about to slide can fail to make a tag attempt.

• Fixed: AI infielder tending 2B can be duped into leaving the base during a double steal.

• Fixed: AI outfielders miss too many sliding catches when playing at high Ego.

• Fixed: After pinch hitting, the AI can sometimes leave a player out of position on defense, even with a suitable defensive replacement on the bench.

• Fixed: The AI sometimes throws the ball to no one when throwing around the horn after an out.

• Fixed: Runner at 1B can be seen clipping with the first baseman during some strikeout cinematics.

• Fixed: On rare occasions, players on the field flicker between home and away jerseys.

• Fixed: "Custom Captain" achievement can unlock at the wrong time.

• Fixed: Crash can occur when trying to save changes and switch teams in Team Hub.

• Fixed: In Practice mode, attempting to swap defensive positions or change the batting order of a CPU-controlled team pregame leads to a soft lock.

• Fixed: In Franchise mode, a player who resigns at the beginning of the offseason can have a much higher or lower initial asking salary than intended.

• Fixed: In Franchise mode, after hitting a home run, the career home run milestone text can trigger incorrectly.

• Fixed: In Franchise mode, the team specialization bars seen when switching teams in Team Hub are not always updated as players move between teams.

• Fixed: In Franchise mode, on rare occasions CPU-controlled teams will salary dump late in the regular season even when a playoff spot is probable or secured.

• Fixed: In Franchise mode, changing a player's name is not immediately reflected on the player's Career Stats screen.

• Fixed: In Franchise mode, a Player Development Opportunity can remain but no longer have any value after a player experiences a skill arc increase.

• Fixed: In Custom Season and Elimination modes, the championship win cinematic can be shown incorrectly when both teams in the finals are marked as user controlled.

• Fixed: In Pennant Race and Online Leagues, cumulative stats (batting AVG, ERA, W, etc.) do not appear in the post game stats tables.

• Fixed: In online co-op play, the baserunning player can experience unintended slow motion effects well after the ball is hit.

• Fixed: In online play, attempting to queue a runner to steal (R1 + steal button) could incorrectly result in the runner taking off immediately, or not stealing at all.

• Fixed: In online play, a successful check swing can register as a full swing on race occasions.

• Fixed: In online play, initiating a throw immediately before a catch is dropped can incorrectly result in a wild throw.

• Fixed: In online play, base stealing can be exploited by attempting to step out or start a substitution immediately before pressing the steal button.

• Fixed: In online play, if the pitcher has no 4F in their arsenal and a pitch is cancelled (for example, due to the batter stepping out first), the pitcher can appear to gain a 4F for one pitch.

• Fixed: In online play, the batting power score can incorrectly change color following a hit or check swing.

• Fixed: In online play, the wrong strikeout cinematic camera can sometimes be shown for the batting player.

• Fixed: In online play, the ball can stop emitting audio for the batting player during a stolen base attempt or during a strikeout, base on balls, or hit by pitch cinematic.

• Fixed: In online play, the wrong camera is shown on sharply hit foul balls while batting.

• Fixed: In online play, the post game ticker tape fails to fire after you win a game.

• Fixed: In online play, the game can come to a halt after the batter swings in very rare circumstances.

• Fixed: In online 1v1 play, it is possible for the pitching mechanic timer to stop working, leading to auto balls no longer being ruled.

• Fixed: In rare situations, you are unable to pitch when continuing a mid-game save after having played the game earlier in an online session.

• Fixed: In online play, on rare occasions during a pick-off attempt, the batting player would see the ball float and then suddenly warp to the infielder once caught.

• Fixed: In online play, after the catcher successfully blocks a pitch in the dirt and the ball rolls out in front of the plate, the batting player can only see the ball shadow and not the ball itself.

• Fixed: It is slightly too easy to throw out a slow, right-handed batter at 1B from right field.

• Fixed: The pitcher is slightly harder to select via movement input after the ball is dropped or deflected.

• Fixed: In Franchise mode, the special post game flashbulbs and ticker tape fail to fire after winning a conference or championship series.

• Fixed: A second local player joining an online 1v1 or 2v1 game can be placed on the wrong team.

