MLB The Showis the quintessential baseball video game. The title is developed by San Diego Studio, and it has been the baseball fans favorite since its inception. The first edition wasMLB 06 The Show, which featuredBoston Red Sox star David Ortizwho was crucial helping his team win the 2004 World Series, its first victory in 86 years. Since then, each new title in the video game saga has featured a MLB star athlete on its cover. The sportsman is usually a player who has had a great season or has been crowned with several titles.
MLB The Show 23’s cover athlete will be one of the first major revelations of the upcoming installment, and strong candidates have already emerged. After last year’s edition seemed to offer the easiest pick in years, the race to grab the coveted cover is still wide open. As for when this news might become official, developer disclosures are likely to come at the end of the month or early February 2023, as has been the case in recent years.
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Julio Rodriguez
A solid prediction for the cover athlete for the next game would be Julio Rodriguez of the Seattle Mariners. In recent years, Sony has bet on young, charismatic, and popular players (Shohei Ohtani, Fernando Tatis, Javier Baez, Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge) to be the face of its game. Julio Rodriguez, who is 21 years old, became the first rookie to reach the 25 HR, 25 SB mark in his first year in MLB history. There are two other players who achieved the feat in their rookie year, but not in their debut season: Chris Young (2007) and Mike Trout, who did it a year after his debut (2012).
For the young Dominican player, 2022 was a truly incredible year. He tasted greatness at every engagement last season. Rodriguez earned twoRookie of the Monthawards, participated in the HR Derby and an All-Star Game, and has signed a contract that guarantees him $200 million, but could reach over $400 million based on incentives.
Aaron Judge
Another very obvious choice to be the main character of this year’s edition could be Aaron Judge, the superstar of the New York Yankees. And no wonder why. Since his rookie year, the American player has not stopped showing fans why he is considered one of thebest players in MLBright now.
In 2022, he broke the American League single-season home run record with 62 home runs. Judge was named captain of the Yankees, American League MVP and earned the second-most lucrative contract in history for a position player. Becoming theMLB The Show 23cover is only a logical progression for this incredible player. While having already starred in a previous game may detract from his case, and new faces tend to be more attractive lately, a repeat seems more possible this year than ever in the past.
Shohei Ohtani
Los Angeles Angels starShohei Ohtani already made the cover of last issue. But there are some people who think the Japanese player, known for his skills both in the batter’s box and on the mound, should be featured again. Even though the only player who has appeared consecutively was Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins, who was in the 2010 and 2011 editions, Ohtani has completed another great season, so it would not be strange to see him become the game’s face again.
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Yordan Alvarez
The video game developers have loved to feature young stars in recent years, and that’s why Yordan Alvarez may be the true favorite forMLB The Show 23cover athlete. At just 25 years old, the Cuban star nicknamed “Air Yordan” has continued to establish himself as one of the most accurate hitters in baseball today. Alvarez, named ALCS MVP in 2021, became the first player in MLB history to out-hit the entire opposing team in the final two games of a playoff series. He continues dominating this year, and a World Series win could put him in the lead to star the game.
Albert Pujols
There is also one name that stands out above the rest and, although he has been retired for a few months,Albert Pujols is still an iconic figure in MLB. Fox Sports conducted a poll on who should be part of the cover for the special edition of the popular game and the Dominican ex player was the winner.
Pujols hung up his spikes after 22 seasons in the MLB, averaging .296 with a .374 on-base-percentage, 703 home runs, 2,218 runs batted in, and 3,384 hits. In fact, the former Dominican player became one of only four hitters to total at least700 home runs during their careers.
Likewise, the former St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers player won three National League MVP awards and two Gold Gloves, in addition to attending 11All-Star Gamesduring his career. During his last season in the majors, Pujols was honored in most of the stadiums he visited, including Chicago’s Wrigley Field, home of a club that is a historic rival of St. Louis, the organization he represented for 12 years.
