On January 30th, via MLB Twitter, it was announced that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. would be the cover athlete of MLB The Show 24. Vladdy is the son of former great Vlad Guerrero, who was the cover athlete of MLB The Show 06, making the duo the first time that both father and son donned the cover of the game.
Vladdy also becomes the second youngest player to be the cover athlete, only behind the much-maligned Fernando Tatis, who was 21 at the time of his cover and also the son of former great MLB player Fernando Tatis Sr. Vladdy is 24, as was last year’s cover athlete, Jazz Chisolm Jr.
After MLB The Show put Shoei Ohtani on the cover of MLB The Show 22, there was no clear-cut preference to be the cover athlete. Some thought that Ronald Acuna should be the cover athlete as he is arguably the best positional player in baseball, but the MLB has a rule that no player can be on the cover of two MLB-licensed entities, and Acuna happens to be the cover athlete of Topps Series One, the official baseball card company of the MLB, which means he, along with Julio Rodriguez, the cover athlete for EA’s mobile game tap baseball, will not be eligible to be the cover athlete’s for a few more years.
Though MLB The Show is in no danger of being dropped by the MLB; it is still an important year for the franchise as they are in the same spot as Madden, that being that they are under some fire because it is felt that they have not made a major improvement on the game for awhile, and some are getting a little impatient. If MLB The Show does not improve and make a major change, there is a high chance that they will lose some players.
One positive that Sony Studios has is that in 2021, they did allow Xbox users the chance to finally play. Up until that point, MLB The Show was only on PlayStation. MLB The Show is going nowhere soon, but if they do not start to improve, we could see EA jump in and try to make their own spin on MLB The Show, as they had their own baseball game until 2005, but they could give it another go and try to take down MLB The Show. Also, EA currently makes tap sports baseball, which is just a mobile game, but we can see that they still have an interest in making baseball games.
MLB Show 24 comes out on March 19th, 2024, and can be pre-ordered now on Xbox, Playstation, and Switch. The Deluxe version comes out soon, which will likely have another former star on it. Watch out for Vladdy Sr. to be on the cover of that and for Sony Studios to stick with the Guerrero family.
