By Thomas Mangieri
Since 2022, in partnership with MLB The Show, Rays Gaming has held the Sunburst Invitational every year, where players take on each other playing as the Rays to see who is best with the team and who will take home $12,000. The structure for the tournament this year is no different, with the four qualifying tournaments leading up to the final that is held in St. Petersburg. A few things have changed this year to make the events more exciting, as well as creating more buzz around the tournament with a new side addition.
The most notable change this year to the tournament would be the championship game being played on MLB The Show 25’s newest difficulty, GOAT. In the past, MLB The Show has had only five levels of difficulty: rookie, veteran, all-star, hall-of-fame, and legend, with legend being the most difficult and requiring the best reaction time along with perfect bat placement in the game. But this year added one final difficulty that tops legend, that being GOAT, which is described as one-upping legend.
“This skill level is truly designed to test the limits of the greatest players of all time, while the majority of players will not even see it,” said Screen Rant.
While GOAT should make this year interesting, we have yet to see it in the main tournament since it is reserved only for the in-person championship in St. Petersburg, taking place this July, and no qualifier finals are being played on the difficulty.
With the first scheduled qualifier taking place from April 3–7, the first qualifier for the St. Pete in-person tournament determined, with this honor going to AlexGaKill. He defeated Frostie in the third game of a three-game set as both of his wins came from large margins, mercy ruling Frostie in the first game and beating him by seven in the second game in a comeback 14-7 win.
“My MVP would probably be Danny Jansen, and even when he wasn’t, like, doing something, like I was in the last inning, I was on a slider, I think it was middle-middle, and it didn’t leave, so he was just insane for me,” said AlexGaKill when asked who his MVP from the tournament was.
Another highlight in the tournament is the addition of the Sunburst Invitational “Creator Showdown.” The tournament is showing love to eight of the popular online creators of MLB The Show.
“Content creators [are] competing in a single-elimination tournament,” said MLB The Show regarding the rules for the tournament. “Gamers will be playing with the Rays’ live roster, and $2,500 will be donated to a non-profit organization of the winners’ choosing.”
The Content Creator Showdown has already taken place. The championship was played between two previous winners of the regular tournament in GoatRP, as he took on ZAZZI. GoatRP would come out on top in the end, defeating ZAZZI by a fairly comfortable margin of four with his 6-2 victory.
As the month progresses, we are just a few days away from seeing the second Qualifying tournament come to a close in the coming days, as it closes on April 28. If this is something that piques your interest and you think you have what it takes to hang with the best of them in MLB The Show, the next two qualifiers end on May 12 and June 23, with registration still open at Rays.com. If you would like to watch these games, they are streamed on the Rays’ YouTube channel, Twitch, and TikTok.
–-
Photo courtesy of MLB.com.