Spring training is over, and baseball has begun another epic 162 game season. For every sport there are thousands of couch jockeys who feel that they could play the game better than the professionals and run the team better than the managers. For these people, there is video baseball, where anyone with some skill can be an All-Star. To fill the baseball void on the PlayStation, Konami is releasing another game in their sports line-up called Bottom of the Ninth (BOTN).

BOTN features all rendered players and stadiums. They have acquired the MLBPA license, so you’ll have over 700 genuine baseball professionals with which to play. They even have pictures of the players which appear when you are batting or pitching. In addition, some of the top players have signature moves such as Nomo’s high reaching wind-up and Edgar Martinez’s bat waving stance. Unfortunately, the MLB license was not secured so you’ll be playing in imaginary stadiums with the Minnesota Buildings and the New York Statue of Liberties.

Play mechanics are rather innovative. The top and bottom split-screen pitching mode keeps the batter from knowing what the pitcher is doing and vice-versa. Once a pitch is released, the batter will see a cursor which gives a general location of where the pitch will cross the strike zone – curves, sliders, and other breaking pitches will cause the cross hairs to move, so be careful. At this point, the batter moves a target and times his swing in an effort to hit the ball. You can also practice everything from pitching and batting to running and fielding in the Training Camp Mode.

Bottom of the Ninth seems to be one of the most interesting baseball titles to come down the pipe in quite some time. Fans of the great American pastime or ordinary schmoes looking for a good time will want to check out this game.