The All-Star game is later today, and fans around the game are waiting eagerly for the star-studded event while baseball’s best players prepare to take the field. These days, the Midsummer Classic doesn’t hold the same influence as it did when it decided home field advantage for the World Series prior to the 2017 season. Even so, the exhibition remains a point of pride for players. The AL has historically dominated over the years, as they won every year between 2013 and 2022 until the NL finally snapped that streak in 2023. The junior circuit took the crown back last year, however. Who will emerge victorious this year? There’s a level of randomness to a one-game event like this one that can’t be ignored, but that doesn’t mean we can’t evaluate the talent on each roster and attempt to predict who will come out on top.
The starting pitchers for each league are difficult to choose between. Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes are two of the most dominating arms in the sport. Skenes has a 2.01 ERA and 27.9% strikeout rate this year, while Skubal has a 2.23 ERA backed up by an absurd 33.4% strikeout rate. Perhaps Skubal’s overwhelming strikeout stuff could give the American League a slight edge, but a number of other arms will appear throughout the game as well. The National League has a couple of more unconventional picks, as veteran lefty Clayton Kershaw will take the mound at some point during the game as a “Legend Pick” by the commissioner’s office despite his numbers in ten starts this year being more solid than spectacular. Another wild card on the NL roster is rookie Jacob Misiorowski, who has started just five MLB games so far but has a 33.7% strikeout rate that rivals that of Skubal.
While there are some reasons to think the pitching options favor the junior circuit, the NL benefits from having arguably the stronger group of position players. Perhaps no one in the NL can hold a candle to the pairing that is Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh, but with Jose Ramirez sitting the game out this year and the unconventional pick of Javier Baez patrolling center field to start the game for the AL it’s not hard to see how the senior circuit could stake out an advantage. All nine of the NL’s elected starters figure to participate in the game, meaning Skubal and the rest of the AL’s pitchers will have to contend with a heart of the order that figures to feature Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuna Jr., and Kyle Tucker. The NL also figures to be no slouch defensively, with Francisco Lindor and Pete Crow-Armstrong offering two of the sport’s very best gloves up the middle.
Of course, it’s not just the starters who will play in the game. Jonathan Aranda, Byron Buxton, and Bobby Witt Jr. are among the options on the AL’s star-studded bench, though players like Pete Alonso, Elly De La Cruz, and Corbin Carroll are hardly slouches in their own right. Should Boone and Roberts opt to go for traditional closers in this evening’s game, both will have formidable options as well. Edwin Diaz is representing the Mets this year with a 1.66 ERA and 19 saves so far, while Astros southpaw Josh Hader sports a 2.53 ERA and 25 saves.
Both rosters are extremely impressive from top to bottom, as any collection of All-Stars should be. Which side will come out on top in tonight’s contest? Have your say in the poll below:
How come there wasn’t a choice.
C) Nobody Cares.
You cared enough to comment lol
Isn’t that worse for MLB. That people care enough to mock it? Next year the commissioners office puts in their little league grandchildren on the roster.
YoU cArEd EnOuGh To CoMmEnT is the most tired retort on the internet can we get some new material
D) Ends in a tie
Bud Selig on line 2.
If that happens and let’s say the game goes to extras(also ghost runner not at 2nd)15 innings. Each manager can have 1 player for a 5 pitch swing off to determine the winner.
And if it was ever a fan vote thing weeks prior. Most would choice Ohtani and Arson.
Alex: You called it!
Shame that it’s become more of a celebrity softball match than the competitive event it was a few decades ago.
I’m surprised Manfred didn’t try to punish ATL fans again for the state’s voting. THAT was classy.
Even worse, home run derby lol
That was actually surprisingly entertaining.
C
I even remember when the game, not all the pre-game stuff used to be the most important thing. No wonder so many players are opting out after being voted in.
The team that scores the most runs will probably win it.
Although, it could be the team that allows the fewest runs.
I beg to differ.
So noted!
The team that scores the most runs will pull this one out.
It will be a 4 inning postponement after 6 rain delays
What’s Vegas paying out?
Less than it takes in.
I’ll only watch if there’s a huge brawl. Even the umpires start fighting each other. The All-Star Game needs Frank Drebin!
Pardon me, is this an official bat?
Alan Porter pulls out the jiu-jitsu moves.
Is the All Star game today?
When are they going to flush it, or at least rename it the “worthless and boring exhibition of random players at the 60% mark of the season.”
I’m anxiously awaiting the surprise start at NL SS by the third Holiday brother. And Jac Caglianone pitching the second for the AL. Got to hype those prospects more.
I don’t care about the game. I just wanna see the all-star game red-carpet show (is this happening again?). I want to see Ronald Acuna Jr come out looking like Big Bird.
I agree with “cplwhite”. As a long time baseball fan , the all star game meant more to me before interleague play, and please stifle the snickers, 24×7 exposure. Growing up six blocks from Yankee Stadium, seeing any star from the West Coast was a treat. Seeing Downtown Ollie Brown in those Padres uniforms, or the Reds in those sleeveless outfits – well enough old guy nostalgia.
