MLB The Show Cover Boys
There is no curse, but their might be soon.
Editors Note: Got some angry DM’s on Twitter about my tweet yesterday that I was anti-canada. For those of you who don’t pay attention, MLB The Show was doing separate releases with only Blue Jays players in Canada for years.
Yesterday, news broke that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be the cover boy for MLB The Show ‘24. I want to preface this by saying I love Vladdy Jr. and have had him in my fantasy keeper league since before he was in the big leagues. Even with his down year last season, I will still keep him.
However, I was baffled that he was named the cover boy after arguably his worst season. Couple that with Jazz Chisholm Jr being the cover boy last year and I began to wonder what the motivation behind these choices are. So, I went back to 2006 and pulled the cover boys of each game. I then looked at their stats from the season prior to them being on the cover and the season they are on the cover.
Pretty clear that up until recently one of the best players in the league was picked. Now? I don’t know. I can’t even say fan appeal, because frankly Acuna who was both better than Guerrero is also way more popular. So, I don’t know what they are thinking, but I was bored and figured I would just dive in and see what these stats looked like. Enjoy!
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2006: David Ortiz - Boston Red Sox
2005 Stats: Batting average .300, 47 home runs, 148 RBIs.
2nd MVP, SS, AS
2006 Stats: Batting average .287, 54 home runs, 137 RBIs.
3rd MVP, SS, AS
2007: David Wright - New York Mets
2006 Stats: Batting average .311, 26 home runs, 116 RBIs.
9th MVP, AS
2007 Stats: Batting average .325, 30 home runs, 107 RBIs.
4th MVP, GG, SS
2008: Ryan Howard - Philadelphia Phillies
2007 Stats: Batting average .268, 47 home runs, 136 RBIs.
5th MVP
2008 Stats: Batting average .251, 48 home runs, 146 RBIs.
2nd MVP
2009: Dustin Pedroia - Boston Red Sox
2008 Stats: Batting average .326, 17 home runs, 83 RBIs.
MVP, SS, GG, AS
2009 Stats: Batting average .296, 15 home runs, 72 RBIs.
AS
2010: Joe Mauer - Minnesota Twins
2009 Stats: Batting average .365, 28 home runs, 96 RBIs.
AS, MVP, GG, SS
2010 Stats: Batting average .327, 9 home runs, 75 RBIs.
8th MVP, AS, GG, SS
2011: Joe Mauer (Again) - Minnesota Twins
2010 Stats: Batting average .327, 9 home runs, 75 RBIs.
8th MVP, AS, GG, SS
2011 Stats: Batting average .287, 3 home runs, 30 RBIs.
No awards
2012: Adrian Gonzalez - Boston Red Sox
2011 Stats: Batting average .338, 27 home runs, 117 RBIs.
AS, 7th MVP, GG, SS
2012 Stats: Batting average .299, 18 home runs, 108 RBIs.
No awards
2013: Andrew McCutchen - Pittsburgh Pirates
2012 Stats: Batting average .327, 31 home runs, 96 RBIs.
AS, 3rd MVP, GG, SS
2013 Stats: Batting average .317, 21 home runs, 84 RBIs.
AS, 1st MVP, SS
2014: Miguel Cabrera - Detroit Tigers
2013 Stats: Batting average .348, 44 home runs, 137 RBIs.
1st MVP, AS, SS
2014 Stats: Batting average .313, 25 home runs, 109 RBIs.
AS, 9th MVP
2015: Yasiel Puig - Los Angeles Dodgers
Just a note: this is the first cover athlete that I think is motivated strictly by swag and appealing to certain fans. Puig did not deserve the cover based on statistics, as you can see.
2014 Stats: Batting average .296, 16 home runs, 69 RBIs.
AS
2015 Stats: Batting average .255, 11 home runs, 38 RBIs.
Nothing
2016: Josh Donaldson - Toronto Blue Jays
2015 Stats: Batting average .297, 41 home runs, 123 RBIs.
AS, 1st MVP, SS
2016 Stats: Batting average .284, 37 home runs, 99 RBIs.
AS, 4th MVP, SS
2017: Ken Griffey Jr. - Seattle Mariners
Peak Year Reference (1997): Batting average .304, 56 home runs, 147 RBIs.
Note: Griffey was retired by 2017, so his peak year stats (1997) are used for reference.
2018: Aaron Judge - New York Yankees
2017 Stats: Batting average .284, 52 home runs, 114 RBIs.
AS, 2nd MVP, Rookie of The Year, SS
2018 Stats: Batting average .278, 27 home runs, 67 RBIs.
AS, 12th MVP
2019: Bryce Harper - Philadelphia Phillies
2018 Stats: Batting average .249, 34 home runs, 100 RBIs.
AS
2019 Stats: Batting average .260, 35 home runs, 114 RBIs.
Nothing
2020: Javier Báez - Chicago Cubs
2019 Stats: Batting average .281, 29 home runs, 85 RBIs.
AS
2020 Stats (Shortened Season): Batting average .203, 8 home runs, 24 RBIs.
Nothing
2021: Fernando TatÃs Jr. - San Diego Padres
2020 Stats (Shortened Season): Batting average .277, 17 home runs, 45 RBIs.
4th MVP, SS
2021 Stats: Batting average .282, 42 home runs, 97 RBIs.
AS, 3rd MVP, SS
2022: Shohei Ohtani - Los Angeles Angels
2021 Stats: Batting average .257, 46 home runs; Pitching: ERA 3.18, 156 strikeouts.
AS, MVP, SS
2022 Stats: Batting average .273, 34 Home Runs, 95 RBIs, ERA 2.40, 219 strikeouts
AS, 4th CYA, 2nd MVP
2023: Jazz Chisholm Jr. - Miami Marlins
2022 Stats: Batting average .254, 14 home runs, 45 RBIs
AS, only played 60 games….
2023 Stats: Batting average .250, 19 home runs, 51 RBIs
nothing
2024: Vladimir Guerrero Jr - Toronto Blue Jays
2023 Stats: Batting average .264, 26 home runs, 94 RBIs
AS
2024 Stats: TBD
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