MLB The Show should’ve gone with Jose Ramirez for the cover athlete

The folks at MLB The Show picked the wrong cover athlete for 2023.

Cleveland sports stars are getting passed over for all sorts of gis these days. We talked before about how Jacoby Brissett got passed over for a Pro Bowl spot that ultimately went to Tyler Huntley, but the pain remains for Clevelanders and their beloved athletes. MLB The Show opted to go with Jazz Chisholm from the Miami Marlins for their 2023 cover athlete.

If you don’t know who Chisholm is, that’s not surprising, he’s a mediocre baseball player, with a career .243 batting average and little more than hype to his name. If he were someone like Aaron Judge, who had a record-breaking season, then ok, you go ahead and put that dude on the cover, but a guy who isn’t even all that good, or has any sort of name value? That’s confusing.

Especially with guys like Jose Ramirez, a perennial MVP candidate, and an All-Star player, who is around to slap on covers of games. Historically, that’s the type of guy that the game usually goes for. Sure, they gambled on Fernando Tatis Jr for the ’21 cover, and they got lucky, but they’ve featured the best the game has to offer usually. Names like Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Bryce Harper, Miguel Cabrera, Joe Mauer, and the like.

Sure, they’ve had the occasional Yasiel Puig’s but at least Puig had a huge fanbase when he made the cover. Chisholm isn’t in that conversation. So why didn’t Ramirez get the cover? Well, Chisholm is young and brash and people think that’s what baseball fans want.

Plus, Ramirez isn’t in a big market, so that may have hurt this consideration. Smaller markets don’t get featured in national games as much but that may change in 2023.

The Cleveland Guardians are going to be on national television a few times in 2023

The Guardians will be on national television at least 10 times this upcoming season, with room for more. This is according to WKYC.com, which has not only their entire prime time schedule but their entire game schedule up on their site as well.

"April 1 @ Seattle Mariners (9:40 p.m.) – FS1May 14 vs. Los Angeles Angels (1:40 p.m.) – PeacockMay 21 @ New York Mets (7:08 p.m.) – ESPNMay 27 vs. St. Louis Cardinals (7:15 p.m.) – FOXJune 3 @ Minnesota Twins (7:15 p.m.) – FOXJune 17 @ Arizona Diamondbacks (10:10 p.m.) – FS1July 1 @ Chicago Cubs (7:15 p.m.) – FOXJuly 15 @ Texas Rangers (4:05 p.m.) – FS1August 6 vs Chicago White Sox (1:40 pm.) – PeacockAugust 17 vs. Detroit Tigers (7:15 p.m.) – FOX"

The national television exposure should help the Guardians and Ramirez get more noticed in the national media and maybe the Guardians leader will finally start to get the accolades he rightfully deserves heading into 2024.

Are you a fan of MLB The Show and are you going to pick up the game this year? Let us know in the comments