[PAX East 2026] Hands-On: “Backyard Baseball” has the stuff for an epic comeback

Backyard Baseball was easily one of the standouts at the PAX East 2026 convention floor.

I remember flipping through the Electronics Boutique catalogs that used to come in the mail, giving me an idea of how much (and expensive) video games cost while primarily coming up with lies I would tell in the playground, talking up what kinds of games I played thanks to my “aunt that worked at EB.” The Backyard Sports games were the ones I remembered quite fondly because at that age, it was video games that made me a fan of NFL football (thanks to NFL Blitz) and professional wrestling (thanks to WCW vs. nWo Revenge).

That said, it goes without saying I’ve never played a Backyard Sports game–sure as heck not Backyard Baseball. Does it mean my headline is a lie because I’m potentially calling this game I’m previewing an epic comeback despite never playing it? Eh, whatever.

My point still stands: Backyard Baseball has the stuff.

While we think about whether or not the headline is a lie, I’ll start this preview off by reiterating that I’ve never played a Backyard Sports game. That being said, there isn’t much I can compare Backyard Baseball to except for MLB The Show and Tap Sports Baseball (a game I used to work on for over seven years, RIP… kinda). Either way, I had a lot of fun with the build I played at PAX East, which featured just one mode–Backyard Derby.

The object of Backyard Derby is simple. “Go yard” with as many of pitches thrown your way as possible in a given time limit. In Backyard Baseball, you can use the cursor to follow the ball’s trajectory before taking a swing at just the right time. Where and how soon you hit it will affect how powerful the hit ends up being, and to mix things up a bit, you have a choice between power swing or a line drive–I don’t know why the latter is even an option, so I’ll just chalk to them possibly forgetting this UI instance and it’s really meant to be used in actual games or other modes. You’ll probably miss the first few pitches, but once you’ve made your first hit and get into a rhythm, you really start to feel how visceral each hit is, and in turn, the action both heats up and gets addictive.

I was so into what I was playing, I ended up playing a couple rounds with each available character. Three of whom were available. Of course, there’s Pablo Sanchez, the “secret weapon” (no idea why he’s called the secret weapon when kids who know this series know there’s nobody who comes close to him in stats) who has graced the cover of every Backyard Sports game in existence. Joining him are Kenny Kawaguchi (and his awesome wheelchair) and the powerhouse Kiesha Phillips. Each of them had distinct ratings, and while I couldn’t feel the difference between them all since it was just that one mode, the one that I had the most fun with easily Kiesha. She might as well be my pinch hitter.

Unfortunately, Backyard Derby was the only mode available, but I was able to mix things up with “Crazy” pitches, which I didn’t love. This basically gave Backyard Derby sort of a Mario Party-feel, with a bunch of knuckle pitches that can come fast, slow, or even stop in the middle of their tracks with a block of ice that pretty much forces you to swing early. These were as close to “boss fight”-level balls as it gets. I had fun, but most of the fun I had was with the standard pitches.

As someone who’s never had any experience with the series, I’m really excited to see how the rest of the game shakes out. After the demo, I had a short conversation with Lindsay Barnett, Founder & CEO of Playground Productions about the future of Backyard Baseball, but I’ll leave that for future content to look forward to. Backyard Baseball is currently slated to launch on July 9 for the PC (and Mac), PS5, Xbox Series S/X, and Switch less than a week ahead of All-Star Weekend.