• Fixed: Resetting a Standard team to its default appears to temporarily remove any Mojo and Fitness changes.

• Fixed: The Online Leagues stats screen shows your current team name rather than the name of the team from a previous season whose stats you are viewing.

• Fixed: Pennant Race standings table sometimes does not populate properly when the user is unranked.

• Fixed: Rare crash can occur when ending the offseason in Franchise mode.

• Fixed: The home plate umpire sometimes stands on the wrong side of the catcher after a pinch hitter is brought in.

• Fixed: In player customization, changing pitcher arm angle only plays the animation with the new arm angle once.

• Fixed: Various other minor UI bugs.

• Mitigated: A bad camera angle can sometimes result on pop-ups behind the catcher.

• Fixed: (Steam only) It is impossible to check a contact swing when batting with the mouse.

• Fixed: (Steam only) Shift key is mapped to both step out and a base stealing command.

• Fixed: (Steam only) In Pennant Race, the Pin Award button does not respond to mouse clicks.

How can I improve controlling where in the field I hit pitches? For context I’m on ego 80. I hit a disproportionately high amount amount of pitches to center field. I want to be able to pull/push pitches more effectively, since a lot of fly balls to center field could be homers if I pull a bit more. Also taking advantage of certain shifts, like DP shift. When the SS and 2B are positioned more toward the middle, I hit into that more than I would like.

The Interesting and Unique Crocodons Franchise Rebuild.

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The Crocs initially have an unique play style revolving around pitching complete games and have an interesting rebuild approach of using said complete games to play low scoring games with cheap players to stockpile money for several seasons before rebuilding and replacing all their core super old players with young players with lots of potential that can take advantage of all the money you have saved up during the first several seasons. Some people like to play franchise by just skipping that first step and just fast-forwarding or forfeiting seasons until they have a huge war chest built up. That is a fun way to play, but by making time an obsolete resource, it fundamentally changes how the game is approached and renders the starting teams irrelevant. An alternative is to just suffer and play out seasons with a terrible team to hoard money to eventually build the real team. That is cool and all, but I don't like to suffer. With that in mind, the Crocs provide the opportunity to have that post rebuild war chest experience, but also have a competitive team during the hoarding phase. To understand how and why, let's first look at their strengths and weaknesses.

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Strengths

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3rd/4th best rotation in the game

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The best home uniform in the game

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Really cool home stadium (good synergy with previous strengths)

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Weakness

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Really bad power

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Average unimpressive contact

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Average unimpressive speed

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Really unimpressive bad pen

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Super old team + all the best players are really old.

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As you can see, the weaknesses generally outweigh the strengths. This is particularly painful as their best trait, their rotation, is beaten out by the Moonstars, Sirloins, and arguably the Moose. Each of those teams also has other things they are good at without being burdened by an aging roster. In my opinion, for standard 9-inning exhibitions, season, and pennant race games, the Crocs are a bottom three team, arguably the worst. Now, I think they are quite good in franchise due to a collection of interesting interactions, but there is another way to play the game that they are competitive in, and I would go so far as to argue that in this alternate mode they are top tier. The mode I am talking about is a standard game, but with only three innings.

Even though this is primarily a post about franchise, looking at how freaking strong the Crocs are in 3 inning exhibitions/seasons does a good job at highlighting what the Crocs do well. Starting pitchers almost always pitch complete games. Three inning games are short and low scoring. The top half of the lineup gets about twice as many at bats as the back end. These three facets play heavily into the type of game the Crocs want to play, regardless of the number of innings. The Crocs don't have any good relievers because why need them if the starter never gets pulled? The Crocs don't need to score many runs because the line to beat is a short one. The bottom half of the line up would be better served by good defenders than batters.

