Triple Play series
Triple Play was a series of computer and video games based on Major League Baseball, published by EA Sports until their replacement by the MVP Baseball in 2003.
Most video game reviewers, including GameSpot, stated that other simulations (for example, Sega's version) were superior to Triple Play, and its sales were lower; therefore, EA Sports decided to move in a new direction, beginning with the name change to MVP Baseball. Here are the games in the series with the baseball athletes on the cover:
- Triple Play 97-Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres
- Triple Play 98-Brian Jordan of the St. Louis Cardinals
- Triple Play 99-Alex Rodriguez of the Seattle Mariners
- Triple Play 2000-Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs
- Triple Play 2001-Mike Piazza of the New York Mets
- Triple Play Baseball-Jason Giambi of the Oakland Athletics
- Triple Play 2002-Luis Gonzalez of the Arizona Diamondbacks
All of the games contained the rosters and schedules of the beginning of the season of the year before the one described in the name except for Triple Play 2002. For example, Triple Play 2001 contained the rosters and schedules of the 2000 season, and Triple Play Baseball (without a year) contained the rosters and schedules for 2001. This is a result of the tradition of listing the year the series ends in, basketball, football and hockey ending in a different year from when they started. Baseball is the only exception, as it begins in March and ends in October of the same year.
The games were produced primarily for the PlayStation console, but also saw release on the PC and the Game Boy Color.