MLB: 5 possible cover athletes for the new Backyard Baseball game
By Asher Fair
Shohei Ohtani, DH, Los Angeles Dodgers
There is no argument against the fact that Shohei Ohtani is the new face of MLB, and he is the face of MLB in a way that no individual player has ever quite been.
Though he has not pitched since signing his new $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, his offense has more than made up for it.
With a recent first pitch walk-off grand slam, he became the sixth member of the 40 home run/40 stolen base club, and no player had ever managed to put up such numbers as early in the season as he did. He did it more than 20 games earlier than anybody else ever had, and becoming a founding member of the 50/50 club appears to be well within reach.
It should be interesting to see how Los Angeles plans to utilize his skills from the mound once he’s healthy enough to return to the starting rotation. For as good of a hitter as he is, his pitching numbers from 2021 to 2023 with the Angels are literally worthy of Cy Young conversation.
The Backyard Baseball franchise is known for giving players the ability to adjust their lineups however they’d like to. Back in the day, if you wanted Alex Rodriguez on the mound, you were free to put him there. With Ohtani potentially in the mix, it brings a new level to that decision.