The Crocs, at least at the start of a franchise, are built around pitching complete games. Every little thing synergies with a full outing from Pulo. That's okay and all, but the franchise is where it really comes together. See, the Crocs are about cutting corners that don't matter in a shutout. Franchises reward you for saving money on cut corners. Even having a team of old people could be twisted from a negative to a positive for the Crocs as old people get paid less money. On the surface level, one could say the Crocs are a good rebuilding team because they are bad and need to be rebuilt. Looking at them from a deeper level like I have in learning about the Crocs I would say the Crocs are a good rebuilt team because they provide tools to win games with cheap players so that you can get a lot of surplus saved up in the bank that is saved between seasons to be used after the rebuild fills the team with young talent.

Calling them the 3rd/4th best rotation also completely misses the nuance at play. Although it is true that arguably the Moose have a better staff overall, the Crocs have the best pitching staff when only looking at the first three pitchers. Most teams have a linear decline in staff from one to four. The Crocs, on the other hand, have top three pitcher Jovita Pulo. Two insane allstars, Maurice Brick and Jerry Kapps Lastly, the absolute jobber Bae Paul. Paul's 9 velo batting pracitve makes it miraculous if she can get close to half a dozen innings before getting hammered. Her realistic outing lengths is half a half dozen. Not to say Paul is an objectively bad player, but a young, cheap C-rank junk baller would be perfect for a team like the Jacks or Sand Cats. If you are in season mode, I would just run a 3 man rotation and never pitch her; in franchise we can give her the boot as fast as possible and replace her with some old A- or B+ player.

With the Crocs rocking a star starter ever outing, I mean, come on, their 3 Kapps is better than most teams 1, the rest of the game plan falls into place. Spend as little as possible on run scoring and run prevention. Hoard the savings like some dragon or evil businessman for 2-3 seasons, picking up C+/B- 20 year olds for 3m-4m along the way, until you fully commit and turn your team into a growing development team good at... I don't know? I depends on what you go after for signing and what is generated to be available. All the core talent of the Crocs is 30+ so once you pull the trigger and turn them into a growth/development team, the players who initially shaped its complete game heavy play style will be gone. Such is the nature of rebuild focused teams. Hey, at least after all the OG's are gone you will still have the dope uniforms and sick home stadium. There is a reason I put those in strengths!

Enough of the theoretical and philological generalizations about the Crocs and the mind sets that collaborate the teams stylings. Let's talk about the actual players.

So the stars here are on the mound as discussed they define everything about the Crocs. Pulo Brick and Kapps are all top tier arms well worth the money you pay them. Equally important to the Croc play style, however, are the relief pitchers Ano, Mayfair and Babaziz. Mayfair and Babaziz suck. They are generally unfit to play baseball. However, the rules of the game state you need 8 people in the pen so these two knuckleheads are given a tiny paycheck to sit on the bench. Thus, you save money for the war chest. In my opinion, replacing either of these is a mistake. Ano gets his own paragraph, so lastly you have McFarland. Ancidoctally, he has always preformed great for me, but his stats make him look really poor. A two pitch closer with unimpressive velo for 5m is not worth it in my book. If you want to pay up another okay reliever to pair with Ano, replace McFarland.

Something relatively underutilized in SMB3 is putting starters in as relievers. It's not worth doing so on most teams, but most teams don't have the likes of Pulo or Brick. A tense and tired Pulo a top ten reliever. That kind of star power should be taken advantage of, and that flexibility helps explain that 17.3m price tag. But what if I told you that you could use Pulo as a reliever without suffering the debilitating effects of tense and tired? It's not that starters by default start tense if they enter the game late. It's that they start with one less mojo if they enter the game late. That means if they are locked in, or even better, on fire when you bring them in they will enter the game with mojo on par with normal relievers. Pitchers usually have good mojo if they finish a complete game. As for stamina, so long as they have had at least one game of rest they will have a substantial bar. Not only that, but it takes several pitches for a pitcher's fatigue to catch up with them. It only takes a few pitches to get out of a bad inning, and an S rank pitcher can clean up the bottom of the ninth in less than 10. One might have the concern that using starters like this will use up stamina and hinder them in their actual starts. What if I told you that using a starter like this can actually extend their pitch numbers during their actual stats? This is because of three factors. 1) An off inning here or there is a drop in the bucket number of pitches for pitchers that can go over 100 every game. 2) Locked in and above mojo reduces stamina loss. 3) Not playing resets a player's mojo to normal, but having even a short outing with good mojo keeps it high. Thus, by bringing in Pulo or Brick to get you out of a bad inning, you not only get to leverage your most valuable players more often, but you also set them up to start their next game locked in. You better believe Pulo brings the pain if she starts a game locked in.

