In 2023, the Tampa Bay Rays hosted the inaugural ‘Sunburst Invitational’, an MLB The Show series featuring two (2) online tournaments, eligible for players of age 13+ in the US and Canada. With nearly 1,000 competitors, Zach Phillips (Zazzi) was crowned the 2023 Champion after winning the finals LAN event in Orlando, FL.

This year, the Sunburst Invitational will feature FOUR (4) online tournaments, free to enter and eligible for players of age 13+ in the US and Canada. The winners of each of the four double-elimination, qualifier tournaments will have travel expenses covered to St. Petersburg, FL as they compete for a share of a $10,000 CASH PRIZE in the Sunburst Invitational Championship hosted at Coastal Creative.

All Qualifier finals and Championship events will be hosted by ‘MLB The Show’ streamers Rich Veit (@ScuffyMcgee) and Tyler Dimmu (@DaddyDimmuTV) live on the Rays Baseball Gaming Twitch and TikTok channels. To stay up to date with the latest tournament news join the Rays Gaming Discord server.

All registered and eligible participants will be entered into this double-elimination, MLB The Show 24 tournament. All games are 9 innings best-of-one with a 10-run mercy after 4 innings. The finals of the Sunburst Invitational Qualifier events along with the Sunburst Invitational Championship final will be a best-of-three match to determine the winner.

The following settings are to be used in all Match play during the Online Qualifier Rounds and Finals Event:

• Cross play: ON (network setting)
• Add friends: ON (network setting)
• Messaging: ON (network setting)
• Mode: Exhibition
• Team: Tampa Bay Rays Live Roster
• Stadium: Tropicana Field (Higher “seed” in bracket will be home)
• Hitting: Legend
• Pitching: Legend
• Guess Pitch: OFF
• Quick Counts: OFF
• Strike Zone: ON
• Hot Zone: OFF
• Balks: OFF
• Umpire Accuracy: Perfect
• Umpire close plays: OFF
• Ejections: OFF
• Injuries: OFF
• Presentation mode: Fast Play
• Created ballplayers are not permitted.