Every MLB The Show Cover Athlete, Year by Year (MLB 06 to MLB The Show 26)
Every MLB The Show game since MLB 06 has put at least one star on the box. This page lists every cover athlete from MLB 06: The Show through MLB The Show 26, newest first, plus the special edition and regional covers, and what we know so far about MLB The Show 27.
Looking for the in-game cards instead? Every Cover Athlete Series card we track is on our Cover Athletes card series page.
How MLB The Show Picks Its Cover Athlete
San Diego Studio (SDS) picks one main cover athlete each year, and it's usually a player coming off a big season. Dustin Pedroia (MLB 09), Joe Mauer (MLB 10), Josh Donaldson (MLB The Show 16) and Shohei Ohtani (MLB The Show 22) were all reigning American League MVPs when they got the cover.
It isn't only about stats. When SDS announced Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for MLB The Show 24, it said it looks for "great baseball players who have interesting stories to tell" and people "who genuinely enjoy playing MLB The Show."
The reveal also marks the start of the new game's pre-release cycle. The cover announcement usually comes with the release date, and the special edition reveal follows a few days later.
Every MLB The Show Cover Athlete, Year by Year
This table lists the main (standard edition, U.S.) cover for every game. Special edition and regional covers are in the tables below it.
| Game | Cover athlete(s) | Team at the time | Edition / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| MLB The Show 26 | Aaron Judge | New York Yankees | Judge's second cover. He's pictured in his Team USA World Baseball Classic uniform |
| MLB The Show 25 | Paul Skenes, Elly De La Cruz, Gunnar Henderson | Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, Baltimore Orioles | First game with three cover athletes, for the series' 20th anniversary |
| MLB The Show 24 | Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | Toronto Blue Jays | Collector's edition was the Negro Leagues Edition |
| MLB The Show 23 | Jazz Chisholm Jr. | Miami Marlins | Derek Jeter on The Captain Edition |
| MLB The Show 22 | Shohei Ohtani | Los Angeles Angels | Manga-style Ohtani art by Takashi Okazaki on the collector's edition cover |
| MLB The Show 21 | Fernando Tatís Jr. | San Diego Padres | Jackie Robinson on the Jackie Robinson Edition |
| MLB The Show 20 | Javier Báez | Chicago Cubs | |
| MLB The Show 19 | Bryce Harper | Philadelphia Phillies | Announced while Harper was a free agent, so the first image showed him in a white hoodie. The Phillies cover came out after he signed |
| MLB The Show 18 | Aaron Judge | New York Yankees | Marcus Stroman on the Canadian cover |
| MLB The Show 17 | Ken Griffey Jr. | Seattle Mariners | Retired; inducted into the Hall of Fame the year before. Regional covers in Canada, Korea and Taiwan |
| MLB The Show 16 | Josh Donaldson | Toronto Blue Jays | Also on the Canadian cover, the first player on both. Regional covers in Korea and Taiwan |
| MLB 15: The Show | Yasiel Puig | Los Angeles Dodgers | Regional covers in Canada, Korea and Taiwan |
| MLB 14: The Show | Miguel Cabrera | Detroit Tigers | First game on PS4. Regional covers in Canada, Korea and Taiwan |
| MLB 13: The Show | Andrew McCutchen | Pittsburgh Pirates | Regional covers in Canada and Taiwan |
| MLB 12: The Show | Adrián González | Boston Red Sox | First separate Canadian cover (José Bautista). González was traded to the Dodgers during the 2012 season |
| MLB 11: The Show | Joe Mauer | Minnesota Twins | Mauer's second straight cover |
| MLB 10: The Show | Joe Mauer | Minnesota Twins | Reigning AL MVP |
| MLB 09: The Show | Dustin Pedroia | Boston Red Sox | Reigning AL MVP |
| MLB 08: The Show | Ryan Howard | Philadelphia Phillies | |
| MLB 07: The Show | David Wright | New York Mets | First game on PS3 |
| MLB 06: The Show | David Ortiz | Boston Red Sox | The first MLB The Show game. Chan Ho Park on the Korean cover |
Special and Collector's Edition Covers
Some years, SDS gives its premium edition a different player or different art. These are the documented special edition covers. MLB The Show 25 and 26 each sold only a Standard Edition and a Digital Deluxe Edition, and neither SDS's reveal posts nor Wikipedia list a separate Deluxe cover.
