Ver 1.22 — Release Players Anytime / Pitch-by-Pitch / UI Overhaul

Version 1.22 is now available. Alongside a sweeping UI overhaul, this update answers a wide range of requests and reports from the community forums.

UI Overhaul — MATCH CONSOLE Style

• Redesigned screens across the board (in-game, substitutions, postgame, home, stadium intro, All-Star, schedule, new-game wizard and more)
• Player details fully redesigned: four tabs (Profile / Career / Minors / Growth), ability radar, defensive aptitude display
• New in-game "highlight cut-in" scenes (comeback chances, closer one-out-away, speedster on base, etc. — can be turned off in settings)
• Standings, news, management, contract renewal, stats and draft screens unified as well
• Offseason screens (FA market / free-agent signings / FA & free-agent news / season end / postseason), the staff screen, retirement talks and club finances also refreshed
• Settings, save/load and confirmation dialogs unified under one shared design

Release Players Anytime — New "Contracts" View

• A new "Contracts" view in the Management tab. Pay out the full remaining salary (every remaining year of a multi-year deal) to release a player on the spot — even mid-season
• The list uses the same grid as the stats tables, with roster filters (Active / Minors / Prospects), position filters (SP through LF) and sortable column headers
• Click a row to show that player's photo, contract and current-season stats in the left sidebar — it doubles as a roster directory for your club
• Releases that would leave you unable to field a team are blocked in advance, so you can't accidentally make your games unplayable

Out-of-Town Scores While You Watch

• While watching a game, the day's other matchups appear at the top of the 3rd, 6th and 9th innings
• Choose the scope in settings: All teams / Same league / Off (available both on the title screen and in-game)

Pitch-by-Pitch Mode

• A new "pitch-by-pitch" mode for games: advance one pitch per click and rethink your call on every pitch
• Built in response to the "Dramatic Mode" request for slower, deliberate play. Works alongside the existing auto-watch and skip options

Browse Other Clubs (Team Hub)

• Pick any club from the standings and browse its Stats (team totals + individual stats), Schedule (results and scores) and Rank Progression (a season-long line chart)

New Match & Customization Settings

• Injury frequency and severity mix (minor / moderate / severe) are now configurable
• Cut-in scenes ON/OFF and the out-of-town score scope have been added to settings
• Name-pool CSVs now support appearance weighting (pop column) and female given names (gender column), giving name mods more expressive power

Richer Records — Blown Saves (BS)

• Blown saves (BS) are now tracked: recorded when a pitcher enters in a save situation and fails to hold the lead
• Relief candidates in the pitching-change panel now show season S/BS, and a BS badge appears in the postgame summary

Left-Handed Batters at Realistic Rates

• Player generation now follows real-league handedness rates (domestic batters roughly 54% right / 42% left / 4% switch; foreign players follow MLB rates with more switch-hitters; left-handed pitchers up to about 25%)
• The initial player pool has been adjusted to the same rates (adding right-throw/left-bat players, etc.). Existing saves are unaffected

Performance

• Starting a new game is dramatically faster
• Loading indicators added to new-game and match start

Bug Fixes & Adjustments

• Fixed lineup changes sometimes reverting after pressing Confirm
• Fixed rotation changes sometimes not applying right after loading a save
• Fixed a locked rotation slot being permanently replaced by another pitcher after an injury demotion (the original pitcher now returns to their slot on recovery)
• Finally fixed the contract-renewal screen stretching sideways and getting cut off at both edges
• Fixed the agreed-contracts filter and satisfaction display in contract renewal
• Fixed mid-season international scouting losing its candidate list (and re-charging the search fee) when you left and returned — candidates are now kept until you search again
• Fixed CPU-to-CPU trades occasionally draining a club of position players until games could not be scheduled
• Games can no longer be started with fewer than nine available position players
• Fixed the closer entering in early innings under "leave it to the manager"; middle-relief inning limits reworked, and usage policies now apply to watched games too
• Fixed the game log occasionally showing pitch speeds above a pitcher's maximum
• Fixed cases where the announced probable starter didn't match the actual starter (foreign-player limits, etc.)
• Fixed clubs excluded from the league still taking part in the draft
• Batted balls now display in the natural order: trajectory → a beat → result
• AI lineup selection now factors in defense
• Records such as walk-off winning pitchers now follow official scoring rules
• Added missing translations for bunt / steal command options (EN / KO / ZH-TW)

Thank you as always for your feedback.
We'll keep working through the reports and requests posted on the Steam forums.