3 Chicago Cubs legends on our wish list for MLB the Show 25

Less than one month remains until the Chicago Cubs kick off the MLB season early in Tokyo on March 18 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. While fans are undoubtedly eager to see how this revamped roster, featuring a shiny new aircraft carrier in Kyle Tucker, performs against the best team in baseball, that same day will also mark the return of another annual baseball tradition—the release of MLB the Show. The 2025 iteration of the long-running video game is slowly pulling back the curtain with teasers showing all the new features coming this time around like a revamped franchise mode and the ability to explore high school and college years in Road to the Show.

As is the case with every new installment, however, a big highlight is the new legends joining the roster. Already, San Diego Studio has dropped three exciting additions in Roger Clemens, Manny Ramirez, and James "Cool Papa" Bell, but this is likely only the beginning. The Cubs continue to get plenty of love between old favorites like Ernie Banks and Fergie Jenkins and more modern icons like Kerry Wood and Greg Maddux, but I want to take yet another look at other fan favorites who deserve cards this time around.

A lot has changed with Diamond Dynasty since I last did this exercise in 2022. So many new card types have been added that expand how a player can be represented in the game (the Anthony Rizzo Out of Position pitcher card deserves special mention). New modes have added more ways to play and more rewards to earn. Most importantly for us here at CubbiesCrib though, a few beloved Cubs legends that we've long wanted have finally come to the game, like Sammy Sosa, Alfonso Soriano, and, briefly, Ron Santo.

Since this is my third time creating a Cubs MLB the Show wish list, I want to once again focus on names that I haven't addressed before. I will, however, give special mention to Derrek Lee, Hack Wilson, and Carlos Zambrano, who we're still longing for three years later. With that addressed, let's name three more we'd like to see SDS recreate

1. Aramis Ramirez

In Diamond Dynasty, the Cubs lack a bit of variety at third base. As mentioned above, Santo was briefly a fixture among the team's legends lineup and the annual Kris Bryant flashback cards reflect the highest heights of a 2016 hero. That's without mentioning flexing Javier Baez or someone else over to cover the hot corner. With both Wood and Mark Prior in the game at starting pitcher and Soriano in the field, why not add another fixture from the 2000s teams—Aramis Ramirez?

Though not the level of legend that Sosa or Banks is, Ramirez helped define an era of Cubs baseball for fans. At the heart of monstrous lineups that at times featured Lee, Soriano, Moises Alou, and more, he was a consistent force averaging 28 home runs a season from 2004 to 2011 and mashing to the tune of a .294/.356/.531 slash line and 126 wRC+ throughout his entire tenure with the team. Add to that two All-Star appearances, a Silver Slugger, and four years of receiving MVP votes, and you have the recipe for a very fun hitter that would also have some crossover appeal for Pirates and Brewers fans.

Adding Ramirez would be primarily about the bat given his career -72 DRS at third base, but that bat has given Cubs fans no shortage of memories. MLB the Show doesn't lack for card types nowadays to translate his best attributes to the game, but a prime card feels like a good bet that would specifically highlight his monstrous stretch from 2004 through 2008 when he regularly slugged well over .500. A Silver Slugger Awards Series card also makes sense to commemorate his 134 wRC+ 2011 campaign. Whatever the choice, it'd be a great time to bring Ramirez into the fold considering he only just got the call to the Cubs Hall of Fame alongside Wood last year.