In a move that may severely bother a few gamers, San Diego Studios has benched the online franchise in MLB The Show 18. According to The Show Nation, the team spent this year focusing on new technology as they prioritized the stability and speed of their online infrastructure. "This was not an easy decision to make and we understand some of you will be disappointed with this change, but we believe focusing on continuing to improve our online performance was the right priority for The Show 18.  With the major technology change this year it wasn’t possible to just leave in the previous mode without alteration."

They do note it could return in future editions and this is certainly something sports games are known for. They bench a mode for a year or two and bring it back as a "new feature". Judging by the comments on that page, it seems a lot of fans are outraged. However, for other fans and this goes for all sports games, online franchises are great on paper but difficult in execution. You have to find very dedicated players to get something to progress. For people that work and have kids or other duties, it's difficult to keep a season progressing. The online infrastructure continues to improve with MLB The Show, but still needs a good bit of work. If they believe taking down this mode will allow better allocation of resources for online stability then it certainly makes sense.