TikTok streamer Jay Lucarelli tried for nearly 2,000 attempts over the course of a week to throw a perfect game with now-retired Astros pitcher Roy Oswalt in MVP Baseball 2005, the classic pro baseball sim – and last one ever made by EA. On attempt number 1,993, Lucraelli finally did it.
The final out came on a line-drive comebacker to Oswalt, retiring then-Red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli after he threw a down-and-in slider that Mirabelli hit hard but hit it right at the central figure in Lucarelli’s weeklong quest.
“That’s it. That’s it! That’s the no-hitter!” the streamer exclaimed after finally achieving his goal. It didn’t come easy in the ninth, with Lucarelli falling behind the leadoff batter 3-0 before getting him on a lineout to third before that laced liner by the pinch-hitting Mirabelli to end it.
The sports gaming feat garnered attention from all around the sports world, from MLB itself to even the real-life Roy Oswalt, who told MLB.com, “I only wish I could have pitched 2,000 games in MLB. Good luck!”
With all due respect to the excellent-but-currently-slumping MLB The Show, MVP Baseball 2005 is still regarded by many baseball fans as the best MLB sim ever made even to this day (IGN gave it a 9.2 out of 10 at the time), which is why there is a dedicated PC community dedicated to updating it 20 years after its release.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, and a co-host of Next-Gen Console Watch. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.