I much prefer WBC games.
Great point. Interleague play has taken most of the sheen off the ASG. Couldn’t agree more.
All I do now is hope Boston players don’t get hurt and other ALE players get sprains, strains and slumps. Not healthy.
Downtown Ollie Mustard and Brown and his cannon
I don’t know, but I’m guessing that Cal Raleigh hits a bomb. That’s my prediction for the All-Star game.
The last All Star Game I truly cared about ended in a tie because people didn’t want pitchers going for more than one inning. At that point, I realized that the game was completely meaningless to the players and managers. I just figured that if they don’t care about it, why should I? It’s been over 20 years and my feelings have not changed at all.
Oh, man. I remember that debacle. What a buffoonish spectacle. I miss the days of the 3-inning All-Star starters. But we have to bend to the “now” generation. I know, I’m an old man. But I would like nothing more than to enjoy MLB the way I did in 1968. Rule changes and starting pitchers being hailed as warriors for pitching a complete game ruined that,
Honestly from my experience, if today is the “now” generation, then the one from the 60s could be considered the “me” generation… Not sure who’s worse…
The Game went 11 innings and the NL did not have enough pitchers. One or two pitchers who pitched on Saturday or Sunday only had 15-20 pitches left in their arm. The league then went to lengths to ensure that Sunday (and sometimes Saturday) starters could be replaced before the All-Star Game. And now there is no 10th inning (HR Derby swing off will break any ties now).
You say that as if any of it is a good thing. THAT is the problem.
It was designed to be a meaningless exhibition game. The effort to give it some meaning wasn’t exactly popular, and no ASG manager is going to want to be accused of burning up a lot of innings for pitchers on opposing teams. So, it is what it is, and pretty much always has been.
FWIW, I passed on the opportunity to buy ASG tickets when it was played in LA last year. They cost almost as much as a World Series game but is played like a spring training game. No thanks.
All-Star managers: please manage the game like Game 7 of the World Series. Pinch run with the fastest player off the bench, and then worry about the defensive substitutions. Bring a lefty starter to pitch to a lefty batter. Don’t just have rightfielders pinch hit for rightfielders, and third basemen pinch hit for third basemen.
Remember for a few years the winning league got to host the first game of the world series. Then the teams that were in playoff contention got something very important to play for. As I recall the America league was winning most of those games so they put an end to it.
The winning league won full home field advantage in the World Series. It was a silly idea that I believe began in 2003 and was mercifully ended around ten years ago.
I still say that instead of record – since an AL team and an NL team have fairly disparate schedules, making the record comparison kind of unequal anyway – WS home field should be determined by the overall AL vs. NL record throughout the season
Not sure what you mean by disparate, but since every team now plays every other team, the schedules are less disparate than ever. I personally like that even teams having clinched a playoff berth early can still play meaningful games to the very end of the season.
Schedules are less disparate than ever since every team plays every other team at least once, but they’re still pretty different. Teams now play 46 interleague games every season, vs. 116 games within their own league. The Yankees and Dodgers last year, for example, had 86 common games on their schedule (The Dodgers’ 43 games vs. non-NYY AL opponents, and the Yankees’ 43 games vs. non-LAD NL opponents). So an AL and NL team only have ~53% schedule overlap. That’s nearly half the schedules being different!
Ftr I think doing home field in the world series by record is fine, but “overall league vs. league matchup” was my alternate idea to the All-Star Game back in the day, and I do think it could still make some sense to do it that way.
I always liked that ASG was for Home Field advantage in the WS. It made sense; the best players from each league (which would feature more contending teams players), is a good way to determine Home Field advantage in the WS. It was cool that the ASG meant something other than just marketing and selling stuff, like all the other leagues ASG.
When they did away with that, there wasn’t interleague play yet, so Home Field always went to the best team in the worst division…and that was more silly…
Inter-league play began in 1997, so it actually preceded the first ASG that decided World Series home-field advantage by several years. I don’t see the point that it gave players in the ASG something meaningful to play for, since the majority of players in those games play on teams that are unlikely to go to the World Series.
Personally, I can’t remember the last time I sat through an entire ASG, whether it was “meaningful” or not. They tend to be quite dull, honestly.
BlueSkies — Sorry, I meant the ‘unbalanced schedule’. Yeah, interleague was ’97, but even then it was only one Division at a time, rather than the full league play, and the balanced schedule now.
At least when there was Home Field on the line, I felt the ASG were dynamic and the players really played, as I recall anyway.
Not so long ago, home field advantage alternated between the AL and NL annually, and not long before that, no NL and AL teams met during the regular season. This made the World Series a real contest between the two league champions. For better or worse, the concept of leagues is melting away. I feel a big part of baseball tradition is being lost. Considering, the lack of consequence of the ASG seems to me like small potatoes.
I might have this wrong but based on fWAR, it seems the NL has 88.4 fWAR while the AL has 82 fWAR, so I’ll assume the NL will win this contest.
The fWAR difference is 88.4 – 82.3 = 6.1. Assuming a single game scales fWAR impact conservatively (e.g., 1/162 of a season), the NL’s advantage suggests a slight edge, translating to roughly a 0.6-1 run advantage in a game.
