Giants Baseball Insider

Former SF Giants star Matt Cain is officially a Legend

We already knew he was a SF Giants legend, but Matt Cain (a.k.a. "Big Sugar") is an official Legend in MLB the Show 2023.

Sean Keane

Former SF Giants star Matt Cain is officially a Legend
Former SF Giants star Matt Cain is officially a Legend /
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Three World Series rings. Three All-Star appearances. A perfect game. And now, former SF Giants starter Matt Cain has another accolade to his impressive resume: He's a Legend in the new edition of MLB The Show.

Cain is part of the game's "Legends of the Franchise" program, where each of the league's 30 franchises gets at least one Legend in the game. The Legend gets an overall rating of 99, or at least one season with a 99 version of themselves.

If we had to guess, that's either Cain's 2011 and 2012 campaigns, where he finished 8th and 6th in Cy Young voting respectively. In 2011, Cain went 12-11 with an ERA of 2.88 and a career-best FIP of 2.9i, yielding a minuscule nine home runs in 221.2 innings. In 2012, Cain was 16-5 with a 2.79 ERA, with a career-high 193 strikeouts and two complete game shutouts.

Cain also started all three clinching games that year, though we're not sure that the video game algorithm can adjust for clutchness. We're expecting a 99 in the Vein Ice Water category.

SF Giants starting pitcher Matt Cain (18) against the San Diego Padres in the fourth inning at AT&T Park. (2017) / D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

Not that pitchers do a lot of hitting in The Show, but 2012 was also Cain's best year at the plate. He hit .176 with a career-high OPS+ of....25.

Last year, The Show added a different pitching star from the 2010 Giants, closer Brian Wilson. They also added two former Giants better known for their play on other teams, second baseman Ray Durham and pitcher Randy Johnson.

Last year's list of available Giants Legends included Willies Mays and McCovey, Juan Marichal, and Robb Nen. While they're not in Giants uniforms, you could also play as Vida Blue (A's), Jake Peavy (Padres), Kenny Lofton (Guardians) and (ugh) Orel Hershiser (We all know which team that is).

Players should be able to unlock Cain's four-and-sometimes-five-pitch arsenal, but beware. MLB The Show strives to be an accurate depiction of baseball. That means your offense may be unable to score runs with Cain on the mound. Sometimes the game is too real!

This may lay the foundation for Tim Lincecum to become a Legend in the 2014 edition. If you want to replicate Lincecum's signature pitching motion before then, Reddit user RealisticPapaya412 claims that you can use "Generic Windup 50."

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Sean Keane
SEAN KEANE

Sean Keane (he/him) is a writer, stand-up, and co-host of the Roundball Rock NBA podcast. He wrote for Comedy Central’s “Another Period,” his work has appeared in McSweeney's, Audible.com, and Yardbarker, and he's performed at countless festivals, including SF Sketchfest, the Bridgetown Comedy Festival, RIOT LA, and NoisePop. In 2014, the San Francisco Bay Guardian named Sean an “Outstanding Local Discovery,” and promptly went out of business.

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