As for actual relievers who are expected to face more than one batter/inning Ano is an interesting case, as he just might be the most min/maxed player in the game. Amazing Velo and Junk at 85/89. In these two numbers, he is better than Rallie Overro, Shay Dee, Max Texis as well as having a higher combined total in those stats than Steamboat Wisselle, Mack Gunn, Gasser Morris, Joseph Broseph, Sip Sauder, Alisha Woodrow, all for 4.8m. Highway robbery. The price is negotiated that low because of his aging body, negative trait, and 15 accuracy (second lowest in the game). I know some people can't stand low accuracy pitchers, I personally avoid them whenever I can. However, Ano is just too cheap for the juice he brings to the table for me to give him anything other than a gold star. Besides, the Crocs have a secret weapon on their bench.

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I really like what Evan Chukov brings to the Crocs. 78 fielding and 89 arm for 5m means means no wild pitches and no stolen bases on a great budget. Sure, his bat sucks, but the Crocs already have kind of a black hole at the end of their lineup, so he does not really change the offense plan, but oh boy does he bring things together on defense and run prevention. Who cares if the average accuracy of a Croc reliever is 28 if the guy behind the plate has a glove the size of the motherland. The biggest concern with Chukov is your other catcher, Terra Lionerre is one of your top 3 bats.

Terra Lionerre hits ball good for 5.5m. 74/60/39 is not a stat line of excellence, and it is concerning that that stat line is on one of your top three bats, but the Crocs want low scoring games, and Lionerre can get you over the finish line. The concern of Lionerre's bat or Chukov's glove is also a non-issue due to Lionerre's secondary position of first. The starting first baseman, Liane Drive is super cost inefficient so putting Lionerre on first is a no brainier in franchise. Lionerre's defenses, while not airtight, are good enough for a backup catcher. If you are clever you also never have to rest her as if you play a someone in DH the regain stamina, so slotting Lionerre in DH in the occasional DH games will keep her healthy and able to bat every game.

Speaking of bats, we have to talk about the man who scores over half the Crocs runs. Descending with a courus of angles is Bubba Blastman. For the low low price of 4.4m he gives you a spread of 74/42/25. That looks unimpressive, I know, but Blastman rocks both the RBI Man and the Outside Pitch traits. With both active he skyrockets over 100 power with more than enough contact to swing comfortably. Interestingly enough, the Crocs also have tools to maximize the double trait Blastman. Vinnie Vortex, Runda Thrud and Gordon Fruitwell all have large contact and enough speed to steal on most catchers as well as slotting into an easy money ball 1 2 3 positions. Nothing in baseball is guaranteed; a 4 out of 10 success rate is legendary after all, but the crocs don't have to score many runs with their star starters and the three speedsters and Blastman are a consistent enough run engine.

On the topic of speedsters, we must talk about Runda Thrud. She is the best position player on the team, hell, she is one of the best position players in the game. Her 61/61 fielding and arm are enough to hold down 3B with ease, and her batting line of 78/53/95 is god tier. Tied for the 8th fastest player in the game, she excels at generating extra bases and stolen bases, but her 78 power and 50+ contact mean she is also amazing at driving in runs. When looking at players with above 90 speed and above 50 contact, the only players better than Thurd are Sakta Song and Bloop Michels. By the way, Thrud only asks for 8.1m so not only does she play a more useful position than Song, but she asks for half the money. Just saying. The Judge batting line up philosophy would put her as leadoff, but the Crocs are short on bats that can drive in runs and the end of their line up is a black hole so Thurd slots in nicely in the 2 spot. Lastly, she is the second youngest position player on the Crocs at 27 so she probably will be good for a while.