For simplicity, let’s model a close game where the NL’s fWAR edge results in a 1-run victory. A typical low-scoring All-Star game (e.g., 4-3 or 5-4) aligns with this. Given the NL’s advantage, a plausible final score is:
NL 5, AL 4
Sit back and enjoy watching some of the game’s best compete! Have baseball fans always been this miserable???
MLB will pay tribute to that legendary moment with a special presentation, airing live on FOX, in which Aaron’s homer will be recreated through the use of projection mapping and custom pyrotechnics in the ballpark at the end of the sixth inning or later, depending on lighting.
It’s being broadcast on FOX, that’s a big part of the problem with the ASG. Worst network for watching a sporting event. Followed closely by the Disney/ABC/SECSPN network.
Who cares! MLB is becoming more of a joke year after year. Wait? What are the odds for the All Star Game? Oh wait, Pete Rose was banned for betting on baseball. But MLB is ok with promoting betting and everyone else betting on baseball.
They caved in and took Pete Rose off the permanently-ineligible list and you’re still complaining…
My problem is MLB being two-faced. Ban a player for life for betting on games but then promotes betting on their games throughout every game and chance they can.
If no betting on baseball is their stance. Then absolutely NO betting whatsoever on the sport for anyone.
The last great moments i can remember from the All Star Game (aside from the hilarious ones involving Randy Johnson, John Kruk, and Larry Walker) is in 2001 when Arod moved over to 3B so Cal Ripken Jr. Could start the game at SS (the game also featured the Tommy Lasorda tumble after being hit with a flying bat) or the 2002 game when Torii Hunter robbed Barry Bonds of a Home Run and Bonds picked Hunter up and carried him on the field. Once they made home field in the World Series dependent on who won the game it lost it’s luster
If the NL doesn’t win i will be completely shocked. Gleyber Torres leading off? Ryan O’Hearn as the DH? C’mon. NL is WAY better than AL and it’s not even a question at this point in my eyes
NL is far superior but anyone can win any one game.
History doesn’t say that. This year you could be right.
It is an outrage that not a single Angel player is in Atlanta. Several deserving snubs on this team. How would Yankees or Red Sox or even Cubs fans feel if that happened to you? This is not the first time this has happened to the Angels either. It’s a big middle finger to us Halo fans.
Name some players that should have gone and who they should replace? I like the big middle finger to Angel Fans. Not the mean kind of middle finger but the fun kind that says haha. Go Mariners
Aside from Chapman, no other Red Sox players played as far as I know. Crochet opted out.
So I gelt the Sox weren’t represented either.
In all seriousness, it’s a pointless game. I didn’t even watch it.
Crotchet was there so they were represented. He pitch Sat so it was too early for him. Just realized that Julio was not there. Guys that opted out still go most times. I think Julio has done a bunch of work getting his swing right. Guys are tough on him but he is still a kid.
The game was actually fun to watch. Players were having fun with each other. Micd up and talking to announcers. Middle of game got a bit boring but overall fun to watch. No other AS game is worth watching.
I liked the hit off for the win especially since it is way better than the tie. I do think it would have been better to have any player on the roster hit over those in the game. A Rooker Judge Raleigh vs Turner ??? Alonso would have been much better even though the ending was good. I thought Cal was still out there but maybe like Skubal they all showered and were drinking beer.
He could’ve picked any three players for the derby, at least according to the rules. Boone the buffoon blew it.
I wonder if they were dressed and showered. Would have been cool to see Cal win it for the AL and be AS MVP too. I am a bit biased though. Oh and might as well get MVP too. Raleigh catching and hitting like he is against Judge playing OF the nod goes to Cal. Mentally and physically tougher.
I did a search to see how many more HRs Cal would have in NY and Aaron in Seattle. Baseball Savant said Aaron would have 1 more in Seattle and Cal 1 less in NY. They said power is power. I think it was an opinion not taking each hit and overlay the stadiums. No way would Cal ha ve 1 less in NY. That RF wall is a bit close for him to have less. There are guys that argue for Cal but more for Judge. Dumb some people will not consider the physical toll he takes by foul tips etc. Then going over plans with pitchers studying opposing batters then opposing pitchers. Will be very surprised if Cal keeps this up but if they finish about the same as now Cal hands down should be MVP.
Yawn.
The derby was kinda cool but Boone the buffoon blew it. He’s almost as bad as Cora, probably even worse in key games.
Other than that, can we carry on with the regular season now that the celebrity showcase is over?
This is why I prefer the WBC to anything else. Playing for your country means so much more
Strangely enough the players didn’t seem to think so. They were clearly having a great time, which made this ASG more fun to watch as a fan than any I can remember. The contest itself is completely meaningless, so I suggest getting over it.
Kershaw pitching mic’d up was the highlight for me, though.
I guess that’s good they enjoyed it. Onto the regular season now
The game was ruined by an extra inning jerk off contest. I used to record every game from 82 on. I quit when I moved to Africa. No need to watch it anymore.