Sony yesterday announced Yankees RF Aaron Judge will be the cover athlete for Sony's "MLB: The Show 18" after "teasing the announcement throughout the day," according to Chris Cwik of YAHOO SPORTS. The news "shouldn’t come as a major surprise." Sony's teaser "contained the phrase 'The Future is Coming.'" Judge is an "obvious choice as the cover athlete." He is "young, excellent and he plays for arguably the game’s most popular team." It would, perhaps, be "more fitting" to have Astros 2B Jose Altuve or SS Carlos Correa on the cover, but "keep in mind these negotiations likely happen weeks before the news comes out." Judge joins Dodgers RF Yasiel Puig, Blue Jays 3B Josh Donaldson and Baseball HOFer Ken Griffey Jr. as "athletes who have been The Show’s cover athlete in recent years" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 11/6). In California, Bryant-Jon Anteola notes the cover is a "seriously looking Judge wearing his pinstripe Yankees uniform and looking ready to crush another baseball." Judge is the "first Yankees player to make the cover of The Show" (FRESNO BEE, 11/7).