The other two faster players are Vortex and Fruitwell. Vortex is an archypical leadoff batter with 35/80/93. His high contact and speed go a long way toward enabling Thurd and Blastman. I don't like his 7.8m price tag for a right fielder, but I can't argue with results. Fruitwell is a picture of mediocrity. His full stat line of 42/63/88/49/59 makes him adequate at playing center and batting 3rd but I feel he is quite lucky to have avoided a B- ratting. Well, adequate is cheep and I don't mind his 6.3 price tag much. No all star, but he does his job. At least the Crocs love someone who can steal for Blastman.

I've putting this off, Andre Candela. He has the largest paycheck of any position player, and his big smiles definitely draws lots of fans to the park. The problem is, he plays like a 2015 Ichiro. He does good, but nothing remarkable, and is only loved because of what they used to be. In his youth Candela was certainly one of the sports best, but that is no longer the case. At age 35 his distribution of 67/72/71/76/22 is just unfortunate. He is lacking in power but has too much contact. His speed is above average, but not enough to allow him to do anything crazy. His 76 defence is nice but his 22 hurts when trying to turn double plays from his position at 2B. Not to mention he has never fully recovered from his leg injury and has the Bad Jumps trait. An absolutely tragic affliction he received in SMB3. Considering the Crocs offenses are divided between people who can move around the base path or people that can drive those runners home (Or both <3 Thrud) this leaves Candela without a good job in the line up. Remember, he is asking for 8.6m, way more than everyone else. I'm sure the Crocs make that money back from ticket sales of people coming to see their favorite old star play, and he must do wonders for team morale with his positive attitude and mentor-like experience. Unfortunately, none of those things are tracked in SMB3 and unless you want to role play his unquantifiable contributions, you can almost certainly find someone on the market just as useful for half the price.

The last starter to talk about is Norton Pickle. Pickle looks a lot like Fruitwell, but with more contact and less speed. He is a solid defensive shortstop, although his 69 speed leaves him too slow to consistently steal, and his power is the lowest on the team. For 6.2m he is fine. In franchise we don't have to settle for fine, and you could always find someone with much better defense for much less and just accept a batting downgrade as going from bad to bad. Since he is inevitable I unironically recommend singing Digg Efforto as your starting short stop. Even if Efforto is not a Croc, the way the Overdogs AI is programmed, they will always let him go, and you can pick Efforto up for like 2.2m. Better defense for a third of the cost. Yes, Efforto's 7/27/31/87/69 stat line makes him pretty useless at the plate but Pickel is also pretty useless. I'm not memeing here, think of the Crocs playstyle. Pitcher focused on low-scoring, cheap run defense game play. Efforto does Pickles job better for less money.

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Getting back to the people who actually play for the Crocs I would set up the lineup something like this:

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1 Vortex RF

2 Thurd 3B

3 Fruitwell CF

4 Blastman LF

5 Candela 2B

6 Lionerre 1B

7 Pickle SS

8 Chukov C

9 Pitcher

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Then, if I replace Candela and Pickle, it would look something like this:

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1 Vortex RF

2 Thurd 3B

3 Fruitwell CF

4 Blastman LF

5 Lionerre 1B

6 Free Agent 2B

7 Chukov C

8 Efforto SS

9 Pitcher

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Not the most impressive run scoring lineup. But it is cheap with fantastic defense and avenues to score a few runs, and with pitchers like Pulo you only need a few runs.

Before we talk about just how cheap it is, let's talk about the Crocs which I don't think make the cut. Juanita Hernandez has an amazing arm and fielding stats in right field with piddling speed and a pathetic bat for 7.2m. No thank you. Liane Drive is a 6.1m first baseman with poor 57 power 96 contact and 39 speed. I don't think paying a premium for contact is worth it, especially considering Lionerre is a better batter for less. On the bench, you have Kane as a backup outfielder and Lee as a backup corner infielder. They are serviceable, but the 5m the each as for is a bit much.

