MLB The Show 26 Cover Athlete Predictions: Top 5 Candidates

MLB The Show 25 changed up the formula when picking their cover athlete. They went with three young and budding superstars in Paul Skenes, Elly De La Cruz and Gunner Henderson. What will they do in 2026? See our Top 5 Candidates for the MLB The Show 26 Cover Athlete honors.

MLB The Show 26 Cover Athlete

It feels like they will go back to one player for the MLB The Show 26 Cover Athlete. With that, here are our Top 5 options.

5. Shohei Ohtani

Would this really surprise anyone? No.

But arguably the best player in baseball has not graced the cover of any of the last three years. Ohtani is the biggest athlete in the sport and likely the one that more non-baseball fans know than anyone currently playing. For this reason alone, putting Ohtani on MLB The Show 26 would make sense. From a marketing standpoint, he would help sell more copies as well.

While he is a great option, with the way MLB The Show has been picking their athletes, it feels unlikely that Ohtani makes it this time around but there is always that chance.

4. Aaron Judge

This is another Ohtani situation but there is a major difference.

Judge may be the second most popular player and he has not found his way onto an MLB The Show cover since 2018. A lot has happened since then. Including Aaron Judge aging like a fine wine. This man was born to hit baseballs and is on pace to easily be a first ballot hall of famer. He has a 9.7 WAR and won his second MVP in a row and his third in the last four years.

It is time to get Aaron Judge back on the cover.

Read More: What is the MLB The Show 26 Release Date?

3. Cal Raleigh

How can you not love the “Big Dumper”? No really though, that is an all-time nickname for an all-time catcher.

Not only did he hit 60 homeruns but he lead a franchise desperate for success to within one game of a World Series birth. What is even better is that he is as great of a defensive catcher as he is a hitter and it feels like he is ascending in a major way. After leading the MLB in Homeruns and finishing second only to Kyle Schwarber in RBI, it is hard to imagine a batter year to see Cal’s “Dumper” on an MLB The Show cover.

2. Tarik Skubal

Can we just talk about how incredible of a run this man has had?

He has had three straight seasons of an ERA under 3.00, which is already insane. Add into that, he has been at or near the top of all of baseball in strikeouts each of the last two seasons. Also, he has won two Cy Young Awards in a row. We are truly talking about one of the best pitchers of a generation and it feels like no one knows who he is.

It Skubal was in a bigger market, he would be on the MLB The Show 26 cover without question and based on the first images of the logo, there is a good chance it will happen.

1. Juan Soto

The problem for everyone else is that Juan Soto is in New York now.

The colors of the MLB The Show Logo look to be Orange and Blue and many have assumed Skubal would be the Cover Athlete. The problem is, the Mets are also that color and Juan Soto is one of the biggest players in the world as well. He somehow has never graced the cover of MLB The Show and has been oen of the most consistent and feared hitter in baseball for the last eight years. Not to mention he just hit 43 homeruns, and lead the NL in OBP all while his team struggled mightly around him.

Juan Soto is our guess for the MLB The Show 26 Cover Athlete but any of the other 4 are more than deserving as well.

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