Some improvements are obvious immediately, and player models and animations are at the top of the list. Player faces are uncannily real, and body types are dead on. Ambient animations are awesome. The pitcher paws at the mound in a completely realistic way. Batters mimic real players – and not just the obvious guys with well-known quirks at the plate (Thome, Jeter, Nomar, etc.). They also got it right for lesser known players. Most of the transitions are excellent, too. The infielders go from making an out to throwing the ball around very smoothly – most of the time. Every once in a while, they’ll hold the ball a little longer than is natural, but not often.

Jon Miller and Joe Morgan are the announcers, and not only do they sound natural, they don’t repeat too often. The timing of their comments is very good with occasional situational mistakes. They also do what baseball announcers are famous for – they go off on tangents during a game.

They even work right along with the catcher (who you can have call the game for you – telling you what to throw and where to throw it – which is a fantastic idea that makes the game even more realistic), and guess the location and type of a lot of upcoming pitches. And the catcher and umpire move fluidly and realistically. Terrible swings look like terrible swings. If the batter makes a lame swipe at the ball, he looks like it – he’s off balance, swinging weakly. The pitcher/batter experience is excellent.

There are many, many times during a game where all of these elements come together to make a baseball game that seems so realistic it’s hard to believe. But there are also things that happen to rip the user right out of the fantasy.

First, there is no collision between players. The base paths are fair game, because everyone runs right through one another. Sometimes you don’t notice because the view is from far away, but far too often you’ll see a runner go right through a fielder and it looks ridiculous.

Play in the field is extremely touchy. Balls can go right through a fielder (and not be scored an error) because they skate around the field when you try to change direction. And getting the correct jump on the ball is extremely difficult because 1) the ball is very hard to pick up after a hit, and 2) there’s only one camera view, and for the infield it stinks. It’s way too close.

Occasionally, the view after a hit ball changes for dramatic effect. There’s a baseline camera angle which is dramatic, unique and just plain awesome to see. But when it happens on a deep fly to center you’ll have no idea if the ball is going to get caught or drop. More than a few times, I’ve had a runner snoozing at first base when he could have gotten extra bases. I had a great view but couldn’t really see the play.

Outfielder running and throwing is way out of whack. Scoring from second on a single is nearly impossible, and getting a double out of a ball in the gap almost as rare. But just when you think they’re too fast and have arms that are too strong, outfielders seem slow for no apparent reason.

During a game, nothing is more silly than the amount of times a home run will be robbed by a leaping outfielder. I’ve seen games with five wall-climbing catches that would have made Play of the Year. It’s pretty cool the first few times, but it happens so often it’s comical.

There are also lesser issues with the game on the field. It would be nice to know the pitch location from previous at bats, for example. And on strikeouts, the view cuts instantly to another angle and offers no information whatsoever about where the pitch landed. There are random pauses for loading with no explanation. It seems to happen often when cutting to a view of the bullpen, but it also happens after routine plays. It’s not constant, but a few times a game.

Most disappointing is franchise mode. The computer still makes ridiculous trades with itself, can’t manage a lineup (Ichiro is batting fifth?) and can’t track stats. Errors often qualify as both errors and hits, and walked batters don’t count in a pitcher’s ERA. Player progression has flipped from favoring the pitcher to favoring the hitter. After a few years, many teams will have averages over .300. There were a lot of hitters putting up big numbers without having the ratings to match.

Franchise players get traded. People like Derek Jeter and Albert Pujols can end up literally anywhere. Even in free agent-happy baseball, some players aren’t going to move and the game must reflect that to bear any resemblance to the majors.

And wait until some big name gets injured. Once he’s all healed up, he may sit in the minors for no reason. This can kill entire seasons if several key players get hurt because they don’t show up again.

It’s a shame the franchise mode is home to one of the best menu interfaces ever created for a sports game. The top bar offer drop downs which are well organized and easy to read, so most options are viewable from the main screen. Cruising through content has never been more sublime.

Sports games seem destined to be even less perfect than other games, and long term satisfaction comes down to what flaws can be tolerated. It depends on what you’re after. If you want a good looking game that plays well against other people online, MLB 2k7 is great. There is room for improvement, but it gets most of the top priorities right. If you want a solid franchise simulation, well, maybe next year. There are far too many things going wrong to play a franchise against a computer that can’t make a lineup, track stats, or trade players reliably.