‘MLB The Show 2022’: Cover Athlete and Release Date of Popular Video Game Revealed

The cover athlete and release date of the newest edition of MLB The Show has been revealed. On Monday, Sony announced that MLB The Show 22 will feature Shohei Ohtani as the cover athlete, according to MLB.com. It was also announced that the baseball video game will be released on April 5, which will be the early stages of the 2022 season. 

MLB The Show 22 will be available to more gamers this year. The game, which fans can pre-order now, will be released for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, as well as Nintendo Switch for the first time. The cover revealed took place at New York City’s Times Square on a large 3D billboard. 

Ohtani had a 2021 season to remember. He won the AL MVP award after recording a .965 OPS with 46 home runs, eight triples and 26 stole n bases. He also was strong as a pitcher, posting a 3.18 ERA while striking out 29% of the batter he faced. In an interview with GQ Magazine, Ohtani talked about meeting his childhood hero, baseball legend Ichiro Suzuki. 

“Growing up,” Ohtani said, “Ichiro was for me the way that I think some kids, some people, look at me today. Like I’m a different species. Larger than life. He was a superstar in Japan. He had this charisma about him. But once I actually met him, and went to dinner with him, he was much closer to an average guy – which was kind of surprising.”  

Ohtani continued: “But he basically told me: ‘Remember to be yourself. You made it this far being yourself, so don’t change that, stay within yourself.’ And I kind of had to think about that… And so ever since that dinner with Ichiro, it kind of gave me the confidence to just be myself, to keep doing the right things, and to stay confident, to stay the course.” 

Along with winning the MVP award, Ohtani was named to the All-MLB First Team as a designated hitter and the All-MLB Second Team as a pitcher. He was also recognized for two titles in the Guinness World Records — he first MLB player to achieve 100+ innings and record 100+ strikeouts as a pitcher, and 100+ RBIs, hits and runs as a batter in a single season and the first player to start the MLB All-Star Game as a pitcher and a designated hitter.