Well, after an almost 20 year hiatus, R.B.I Baseball is back and is now available for purchase on IOS devices — It cost just 4.99 at the Apple App store — and Playstation 3. Those who use xBox One, Playstation 4 and Android devices will have to wait until later this spring.

MLB Advanced Media, which resurrected the classic game, gave it to some non-pixalated big leaguers to test out:

“The game is fun,” Orioles center fielder Adam Jones opined. “It brings back the old ’90s feeling of the game and it’s like playing Super Nintendo all over again. I miss those days.”

“I think fans will like just how easy the game is,” Cardinals pitcher Michael Wacha explained. “It’s not real complicated like other games. And it’s pretty exciting, for sure.”

Simplicity has long been R.B.I Baseball’s calling card, and although the 2014 version updates the graphics, it still has the same two-button control that retro gamers lover so much. To play, all you have to do is manipulate the directional pad and the button and the combinations for swings, throws, extra bases etc. are exactly the same as they were in the original game.

Like the original, R.B.I Baseball 14 is designed to be fast — you should be able to play nine innings in under 20 minutes.

“Every decision we made was about trying to keep it to 20 minutes,” explained Jamie Leece, VP, Games for MLB.com. “It was all about keeping the pace up. So even like stuff like putting your pitcher up in the bullpen, we know that’s accurate… but is it necessary? Anything like that, even if we could put it in, we didn’t. It needs to be clean and fast.”

In the 1987 version there were just eight teams — the division winners from 1986 and 1987. And since the game wasn’t licensed by Major League Baseball, the teams were just named for the city the played in. (For example it was “Boston,” not the “Boston Red Sox.”)

Since MLB is actually releasing the game this time around they don’t have this problem. All 30 teams are represented and there are 480 players whose “characteristics based on hundreds of millions of data points from the extensive MLB.com statistical database.”

That’s 16 players a team.  Eight starters, four reserves and four pitchers. Not enough for the real big leagues but plenty for the video game world.

R.B.I Baseball 14 has smartly kept most of the features that made the classic game such a hit. For one, the game features the same three body types: Fat, medium and skinny. You can probably guess which one Pablo Sandoval gets.

It also keeps the notorious vanishing ball drop. You remember, that curve ball that literally has the bottom drop out of it. “Some pitchers will have a lower percentage of drop pitch just like before and some pitchers will have a higher percentage of drop pitch — you’re not guaranteed a drop pitch,” Leece explained. “It’s not R.B.I Baseball without the drop ball.”

Clayton Kershaw vs. Mike Trout? Felix Hernandez vs. Ryan Braun? It could very well be the drop ball which determines who will win these R.B.I Baseball matchups.

The game doesn’t keep statistics, which could turn off some modern gamers. There, will however, by by online multiplayer functionality later in the year. Check out a first look at the game below.

Diamond Mind Baseball is a computer baseball simulation game developed by Tom Tippett. It was first made available to the public in 1987. Unlike other popular baseball simulation like Strat-O-Matic, Diamond Mind baseball wasn’t evolved from a board game, rather it was developed as a computer simulator. Because of this, some believe Diamond Mind is the best simulation game, since it is able to take full advantage of the power of a PC for its accuracy and game play.

In 2005 it was named PC magazine’s editor’s choice for Best PC Baseball Game. In the review the magazine stated the “statistics presentation is excellent” and “the ability to play a networked opponent is a standout”. “As far as baseball simulations are concerned, Diamond Mind Baseball is the MVP,” the review concluded.

In Diamond Mind Baseball you are your team’s GM and manager. You draft your team, selecting from an almost limitless supply of modern and classic baseball players. Then you set your lineups and manage your team through 162 game seasons.

During the game play you make managerial decisions such as when to pitch around a batter or when to steal a base, and the computer simulates all the players action. (Basically you are in control of whatever a real life manager would be in control of down to pitch selection, but nothing more.) The game play moves quickly and a dialogue box gives a running play-by-play with color such as “gets a bad jump on the ball but still makes the catch, etc.

You can also opt for a simulation-only mode, which allows you to complete an entire season in a few minutes. The benefit to this is that you can make a few tweaks to your roster construction and then see how various seasons would play out. So if you thought your favorite team would have been better off signing free agent X instead free agent Y before season Z you can go back and play season Z both ways multiple times and figure out which free agent would have been superior.

In 2008 Imagine Sports, which controls the rights to Diamond Mind Baseball, announced there would be no new PC version of the game and that they would instead focus only on online version in the future.

