When you start the design process of any sports game that focuses primarily on being a front office mogul, head coach, or play caller the number one item on the Design To Do List has to be: “Get the Stats Right.” This is true mainly because the group to which you are catering demand different things than the gamer who wants slick animations and tight controls. If you’re going to go down the simulation road – you better bring a believable game world to the table, otherwise the entire process is pointless.

That is the big problem with 2K’s MLB Front Office Manager. Sure, there are a lot of issues with the game both big and small but the number one sticking point is that the game flat out does a poor job of simulating the game of baseball to a believable degree and that alone is enough to send serious baseball stat heads running for the comfort of Out of the Park Baseball.

If statistical accuracy means nothing to you then chances are you are not the target audience for MLB Front Office Manager. That said, the stats just don’t add up. In one of the test seasons Reds starter Aaron Harang had a brilliant season sporting an ERA of 3.03. The kicker is that his record was 3-22. How is that remotely possible? Considering the Reds that year won 24 games—I guess anything is possible. It gets worse. Chipper Jones flashed a nice .414 batting average (five other players hit .400, too) and the Dodgers, as a team, hit .324. With so many teams hitting that well, Harang’s 3.03 ERA looks even better.

There are so many things that are just wrong or not working as intended. Unless players are injured they play every single game – all 162 of them. Need a day off there, catch? Sorry bud – back to the tools of ignorance for you. The Email notification system is busted and you never get stoppages when you need them if you are auto simming. When you ask the CPU to Auto Fix your roster due to injury it might cut a player who starts for you for no reason at all. It’s best to manually do everything because otherwise the AI won’t just “adjust” the lineup it makes wholesale changes to the team.

The AI GMs are also scatter brained, working bizarre deals, signing big name players even if it’s not a position of need and generally acting like a first generation video game that needs one big, huge, enormous patch.