Earlier this month Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association and Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the creation of the MLB The Show Players League. It marked the first-ever competitive MLB The Show league solely featuring Major League players.
Each club has a player participating, with the Los Angeles Dodgers represented by Gavin Lux. MLB, the MLBPA and Sony will donate $5,000 on behalf of each participating player to a Boys & Girls Club affiliate in their team’s community.
The winner of the Players League will earn an additional $25,000 donation to the Boys & Girls Club in his community.
Games are live streamed on Twitch, and fans can also watch YouTube, among other digital platforms. The nightly games have provided MLB with another connection to fans as the wait for the season to begin nears one month.
As Lux plays his games, he will occasionally answer questions from fans and also show a lighter side through spontaneous reactions to the gameplay. More than all else, however, Lux is valuing the opportunity to interact with fans, per Cary Osborne of Dodger Insider
“The main thing, especially right now, there’s not a lot of fan interaction. So whether it’s Twitch or YouTube, it’s still a way for fans to interact with players and still get what they need and be able to talk. And I just thought it was a cool way to be able to do it,” Lux said.
“Not a lot of guys are doing it, and it’s another way to be able to interact with fans and be a little more relatable so they kind of feel like they know who you are more and kind of get a little more info on on you as a person,” Lux said.
Lux’s opinion of the Players League could be swayed by performance, as he’s an impressive 12-4. One of his recent wins was against Texas Rangers All-Star Joey Gallo, who was undefeated prior to suffering a 5-4 home loss to Lux. Through Sunday it still stands as Gallo’s only defeat.
With the top eight teams qualifying for the playoffs, Lux enters Tuesday with the fourth-best record. As the Dodgers’ top prospect works to represent the organization well in the virtual world, he’s garnered support from Justin Turner.
And @redturn2 just hit a two-run home run. Lux said they were talking today and Turner told him to "hit the weight room" because of this.https://t.co/iACvU9f4iI
— Dodger Blue (@DodgerBlue1958) April 17, 2020
Someone is posing on twitch as redturn2….good try buddy!!!!
— Justin Turner (@redturn2) April 17, 2020
Turner confirmed to DodgerBlue.com he was active in the Lux’s most recent Twitch stream. Turner offered words of encouragement and advice when Lux was batting with the Dodgers’ third baseman.
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