But happily for fans of the PC game they ended up releasing the tenth edition of the PC-only game in 2010. It is available for purchase on their website for $29.95. In 2012 Imagine released a 10.a update patch which corrects all of the minor errors in the tenth edition.

Additionally, fans of Diamond Mind baseball may purchase specific seasons, such as the 2012 seasons or the 1952 season, or many classic seasons (and all-star teams) throughout history. These sets run between $20 and $30 and feature details such as park factors and right handed/left handed splits. Prior to a season players can also buy an update which uses Dan Szymborski’s ZiPS projection system to anticipate who up to 2000 players and prospects will perform in the upcoming year.

Diamond Mind Baseball now also has a robust online game, with over 50 million simulations played. A team costs 19.99 for a season, and for that price you get a second team for free.

It is testament to Diamond Mind Baseball accuracy that many major website and sports publications use its simulator for making prediction. For example, ESPN.com has run Diamond Mind Baseball’s simulation-only mode in the past to predict the 162 game results of upcoming baseball season. Tom Tippett, the game’s inventor, now has a job as an analytics experts in the Boston Red Sox front office.

Let’s face it. Most kids don’t think math is fun. No matter how many posters you may read saying otherwise. But baseball is something kids do enjoy. And it can help them learn math

Multiplication baseball, or math baseball, are baseball-based flash video games designed to help kids master correctly manipulating numbers.

The set up of these games is fairly uniform. You are the hitter, and you swing your bat by answering a math question. If you get a question right you get a hit. In some games the type of hit (single, double, triple, home run) is determined by the difficulty of the question. In others it is random. If you get a question wrong you get an out. The goal of the game is to score as many runs as possible before recording either an inning worth of outs or, in some cases, a whole game worth of outs

Some of these games allow you to play an opponent. In that mode the player who scores the most runs in their half-inning will be declared the winner.

In multiplication or math baseball the player gets to chose what kind of math questions he receives. Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Or they can choose a mode in which all of these disciplines of math are thrown at them in a random pattern. The player also chooses how difficult these questions should be. For example a game may have skill levels like “easy” “medium” “hard” and “super brain.”

Multiplication baseball also offers up different question styles. The player can go with the classic style (2 + 2 = X) or algebra style (2 + X = 4.) The algebra option works to get a burgeoning math whiz away from just rote memorization of his multiplication tables and instead forces him to think about why math equations result in the answers that they do.

While most multiplication or math baseball games can be found on the Internet for free, education giant McGraw Hill offers an multiplication baseball app on itunes for $1.99. Although some complain about a glitch in the game which gives players’ automatic outs regardless of how they answer the questions, others give the game high marks. Because the app is formatted to iPhones and iPads it allows a youngster to practice his math skills in any type of environment. (This would be great for a long car ride. Not only are the kid’s entertained, but they are learning something!)

Actually you don’t even need a computer of any kind to play multiplication or math baseball. You also have the option of kicking it old school and playing the board game version.

To do this, you draw up an infield baseball diamond and then use game pieces (they could be baseball bobbleheads) as base runners. The pitcher roles two six-sided dices and then the batter has to multiply the two numbers together. You pre-determine what values equal what kind of hits — for example 36 (6 X 6) could be a home run 26- 35 a triple, 16- 25 a double etc. And, of course, a missed question equals an out.

If you want to make the game more difficult you can use twelve-sided dice.

As you can see, baseball can be used to teach kids math. And when kids grow up with a love of baseball and an understanding of numbers this will lead to even more learning, as young baseball fans will apply math to figure out statistics like batting average and slugging percentage. Then, when the young baseball fan gets a little older, he will be exposed to sabermetrics which will force him to ruminate on (and potentially enjoy) very advanced mathematical principles. For these reasons, the union of baseball and math is a grand slam.

Baseball has always been a sport that lends itself well to video games. Because of the pauses in baseball’s game play and the extreme focus on one aspect the game flow — pitcher vs. hitter — early baseball video games were much more realistic than their counterparts featuring other sports.

Then, as video game technology and graphics improved, baseball video games became so realistic they began to threaten to descend into the uncanny valley. We’ve scoured video game history for the five best baseball video games of all-time. Check them out below.

5. R.B.I Baseball NES
Released in 1987, R.B.I Baseball was the first ever baseball game to be licensed by the Major League Baseball Players Association, meaning the game could use real Major League Baseball players and their statistics in the game. It wasn’t, however, licensed by Major League Baseball. So the eight teams (the division winners in 1986 and 1987) were just named for the city they played in. For example, it was “Houston” not the “Houston Astros.” But the players on the team were the players on the Astro’s roster. The game also featured an American and National League All-Star team, which allowed R.B.I Baseball to feature star players like Mike Schmidt and George Brett who weren’t on one the eight featured teams. The game play was sturdy, but of the time period.

