First pitch: MLB 2K13’s Perfect Game Challenge officially underway

The 2013 Major League Baseball season officially began last night, but MLB 2K13's Perfect Game Challenge — a competition that rewards participants for throwing a perfect game — started this morning at 9:00am PDT. The competition sees players compete to win up to 30 $25,000 prize pools, one per MLB team.

It's not just about throwing a perfect game, though. The competition takes into account the style in which you threw the perfect game. Based on the statistics of the game played, taking into account difficulty (such as the opposing team’s offensive prowess and selected pitcher’s skill) and degree of perfection (such as number of strikeouts and pitching efficiency), you will be scored on your perfect game. The "most perfect" perfect game for each team will win $25,000.

When the competition closes on April 30, the top four Overall Leaderboard finalists with top ranked perfect games will be invited to compete in a single-elimination tournament during the MLB All-Star Week in New York for the $250,000 grand prize.

Unfortunately, the Perfect Game Challenge may be MLB 2K13​'s only redeeming quality. The late agreement made between Major League Baseball and 2K Sports meant not much could be changed in this years installment. The result was a subpar baseball game that has drawn comparison to the Miami Marlins.