Angels News: MLB The Show 22 Reveals ‘MVP Edition’ Of Shohei Ohtani Cover

Ron Gutterman
Ron Gutterman
3 Min Read
via MLB on Twitter

On Monday, MLB The Show 22 announced that Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani would be the cover athlete for this year’s edition of the popular baseball video game. While unsurprising, it did put a final touch on what was an all-time great 2021 season.

His 46 home runs, 3.18 ERA over 130.1 innings pitcher, and blazing speed on the base paths one-upped what many believed was an impossible feat in surpassing Babe Ruth’s greatness from a century ago.

While Ohtani still has to prove consistent success over multiple seasons, perhaps no one has had a better individual year in the history of the sport.

To honor that, MLB The Show is giving Ohtani not one, but two covers for this year’s game. The standard edition was revealed on Monday. But on Wednesday morning, they announced an “MVP Edition” of the game, featuring a manga-style rendering of Ohtani, via MLB on Twitter:

If the excitement of an MVP edition isn’t enough to get fans interested, the beautiful artwork should entice plenty of people to make the purchase. Usually, MVP editions such as this go for a higher retail price than the standard version of the game.

In addition to the specialty artwork, fans will typically receive some form of in-game currency or other prizes as a reward for spending the extra money. There are still limited details regarding all of this, but more will be announced as the release date nears.

All editions of the game will be released on April 5, five days in to the scheduled start of the 2022 season. At this point, it remains unclear if the season — or even Spring Training — will begin by this date.

Ohtani, Angels have had no contract talks

Amid the ongoing lockout, players are not allowed to discuss contract extensions with their teams. However, rumors about a potential extension for Ohtani were circulating before the lockout began.

Ohtani did reveal, though, that he and the Angels have not spoken regarding a new contract, and that his main focus is on the 2022 season.

Ron Gutterman is a college student from Anaheim, California, and is currently the lead editor for AngelsNation.com. He is also a Staff Writer for LakersNation.com, RamsNewsWire.com, and RaidersNewsWire.com. He is a student attending Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, studying Sports Management. With Lakers Nation, Rams News Wire, Raiders News Wire, and Angels Nation, Ron assists in news, game coverage, analysis, and hot takes via his Twitter account, @rongutterman24. Ron's favorite Angels player of all time is either Mike Trout or Vladimir Guerrero. Ron began watching baseball when he was seven years old with his dad taking him to games. Ron's all time favorite Angels moment is when he was at Angels Stadium to watch the Halos throw a no-hitter in the first home game after the death of Tyler Skaggs. Contact: ron@mediumlargela.com