4.Sports Talk Baseball Sega Genesis
Sports Talk Baseball was a traditional baseball simulation game, featuring Major Baseball Player’s Association rosters from the 1991 season. It was the first baseball game to feature a play-by-play announcer, and while his calls were fairly rudimentary they still added to the gameplay and never got in the way. The graphics of Sports Talk Baseball don’t stand up today.  But at the time Sega probably had a better look than Nintendo and that difference was reflected in the game. Overall, the gameplay was pretty realistic: double plays were common, and only the fast players were able to steal bases regularly. Interestingly, Mets third baseman Howard Johnson was the game’s best player because the 30/30 man got full capability in both the power and speed category.

3.Earl Weaver Baseball PC
Earl Weaver Baseball, which first appeared in 1987, was the first baseball simulator that also offered the option of arcade gameplay. Most subsequent baseball simulators are based on its code. With Earl Weaver’s Baseball, you could draft teams and make trades and either play seasons against the computer or your friends. You could also completely simulate seasons. It had features such as single pitch mode, which allowed the arcade game to go faster.  It was also the first video game to feature graphic representations of different Major League ballparks with their proper dimensions. Its other innovative features included voice synthesis, annual statistical update disks and “artificial ego,” which caused players to overestimate their abilities and make mistakes.

2. MLB: The Show PS3
When MLB: The Show first appeared in 2006 its realism made jaws drop. Now in its seventh edition, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between The Show and what happens at a brick and mortar ballpark. All the details of the gameplay are perfect: even the way the umpire calls a runner out at first base on a ground ball. It seems as if every nook and cranny of every major league ballpark has been replicated. All the latest players and latest stats are in the game, and The Show’s franchise mode features everything you’d expect from such a feature in 2013. To top it off the game’s play-by-play and color commentary — typically done by the same guys who call the games on Saturday for Fox — is just about as realistic as the gameplay.

1. MVP Baseball (Various)
This EA Sports game first appeared in 2003.  But most folks think it plateaued with its 2005 edition, which was the last one EA Sports was able to put out before they lost their MLBPA license. Its gameplay may not quite be as good as MLB: The Show — and why would it be, as it is a good generation older. However, the graphics are still strong and the gameplay is very intuitive. MVP Baseball really distinguished itself with its comprehensive franchise mode, dynasty modes, double-A and triple-A teams and even fantasy drafts. It’s a testament to the game that even when it was discontinued after the 2005 season a dedicated community of MVP Baseball PC players continued to modify the game, updating rosters, players uniforms and stadiums and also adding classic and foreign league teams to the gameplay.

There are a plethora of services offering free baseball picks on the Internet. Perhaps the most popular is CBSSportsline MLB Expert Picks which is powered by Prediction Machine.com. These free picks use 50,000 simulations to predict both the winner and the over/under. They are usually displayed on the site four or five hours before game time. Prediction Machine is a subscription service but you can get their selections free through Sportsline.

In fact, many of the Internet sites offering free picks are doing so to try to rope you in as subscriber. (And why wouldn’t they?) So be mindful of this when you tour the free baseball pick buffet the world wide web is.

Another piece of advice would be to track a service offering free baseball picks for a period of time before actually using their advice to wager money. Keep a chart of how successful service’s free picks have been in the past and then go with the service that has the best recent track record. Some sites will advertise their success rates on their web page, but it probably behooves you to do a little leg work here and get your own confirmation of their skill. (Or lack there of.)

And here’s another thought: only gamble on baseball if you know the sport so well you don’t need to get your picks off of the Internet.

Instead use the cash you would put up for baseball bets to buy nice things for your friends and family. Or stick it in a 401K. Instead of making baseball bet, you can save up money for a vacation to an exotic location like Bali or the Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.Or, if you so desire, use the cash to buy drugs and alcohol. Or make football bets, because they are easier. Especially college football. (And if you find you just can’t stop betting on baseball and any other sport and is negatively effecting your life please contact the Gambling Hotline at 1-866-494-0866.)

MiniClip baseball is one of the most popular flash video games on the Internet. It was developed by Luke Whitaker and it is free to play. On the website Learn 4 Good over 20,000 players rated Miniclip baseball an 8.9 out of ten. If you are looking for an easy to play, free baseball game on the World Wide Web MiniClip Baseball should be your first stop.

