"Where's Juan Soto at?"; "Assumed it was going to be Shohei Ohtani" - Fans react to MLB The Show ft. Paul Skenes & others

MLB The Show is without question the biggest baseball video game franchise in the world. The beloved franchise continues to evolve and add new and exciting features, including the introduction of the Negro Leagues, as well as the popular Diamond Dynasty game mode.

Aside from the new gaming features and improvements to the graphics, one of the biggest questions every season has always been which player will be on the cover. Well, fans and experts did not have to wait long to see which player, or in this case, players will be gracing the cover for MLB The Show 25.

The franchise announced that a trio of young superstars will grace the cover of MLB The Show 25. The three players will be Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Elly De La Cruz of the Cincinnati Reds, and Gunnar Henderson of the Baltimore Orioles.

Naturally, fans are difficult to please so following the announcement, a number of them flocked to social media to share their opinions on the picks.

"I assumed it was going to be Ohtani for the next 9 years," one fan posted.

"Who invited de le strike out," another fan shared.

"No Bobby Witt Jr is criminal," one more added.

When any game announces the cover athlete or athletes, there tends to always be some backlash. It's clear that one of the decisions behind the selections of Paul Skenes, Elly De La Cruz and Gunnar Henderson is based on them being the next generation of superstars, yet some fans wanted to see more established stars such as Juan Soto or Bobby Witt Jr.

"Where’s Soto at???" one fan posted

"Bobby Whitt instead of Elly and it would have been a dub" another fan shared.

"Booooo where’s Lindor or Soto?" one more fan added.

The last two iterations of MLB The Show covers also faced some pushback from fans with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Jazz Chisholm Jr. being the cover athletes in 2024 and 2023, respectively.

MLB The Show 25 will be available one week before Opening Day

Not only has the cover for the latest installement in the Show series been released but also the important dates for the video game's availability. According to the press release, the latest version of the franchise will be launched on March 18 across most platforms, with early access for the game beginning on March 14.

PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X|S will all support the game upon it's release. Whether fans approve of the player choices on the cover, there will certainly be hype leading up to the game's release.