New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge is making his second appearance as the MLB The Show cover athlete.
San Diego Studios announced in a trailer reveal on Tuesday that Judge will serve as the cover star for MLB The Show 26, which will be released on March 17.
Gamers who preorder the digital deluxe edition will have early access starting on March 13.
In the official release from PlayStation’s website, the official gameplay trailer will be released on Feb. 3. One of the features included in this year’s game is the return of the World Baseball Classic in Diamond Dynasty mode.
The cover features a shot of Judge wearing a Team USA jersey, in addition to his traditional Yankee pinstripes.
Judge was the first player to commit to the U.S. for the 2026 WBC. He will also serve as the team captain for the squad.
San Diego Studios attempted to throw gamers off the scent with an announcement on Monday that there would not be a “new cover athlete” for the upcoming game.
Judge previously served as the cover athlete for MLB The Show 18 coming off his historic rookie season in 2017. He received the honor again this year after being named AL MVP in each of the past two years and three times in the previous four years.
Since MLB The Show became MLB’s officially-licensed video game franchise in 2006, Joe Mauer had been the only player to serve as the cover athlete for the main game multiple times. He did it in back-to-back years in 2010 and 2011.
Judge is the only Yankees player who has been on the cover of the game. Yankee legend Derek Jeter was the cover athlete for the special edition release of MLB The Show 23.
MLB The Show 26 will be available for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.
