Just found out that MLB 12 is going to feature Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays as their Canadian cover! Pretty happy about this, since I don't think there has ever been a Toronto-based sports team athlete on the cover of any major games.

He led MLB in 2011 with 43 HR and 54 HR in 2010.

Adrian Gonzalez of the Boston Red Sox will be on the American one.

Sweet!

Do Canadians like baseball?

Kinda wish they would give him the cover in NA but they probably think that is to big of a risk.

@bigsmoke77 said:

Kinda wish they would give him the cover in NA but they probably think that is to big of a risk.

I don't think they would ever do that for any Blue Jay.

@Claude said:

Do Canadians like baseball?

Only if we're winning.

@Claude said:

Do Canadians like baseball?

Only if we're winning.

Do Canadians like baseball?

Nice, Adrian Gonzalez on the American box art!

I remember a looonnngg time ( when i was in first grade?) our class would listen to either 91 or 92 world series.

@uniform:   Sorry, but being a big Atlanta Braves fan we saw some good battles with the Expos. Andre Dawson still remains one of my favorite players. Not to mention Pedro Martinez, damn, could he throw a baseball.   It does suck. That team just seemed to be done wrong.

I remember a looonnngg time ( when i was in first grade?) our class would listen to either 91 or 92 world series.

@uniform said:

@Claude said:

Do Canadians like baseball?

In Ontario we do, but if we're talking the entire country, it would go something like Hockey>Football>Basketball>Baseball. When I was a kid, baseball was a fixture in life. My family is crazy about baseball. Not only did I grow up playing in school and recreational, going to Jay games was a regular thing, and just about everyone I know has been to at least a couple games. Growing up we even attended the games of our city's semi-pro team in the Intercounty Baseball League. I am happy about this news. In fact, I believe Bautista deserves to be on everyone's game cover, but I do understand why he won't.

And people from Ontario wonder everyone else hates them. Good job making stuff up about the rest of Canada. Baseball is huge in the west and easily the second most popular sport behind hockey. It's also big in Quebec but Football is definitely number 2. I've yet to live anywhere in Canada where anyone cared about Basketball at all.

@Claude said:

@FrankCanada97 said:

@Claude said:

Do Canadians like baseball?

Only if we're winning.

I'm a pretty big baseball fan and thought it sucked when Montreal lost its team. But there again, no one was showing up to the ball games. I'm not sure why, could have been political, but they didn't. Kind of reminded me of the Florida Marlins, but now they have a new park to play in and a new name.

I'm not ever trying to be overly dramatic when I say this but they played in the worst stadium ever built to watch a baseball game. The Olympic stadium not only ruined the expos it fucked the entire province financially for years. It ended up costing something ridiculous like 1.5 billion and they didn't pay it off until 2006.

I would think Canadians would want the best Canadian in the MLB today, Joey Votto. 
Though I get the feeling no one outside of Cincinnati gives a shit about the Reds.

I enjoy baseball but we don't have any games on network TV here in Newfoundland. You need cable or a satellite to watch so I didn't see a game for about a decade until I stumbled across MLB.TV's free game of the day last season.

@Hunkulese said:

@Claude said:

@FrankCanada97 said:

@Claude said:

Do Canadians like baseball?

Only if we're winning.

I'm a pretty big baseball fan and thought it sucked when Montreal lost its team. But there again, no one was showing up to the ball games. I'm not sure why, could have been political, but they didn't. Kind of reminded me of the Florida Marlins, but now they have a new park to play in and a new name.

I'm not ever trying to be overly dramatic when I say this but they played in the worst stadium ever built to watch a baseball game. The Olympic stadium not only ruined the expos it fucked the entire province financially for years. It ended up costing something ridiculous like 1.5 billion and they didn't pay it off until 2006.

The worst thing about Olympic Stadium is that it's built in such a way that it can't just be imploded. It'll cost as much to tear down piece by piece as it did to build it. The SkyDome is also a terrible stadium IMO. When I see the stadiums in San Fransisco, Tampa Bay, Texas and so on I feel bad for Toronto fans who have to play in that ugly ball park.

And people from Ontario wonder everyone else hates them. Good job making stuff up about the rest of Canada. Baseball is huge in the west and easily the second most popular sport behind hockey. It's also big in Quebec but Football is definitely number 2. I've yet to live anywhere in Canada where anyone cared about Basketball at all.

I'm pretty happy with the cover, got both the PlayStation 3 and Vita copies for Jose Bautista in stereo.

Either put him on all your covers or none of your covers. Before people come on here to claim I'm defending Bautista, I'm actually a Yankee fan. I just think the developers should have more confidence in its product instead of pandering to Canadians with this move

@uniform said:

@Hunkulese said:

And people from Ontario wonder everyone else hates them. Good job making stuff up about the rest of Canada. Baseball is huge in the west and easily the second most popular sport behind hockey. It's also big in Quebec but Football is definitely number 2. I've yet to live anywhere in Canada where anyone cared about Basketball at all.

What the..? I didn't make anything up. What exactly ruffled your feathers here, my rankings? I spoke for Ontario, because that's where I've lived my life up to this point. The ranks were based on an internet search for the most popular sports in the entire country, and the pattern for quite a few websites seemed to follow Hockey>Football>Basketball, again, for the entire country. I never spoke for Quebec, British Columbia, etc etc, because I don't know how those provinces rank them. Sure, the ranks change if we're focused on a particular province, but we're talking the entire country.

I'd say your ranking sounds pretty accurate for Nova Scotia where I'm from, and DEFINITELY for B.C, which I've moved to, where football is even more popular than it is on the east coast.

ahem @JCTango:

@nachokicks said:

ahem @JCTango:

Doh! :O

I kind of wish they had just made him to cover for everyone. It's about (or is it aboot?) time a player for a canadian team makes it (outside of Jerome Iginla in 2003) as a cover athlete. And I freaking hate Adrian Gonzalez but I don't have a printer so I can't just use a fan created cover :-(