MiniClip can be played in two modes, Bottom of the Ninth and Arcade. In Bottom of the Ninth mode you come up to the plate in that frame, with your team down by a certain number of runs based on the difficulty level. (You’re down two in easy, four in medium, and eight in hard.) In easy level a box indicates the strike zone once the ball is pitched, but in the other two levels you have to make that determination on your own.

During the game play a circular red target marker appears over the plate when the pitcher winds up. That’s where to ball is going to be thrown. As you adjust your bat to hit the ball you will see a swing circle, which is where you are going to swing your bat. You will also see a red box in the field, and that is the area in which you will hit the ball if you make contact. The closer you line up your swing circle to the middle of the target the straighter you will hit the bar. However if you want to hit a homerun you probably want to swing a bit below the middle of the target because that will elevate the ball. (And if you want a ground ball, vice-versa.)

Bottom of the Ninth mode ends when you either pull ahead or make three outs. If you are tied after three outs you repeat the inning.

In Arcade mode the mechanics of hitting are the same as in Bottom of the Ninth mode. But instead of chasing a run total you have ten pitches to accumulate as many points as you can get. You acquire points by hitting the ball to certain areas of the field, which will be indicated right before the pitch. (Here the red box in the field that displays where you are going to hit the ball comes in very handy.)

MiniClip baseball features nice swing mechanics for a flash game, and the roar of the crowd gives it a realistic feel. However there are some big differences between MiniClip baseball and real baseball. For one, the game treats fly balls like ground balls. For example, if you fly out to the center fielder with a runner on first he can throw the runner out by tossing the ball to second.

Other features of MiniClip baseball include the ability to customize your uniform to different colors and put various logos on your bat.

A popular MiniClip baseball cheat is to slide into first base right before a fly ball is caught. If you time it right, the batter isn’t ruled out and the fielders all fall asleep, allowing all of your base runners to circle the bases unmolested.

While that cheat might help you to a high score, we recommend trying to master the game legitimately. It make take a little while — and cost you a lot of work productivity — but it is more satisfying to do it that way.

Candystand baseball is one of the most popular and addictive free baseball games online. It is supported by advertisements and you will have to watch a video commercial before beginning to play. If you have adblock enabled on your computer you might not be able to play Candystand baseball.

Before playing you select one of six teams, either the Beavers, Scorpions, Sharks, Rhinos, Snakes and Cougars. Each team is rated from one to five stars in the categories of hitting, running, fielding and pitching. These rating are important because to be most successful at Candyland Baseball you should match your team with your talent. For example, if you feel like you are a better pitcher than a hitter maybe you go with the Sharks who get five out five pitching stars. That way you can use your pitcher to completely dominate your opponent. (Another way to approach this is to chose a team whose biggest strength is your weakness, thus evening it out.)

In Candyland baseball you play against the computer and bat first. The pitches come in fast and furious so be prepared. Each hitter is rated on power, speed, skill and luck. If you have a very fast batter you might want to think about bunting. (All actions are controlled from the keyboard and are explained in a glossary right below the game screen.) Bunting can be very effective in Candyland, however you wouldn’t want to bunt with a power hitter because even better that a drag bunt base hit between the first and second baseman is a base-clearing long ball.

Running the bases might take a little get used to but once you do you’ll be taking that extra base on singles or even straight out swiping bags.

Pitching is simple enough. You chose the location and can also manipulate the speed and pitch type. Fielding uses similar key combinations to base running.

The games last five innings and are not only scored in a traditional baseball sense but you also gain points for positive actions. 50,000 points gets a bronze trophy, 80,000 silver and 100,000 gold. You can submitted your points to Candystand and if you qualify you will make their baseball leader board. By submitting your scores you will also be eligible for raffles which award prized and cash money.

There are no popular cheats to beating Candystand baseball, so it looks like you will have to use your God-given hand-to-eye-coordination in defeating the game.

For a flash video game, the game play of Candystand Baseball is quite advanced and realistic. And the game’s fast pace and sound effects makes it feel like you are in the seventh game of the World Series.

Candystand baseball is just one of many baseball themed titles from Candystand, which was originally launched by Nabisco in 1997 as an advertising portal but is now owned by Publisher’s Clearing House. Their other baseball games include Home Run Derby and Bullpen Blast. Sadly, the always popular and highly addictive Candystand Whiffle Ball seems to have disappeared from the Internet since Nabisco sold the company.