Every Cover Star In MLB The Show History

Few sports franchises have managed to be as consistently good as MLB The Show, and that makes it an even bigger honor to get selected as the year's cover star. Every year, much like in Madden and NBA 2K, a player is chosen as the defining star for the upcoming season. Any time you talk about a cover athlete, you also have to discuss the "curse" associated with it. Baseball players are notoriously superstitious, but is there any truth to such a curse in the MLB The Show series, or does it pale in comparison to the Madden curse?

Well, it seems to depend on the year. Much of the time, as you'll see detailed below, the MLB The Show cover star actually has a pretty great season when they're selected, and occasionally even put up better numbers than the year before. However, there are also a couple examples of absolute disasters, whether it be from injury or some unexplainable dip in performance.

We wanted to determine, once and for all, if the curse was real for MLB The Show, or if it had the opposite effect. To do this, we went through the entire franchise and looked at season statistics for the year each athlete was on the cover as well as the year before it. The results are encouraging for most of these stars, but if your name is Yasiel Puig or Javier Baez, you're probably wishing you declined the offer. It remains to be seen what fate MLB 23 star Jazz Chisholm will meet.

Here is every cover star in MLB The Show history.

MLB 06: The Show - David Ortiz

One of the most legendary Red Sox players of all time, David Ortiz etched his name in Boston sports history with his legendary clutch hitting performances. In 2006, just a few years removed from the Red Sox finally breaking Babe's curse, Ortiz had one of his best seasons ever. Big Papi managed an OPS of 1.049, hitting 54 homers (a career high) and driving in 137 runs. He followed it with what was arguably an even better season just a year later, but it's obvious that Oritz wasn't cursed at all with his MLB The Show cover.

Cursed by cover stardom?: Hell no

MLB 07: The Show - David Wright

An all-time great Mets third-baseman, David Wright's career in Queens was often derailed by lingering injuries, and from 2011 to his retirement in 2017, he only played more than 134 games a single time. But back in 2007, Wright was at the absolute top of his game, and purely from a statistical standpoint, that was actually the best year in his whole career. During the 2007 season, David Wright tied his 160-game season high for games played, clubbing 30 home runs and coming close to a batting title with .325. If anything, his cover appearance only made him better.

Cursed by cover stardom?: Absolutely not

MLB 08: The Show - Ryan Howard

The Philadelphia Phillies were straight-up dominant for a few years in the mid- and late-2000s, and first-baseman and gargantuan human Ryan Howard was a big reason for this. 2008 wasn't necessarily the slugger's best season--his 2006 season meant he probably should have been the 2007 cover star, instead--but he still put up impressive numbers. It was the only year Howard played in every single game during the season, and he managed to drive in a ludicrous 146 runs. Sure, he also struck out 199 times, but it was far from a lousy year.

Cursed by cover stardom?: No

MLB 09: The Show - Dustin Pedroia

Oh, Dustin Pedroia, perhaps the only Red Sox player as beloved as David Ortiz over the last few decades. The scrappy second-baseman was one of the smallest players in the league for the entirety of his career, but he was able to consistently hit the ball and get on base, all while playing terrific defense. In 2009, he was awarded the MLB The Show cover because of his terrific (and MVP-winning) season the year prior. He wasn't cursed by the cover, but his numbers did take a dive in a few areas. One of the biggest was his base-stealing success--thrown out just once in 2008, Pedroia got caught with his hand in the cookie jar eight times in 2009.

Cursed by cover stardom?: No

MLB 10: The Show - Joe Mauer

"Well played, Mauer." Following a ludicrousy good 2009 campaign in which he hit .365 with 28 home runs--all while playing the hardest position on the field other than pitcher--Joe Mauer was a no-brainer for the MLB 10: The Show cover. His 2010 season was still quite good, but closer to his typical performance than the incredible 2009 season. Still, getting over 500 at-bats as a catcher is nothing to sneeze at, and he also managed to cut down on his strikeout total while keeping his on-base percentage high.

Cursed by cover stardom?: No

MLB 11: The Show - Joe Mauer

Perhaps lightning can't strike in the same place twice, and Mauer may have been the first player hit by the curse with MLB 11: The Show. He only played in about half the games that year--his lowest total outside of his brief experience in 2004--and nearly every statistic looked worse. His batting average dropped a full 40 points, as did his on-base percentage, and he was injured for much of the year. Though he would never again have a season like his 2009 run, he did manage to rebound from his poor 2011 with great numbers in the next two years, helping to make him a no-doubt Hall of Fame choice.

Cursed by cover stardom?: Yes

MLB 12: The Show - Adrian Gonzalez

One of the weirder years for the cover, MLB 12: The Show saw first-baseman Adrian Gonzalez as its star. That's not the weird part, as his prior season was excellent--what's weird is that he's wearing a Red Sox uniform and didn't even stay in Boston for a full season before heading to the Dodgers. Regardless, his numbers for the season weren't bad, especially in a Red Sox uniform, though they were a substantial step down from his time in San Diego. In fact, he'd never again reach that status, and despite cracking .900 in OPS three times prior to his cover appearance, he failed to reach that mark for the rest of his career.

Cursed by cover stardom?: Arguably

MLB 13: The Show - Andrew McCutchen

Andrew McCutchen may have saved the Pittsburgh Pirates, bringing excitement back to a team that had been nothing but a laughingstock for two decades. He followed up his excellent 2012 season by winning the NL MVP, continuing to turn the Pirates from a punchline into a genuinely good club. His glove wasn't always his strongest aspect during his time in Pittsburgh (welcome back, by the way) but he also saw his best defensive wins above replacement in 2013. Not only did the cover not curse McCutchen, but it may have actually given the guy superpowers.

