The controls are intuitive and worked fine on my Gravis Gamepad Pro as well as the Sidewinder. The modes of play include single game, season, homerun derby, and playoffs. Also, a save can be made at any point during a game. The pitching is too precise, even with weak pitchers. Also, the pitchers do not tire nearly enough over the course of the game.
Batting consists of choosing from normal swing, power swing, contact swing, and bunt.
At the Rookie difficulty level batting is simply a matter of timing. However, at the Veteran and All Star difficulty levels a cursor system is used. A circle shows the location of the pitch just before it arrives and it is up to the batter to line up the crosshairs with the ball to make contact. Great precision is not required to make contact. Fielding in Microsoft Baseball is a cinch.