Sony PlayStation Battle Keeps MLB Brand in the Picture

Spring training is still more than a month away for Major League Baseball but that doesn’t mean the competition isn’t still going on.

Sure, it’s not a battle for a World Series ring, but it is for something that may be burned into the memories of a whole generation of fans: the cover of Playstation’s MLB13 The Show. And the players don’t have a whole lot of control over who will make it.

Instead, the voting has all been done by fans who have been able to choose who they want on the cover via Facebook and Twitter since Jan. 7. Voting wraps up today.

What the seven players involved – the Yankees’ CC Sabathia, Dodgers’ Matt Kemp, Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen (above), Nationals’ Bryce Harper, Giants’ Buster Posey, Brewers’ Ryan Braun, and the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera – have done is make short films promoting themselves for the honor. And there are even a few who made some campaign promises along the way, such as Kemp’s promise to write you a generic note that shows that you’re his best friend and a former major leaguer or McCutcheon’s promise to help you get hair that looks like his.

So the whole campaign works as a double whammy to promote Playstation’s game as well as keeping fans engaged in MLB through the winter months. Add another marketing whammy since each short film ends with a reminder from the featured player to preorder the game from Best Buy, Target, Walmart, GameStop, or Amazon.com. Somebody hit a marketing home run here.

If that weren’t enough, a number of celebs have been roped in to tweet about it as well. Charlie Sheen wants Sabathia to win. Kobe Bryant apparently wants Bryce Harper to be on the cover. Eva Longoria’s pick? Matt Kemp.