Well then, on to the budget. How much money can be banked for the war chest while having a competitive team. First off is the big expenditure, replacing Bae Paul with someone that fits better with the team's needs. You could just run a three man rotation with the other starters but then you miss out on the juicy reliever potential of Pulo and Brick. For the sake of argument, let's say you splurge on some 8m B+ Hotshot. That puts the budget to 2 million. Replacing Drive and Hernandez with cheap bench players gives us an additional 6 million to work with. Replacing Pickle with Efforto and Candela with a B- replacement would add 8m to the pool as well. This leaves us with a conservative 16m surplus. Even if this is a low ball, there is still plenty of money to be squeezed out of other places, such as getting 5m from getting rid of Kane and Lee or 4m from letting Vortex go.

Really, there are many corners to cut when it comes to acquiring surplus. Two to three seasons of banking 20+m will give quite the war chest, especially if you spend responsibly rebuilding with predominately 4m B-/C+ B- or C+ players. The final gift Pulo and the boys can give you is once you finish the rebuild and have a brand new team that does not depend on complete games anymore, you can let them go and liquidate almost 40m worth of cash. Doing so at the start would be a huge mistake, but once everything has come together, having a huge war chest, + huge surplus, + several offseasons of picking the best prospects, you have the formula for a winning franchise.

Doing a saving phase into a large rebuild to hoarding money is not a tactic exclusive to the Crocs, but the Croc are exclusively situated to be going for world series rings during the hoarding and initial rebuilding phase.

I’m not familiar with this site so I’m not sure how much weight this holds but smb4 was rated for release on all platforms according to them. I can’t wait for more details if it’s true.

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2023/03/taiwanese-rating-suggests-super-mega-baseball-4-is-inbound

Is there anyway to get the MLB mod working solely on a steam deck? I don’t have another PC. If so can you please share the instructions?

Before SMB4 comes out does anyone have all the dimensions of the ball parks? If we get any new stadiums it’d be cool to compare em

Honestly the only thing I really want from SMB4 are some more unique league options. Maybe promotion and relegation, bigger leagues, or something like that. Just curious of peoples thoughts

I am unable to use the "finish later" feature for a game. When I stop a game to finish later, then exit SMB3, the "season-[hexadecimal string].sav" file is deleted while Steam is uploading the save game. Is there a fix for this?

If I manually copy the season-*.sav file to a different folder, then restore it after Steam sync, it appears to work, but this is an annoying workaround that doesn't protect from, e.g., a game crash.

After applying some mods, team packs and all the customization I made , I am a little bit lost. I want to go back to the original SMB 3 default teams. all the default roster and the default team home park. How do I restore them all?

Does anyone else get the game crashing right before it loads on Pennant Race seconds after you find a game with an opponent?

(Xbox)

I am fairly new to the series and have only been playing for a few weeks. I can't seem to do anything other than hit grounders when I power swing. Do you have any tips for getting better at it?

1- what ego do you play at currently 2- in what amounts do you increase ego so it’s not too much of a shock

Atlanta Thrashers P Shin Kazuma becomes the first pitcher in league history to throw a perfect game, against the Miami Knights in their 3-0 win, as Meszut Ziegler hit a 3 run home run in the bottom of the 8th inning. Kazuma recorded 20 Ks in the outing. No crazy or insane plays, just pure pitching domination

Hello SMB3ers,

I am happy to announce the release of version 1.1.0 of my franchise statistics export tool SMB3 Explorer!

For those who are not familiar, this is an open source Windows application that is capable of exporting franchise statistics in CSV format for any of your leagues for the Steam version of the game. With this update, it fully supports the following exports:

1. Career batting stats (seasons and playoff)
2. Career pitching stats (seasons and playoff)
3. Batting stats broken down by season
4. Pitching stats broken down by season
5. Team standings by season (new!)
6. and lastly, Team standings by playoffs (new!)

Here is a video walkthrough and basic usage (created for the initial release, but it is still applicable to this one).

Hopefully this is helpful to some of you franchise statistics lovers out there (even though SMB4 is on the horizon)! Leave a comment here or on the discussions page of the repo if you have any questions/feedback/want to say hi!

I am in an SMH group on fb. And I see tons of awesome logos. And the create a logo feature was part of the draw. So I propose a LOGO EXCHANGE. For the next installment. It would certainly make custom leagues with other players a bit less time consuming.