Cursed by cover stardom?: Quite the opposite

MLB 14: The Show - Miguel Cabrera

Miguel Cabrera will go down in baseball history as one of the greatest hitters of all time. He won the Triple Crown in 2012, being the first person to do so in more than 40 years, and he won AL MVP awards in both 2012 and 2013. He didn't win one in 2014, and his numbers took a very slight dip. Still, it's really difficult to say Cabrera was cursed when he still had an OPS of nearly .900 and he drove in more than 100 runs. He also managed to play in 159 games that year, which was close to his career high, and he scored more than 100 runs.

Cursed by cover stardom?: No

MLB 15: The Show - Yasiel Puig

What an absolute mess. Yasiel Puig broke onto the Dodgers when he was just 22, and he managed to have his best season ever the following season. That was enough to get him on the cover of MLB 15: The Show, but it was a season that would mark the beginning of his decline. Injured for much of the year, Puig's numbers dropped across the board, including a 60-point drop in on-base percentage and a similarly large drop in slugging percentage. It wasn't his worst year statistically--that would come in 2015--but there's no denying that the spotlight being shined on Puig after such a meteoric rise doesn't look like a wise decision these days.

Cursed by cover stardom?: Yes

MLB The Show 16 - Josh Donaldson

There is perhaps no baseball player who thinks more highly of themselves than Josh Donaldson, but for a few-year stretch, his confidence was warranted. The Blue Jays third-baseman followed up an excellent 2015 with an equally great 2016, showing he was the right choice for MLB The Show 16's cover. He improved his on-base percentage--a great sign for a player who swings like he's trying to decapitate someone--and his slugging percentage only took a very slight drop. In fact, if it weren't for Mike Trout, it's arguable that Donaldson should have won the MVP again.

Cursed by cover stardom?: No way

MLB The Show 17 - Ken Griffey Jr.

A special choice for MLB The Show 17, Ken Griffey Jr. had already retired by the time he graced the cover, and his numbers made him one of the easiest Hall of Fame choices in history. "The Kid" hit 630 homers over the course of his career, while also limiting his strikeouts and--at least early in his career--showing impressive speed on the basepaths. He also showed impressive range and timing in the outfield, and he was one of the few sluggers from the '90s to never be tied to steroid use. There was no better ambassador for the game, and he absolutely deserved to get a spot on the cover.

Cursed by cover stardom?: N/A

MLB The Show 18 - Aaron Judge

Aaron Judge wasted little time making a name for himself with the Yankees, hitting more than 50 homers in his first full season in 2017 while also managing an on-base percentage of .422--there was little doubt that he deserved the MLB The Show 18 cover. However, 2018 would also mark the first of several injury-plagued seasons for Judge, who would play in just 112 games and see a decline in nearly every offensive stat. It seems he's finally past that after winning the MVP for his once-in-a-lifetime 2022 season, but it sure looked like he was suffering from a bit of a cover curse for a while there.

Cursed by cover stardom?: Yes

MLB The Show 19 - Bryce Harper

Following a long stretch of time with the Nationals, Bryce Harper signed an enormous contract with the Phillies in 2019, which was also the year he was featured on The Show's cover. His numbers were very similar from 2018 to 2019, though it's arguable that he didn't really deserve to be on the cover at all, with a .249 batting average the year before. Still, Harper was at least consistent, and he's continued to knock the cover off the ball and shows incredible intensity for the game. That makes him one of the most hated people in the whole game, but we get the sense that he doesn't really care.

Cursed by cover stardom?: Yes

MLB The Show 20 - Javier Baez

Well, it can't work out for every MLB cover star. Javier Baez put up impressive numbers in 2019 with the Cubs, as the shortstop continued to show impressive power at the position while still flashing the leather on defense. His 2020 season didn't go so well, as he had absolutely dreadful numbers during the pandemic-shortened season. How dreadful? He barely batted above the Mendoza line, his OPS was under .600, and he only drew seven walks. There are few worse seasons for an everyday starter, much less one who was on the cover of a video game, though he did rebound the following year. For his part, Baez said the ban of in-game video in dugouts--brought on after the Astros' cheating scandal--meant he could make adjustments mid-game.

Cursed by cover stardom?: Take a wild guess

MLB The Show 21 - Fernando Tatis Jr.

Fernando Tatis Jr. has still not played in a full MLB season--injuries and a suspension cost him the entirety of 2022--but his 2021 campaign was as close as he has gotten. He made the most of his, clubbing 42 homers in just 130 games and stealing 25 bases. The star was only 22 years old that year, and though his defense as shortstop made him a little bit of a liability, he certainly proved he deserved a spot on the cover.

Cursed by cover stardom?: No

MLB The Show 22 - Shohei Ohtani

No baseball player since Babe Ruth has been more exciting than Shohei Ohtani. The Japanese two-way superstar hit 46 home runs in 2021 while also compiling a 3.18 ERA and starting 23 games. There was no year when it was more obvious who should be the cover star than 2022, and Ohtani had another very impressive season. His offensive numbers dropped a little bit, as he hit with less power and also avoided stealing bases frequently, but his pitching actually improved. Batters only managed a .203 average against him all season, and he struck out more than 200 of them while keeping his walk total exactly the same as the previous year.

Cursed by cover stardom?: No