| Game | Edition | Cover athlete | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| MLB The Show 24 | Negro Leagues Edition | No player named. SDS hasn't said who appears on the art | SDS described the theme as a tribute to the Black press, with a Steelbook styled after 1930s and 1940s newspapers and retro game posters |
| MLB The Show 23 | The Captain Edition | Derek Jeter (New York Yankees) | Art by Sanford Greene, showing Jeter jumping out of Yankee Stadium |
| MLB The Show 22 | Collector's editions (MVP Edition and Digital Deluxe Edition) | Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Angels) | Manga-style art by Takashi Okazaki, known for Afro Samurai |
| MLB The Show 21 | Jackie Robinson Edition | Jackie Robinson (Brooklyn Dodgers) | $1 per copy sold in the U.S. went to the Jackie Robinson Foundation |
Regional Covers
From MLB 12 through MLB The Show 18, Canada got its own cover with a Toronto Blue Jays player. Korea and Taiwan also got their own covers in several years.
| Game | Canada | Korea | Taiwan |
|---|---|---|---|
| MLB The Show 18 | Marcus Stroman (Blue Jays) | ||
| MLB The Show 17 | Aaron Sanchez (Blue Jays) | Hyun-soo Kim (Orioles) | Wei-Yin Chen (Marlins) |
| MLB The Show 16 | Josh Donaldson (Blue Jays) | Jung-ho Kang (Pirates) | Wei-Yin Chen (Marlins) |
| MLB 15: The Show | Russell Martin (Blue Jays) | Shin-Soo Choo (Rangers) | Wei-Yin Chen (Orioles) |
| MLB 14: The Show | Brett Lawrie (Blue Jays) | Shin-Soo Choo (Rangers) | Wei-Yin Chen (Orioles) |
| MLB 13: The Show | José Bautista (Blue Jays) | Wei-Yin Chen (Orioles) | |
| MLB 12: The Show | José Bautista (Blue Jays) | ||
| MLB 06: The Show | Chan Ho Park (Padres) |
MLB The Show 27 Cover Athlete
SDS hasn't announced the MLB The Show 27 cover athlete yet.
MLB The Show 27 cover athlete: Not announced yet.
The timing is easy to predict, even if the player isn't. The last six cover reveals all came between January 27 and February 1:
- MLB The Show 26: January 27, 2026
- MLB The Show 25: January 28, 2025
- MLB The Show 24: January 30, 2024
- MLB The Show 23: January 30, 2023
- MLB The Show 22: January 31, 2022
- MLB The Show 21: February 1, 2021
It wasn't always this late. MLB The Show 17 through 20 revealed their covers in October or November, months before launch.
If SDS sticks to its recent schedule, expect the MLB The Show 27 cover in late January 2027, along with the release date. We'll update this page as soon as it's official.
Cover Athlete Notables
- Two-time cover athletes: Joe Mauer (MLB 10 and MLB 11) and Aaron Judge (MLB The Show 18 and 26) are the only players on the main U.S. cover twice. Mauer did it back to back. Judge's return came eight years after his first.
- Father and son: Vladimir Guerrero Sr. was on the cover of MLB 2006, the 989 Sports game released the year before MLB 06: The Show. SDS called the Guerreros the first father and son on its covers when it revealed Vlad Jr. for MLB The Show 24. David Ortiz, the first MLB The Show cover athlete, hosted the Ride to Reveal documentary that announced him.
- Most-featured team: The Boston Red Sox have put the most different players on the main cover, with three: David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and Adrián González. Counting special editions, the Yankees have three covers too (Judge twice, plus Jeter's Captain Edition).
- Only retired player on a standard cover: Ken Griffey Jr. in MLB The Show 17. Jeter and Jackie Robinson were both on special editions.
- Pitchers on the main cover: Paul Skenes (MLB The Show 25) is the only full-time pitcher on a main U.S. cover. Every other main cover athlete from MLB 06 to MLB The Show 26 is a position player, apart from two-way star Shohei Ohtani (MLB The Show 22). If you remember Justin Verlander on a baseball game cover, that was 2K Sports' Major League Baseball 2K12, not MLB The Show. Pitchers have appeared on regional covers, including Marcus Stroman on the MLB The Show 18 Canadian cover.
- Both covers in one year: Josh Donaldson was the first player on both the U.S. and Canadian covers, in MLB The Show 16.
- Longest regional run: Wei-Yin Chen was on the Taiwanese cover five years in a row, from MLB 13 through MLB The Show 17.
- Platform firsts: MLB The Show 21 was the first game on Xbox, and MLB The Show 22 was the first on Nintendo Switch.
Cover Athlete Cards in Diamond Dynasty
SDS turns cover athletes into Diamond Dynasty cards. MLB The Show 22 ran a Cover Athletes Program with Flashback and Legend cards of past cover stars. In MLB The Show 25 and 26, SDS has also released Cover Athlete Series cards during the season.
See every Cover Athlete Series card, ranked by Meta Overall, on our Cover Athletes card series page.