It's spring again, and although some of you chumps might be dreaming of love... there's something much more important in the air. Baseball. Saturday afternoon at the park. Seven dollar beers and hot dogs with relish. Late night games on cable. Bench-clearing brawls, suicide squeezes and the dusty, leathery smell of tradition. Breathe deep. It's just beginning.

As always, with spring training comes this year's slate of baseball videogames. More ball games than ever will compete in the market, but only one has the mighty muscle of EA Sports. With a completely revamped engine, challenging gameplay and much-improved graphics, MVP Baseball 2003 is poised to help EA regain their baseball glory.

Now, IGN Guides is here to help you become master of the diamond, and claim a little glory for yourself. Whether you want to go yard on your roommate, or win a pennant on your own, we've got the tips for you. We'll tell you how to get the most out of each part of your game. Here's what you can expect inside this guide:

• Pitching and fielding strategies to help keep your defensive game solid.
• Batting and running tips to send your run totals into the double digits.
• Tons of Franchise info, including how to build the best team.
• Team-by-team breakdowns, highlighting team strengths, key players, unknown heroes and more!

The pitcher is warming up. Batting practice has just begun. Strap on some cleats, grab your Louisville Slugger and let's head to the diamond. It's time to begin another championship season, with help from IGN Guides.

Get the guide here.

One way to cheat the system, especially in the playoffs, is to save your game, then configure your lineup and sim the results. If you lose, don't save. Reset the game and reconfigure the lineup based on their previous performance against that same pitcher. When you win, save the game again. Repeat to never experience defeat. It's the fastest (cheapest) way to win a World Series.

When playing in the franchise mode, the best way to improve your team is to trade for Oliver Perez of the San Diego Padres. You can trade a much less valuble player to get Perez, and he will be well worth it. Every franchise I've done I've got him for nothin and he's won multiple Cy Young Awards, never having an ERA over 3, plus he's in his early 20's. If you're gonna make any trades make it this one.

To hit a homerun every hit, make a player named Erik Kiss. You can put him at any position and change anything but his name. Put him on your team and he will hit a homerun almost every at bat.

Create a player with "Jacob Patersn" as his name. Every time he hits the ball, his bat will break.