Before the 95th playing of the MLB All-Star Game, I had written a draft of a story that described the game and events surrounding it as “mid”. In fact, I titled it the “Mid-Star Game”, stating the hard truths that players are not as excited to participate in a basic exhibition game in the middle of a grueling, 162-game season. Comparing the game and its overshadowing by the Home Run Derby to other North American sports leagues’ all-star events(I was about to get to that point when I stopped typing and watched the All-Star introductions), the MLB All-Star game was set to be another boring contest between some of the biggest and best stars from both the American and National Leagues. For the first part of the game, my prediction that this game would be “mid” was right. However, after the top of the fifth inning, I was proven wrong as something rare for an All-Star Game in recent years occurred. Offensive action and intense high-stake at-bats happened. Home runs and rallies were common in the late evening hours at Truist Park in the Cobb County region of Atlanta, Ga. Other cool off-field moments occurred as well like a holographic projection of Henry Aaron’s 715th career home run on this game’s date of 7/15/2025. This All-Star Game was probably the best one I have ever seen, definitely the best one since the 2017 contest that ended in extra innings. And this game had a dramatic conclusion that put into action a proposed way for a baseball game to be ended. It was approved to be used in the All-Star Game years ago, but hadn’t been tested in a live game… until Tuesday night in Atlanta. Let’s break it all down in successive order.
The Beginning of the Festivities: Kane Brown Sings “Georgia On My Mind” And Joins Local Rappers On A Stage Where The AL & NL All-Stars Are Introduced
The pregame festivities for this All-Star Game featured country music star Kane Brown signing the state anthem for the Peach State, then joining a bunch of local Atlanta-area rappers on a stage where all the All-Stars came onto. Instead of having them all stand on the first base and third base lines in the infield, they all came onto a stage where the singers were singing and some exotic lady dancers were dancing. The American League roster was positioned to the left(they had the third base dugout) and the National League roster was positioned on the right side of the stage(they had the first base dugout). The only AL “reserve” I cared for was Yusei Kikuchi of the Angels and unfortunately Yusei would not be partaking in the game due to him having just pitched on Saturday night. I was bummed at that and it seemed that every team got at least one of their players to participate in the game(even the lowly Chicago White Sox and Colorado Rockies) while for the second straight year there were no Halos involved directly in the game. At least Kikuchi showed up to be recognized for his successful first half as the sole Angels rep, and that was unlike some of the guys who opted not to participate in the Midsummer Classic on the AL side like José Ramirez, Alex Bregman and Julio Rodriguez. I guess if you’re the only rep of your team and although you’re not set to play in the game, you gotta show up. All about representation for all thirty teams, right?
Well, the American League lineup was introduced with Aaron Boone as manager and a legendary manager as a co-manager in Joe Torre, who was lucky to wear the road New York Yankees jersey he had worn so many times in between the years of 1996 and 2007. A former Yankee in Gleyber Torres was leading off at second base, then his Detroit Tigers teammate in Riley Greene was in the two spot out in left field. Aaron Judge batted third as the right fielder and the Home Run Derby champion from the night before in Cal Raleigh batted in the cleanup spot. The Seattle Mariners catcher is on a scorching streak right now, but I hope he goes into a post-Derby slump as a lot of recent Derby participants have. Other notable players in the AL lineup were Vladimir Guerrero Jr(making his fifth straight All-Star start at first base), Javier Baez(I envy that he basically stole an All-Star spot from Mike Trout, who certainly has enjoyed his extended All-Star break this year), and Jacob Wilson(the vagabond Athletics rookie shortstop who would have an in-game mic’d up interview along with his dad Jack Wilson in the stands).
The National League’s starting lineup with Dave Roberts as the manager featured Shohei Ohtani in the leadoff spot(again), the hometown star in Ronald Acuña Jr(who had been slated to compete in the HR Derby, but was replaced at the last minute by his teammate in Atlanta-suburb native Matt Olson), Ketel Marte at second base, Freddie Freeman in an emotional return to the place where he played the first decade-plus of his career at first base, Manny Machado at third base, Will Smith at catcher, Kyle Tucker in left field, Francisco Lindor at shortstop and Pete Crow-Armstrong in center field.
The starting pitcher for the American League was Tarik Skubal, the 2024 AL Cy Young Award winner, and for the National League Paul Skenes was the starter for the second straight All-Star Game. The national anthem was sung by the great country music group The Zac Brown Band, with the band’s namesake and three of his partners singing the Star-Spangled Banner while a flyover of military jets occurred. Fireworks went off(a lot of them at Truist Park throughout the night) and the game was set to begin in a short few minutes.
The Game Begins With An Early Couple Of Runs By The NL All-Stars, While The AL Team Gets Blanked Early On By Stellar Pitching By Skenes, A Lefty Legend And Other Hurlers
The game began with an easy 1-2-3 drubbing of Torres, Greene and Judge by Paul Skenes, who continued to prove why he’s one of the most exciting young ballplayers in the game. Meanwhile, Tarik Skubal found himself in some early trouble when Shohei Ohtani hit a slider off the end of his bat to center field for a leadoff single and Ronald Acuña followed by reaching on an infield ground ball to second base. Ketel Marte came up and hit a sinker thrown by Skubal down the right field line, with the ball going into the corner and Ohtani and Acuña both scored. Marte had a two-run double to give the NL a 2-0 lead. This occurred ironically while Skubal and Cal Raleigh were mic’d up by the FOX Sports broadcast, which certainly did its best to make this All-Star game broadcast less boring early on. Skubal was able to prevent further damage from occurring by getting Freddie Freeman to ground out, then had the first-ever All-Star Game Automated Ball-Strike challenge to review an 0-2 changeup that was called a ball by home plate umpire Dan Iassogna, who would be overruled by the ABS shown on the big screen at the ballpark as the ball was squarely in the strike zone. That was fun to see. Skubal got Will Smith to strike out swinging to end the first inning.
The NL held a 2-0 lead as Clayton Kershaw came in to pitch for probably the final time at the MLB All-Star Game. Chosen as a Legends selection after recently achieving his 3,000th career strikeout, Kershaw got Raleigh to line out on the first pitch and then got Vladimir Guerrero Jr to strike out. Dave Roberts then came out of the dugout to take his southpaw legend out of the game and Kershaw got plenty of applause from the Truist Park crowd. Missed opportunities for scoring occurred for both sides in the next few innings. In the top of the third, after a force out at second base, Freddie Freeman would be subbed out of the game by his manager in Roberts, who put Pete Alonso in and Freeman got a standing ovation from his old home fans. Logan Webb of the San Francisco Giants prevented the American League from scoring in the top of the third, while David Peterson of the New York Mets dealt with an AL threat in the fourth inning with a swift groundout. The National League was unable to add onto its lead until the bottom of the sixth inning when San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr walked and Brendan Donovan of the St. Louis Cardinals got an infield single. With runners on the corners, Pete Alonso came up against Kris Bubic of the Kansas City Royals and the batter known as the Polar Bear swung the bat strong and a four-seam fastball was belted out to right field. The ball landed in the Chop House stands of the park and it was a three-run homer by Alonso, who had won two HR-Derby titles earlier in his career. The National League had a 5-0 lead and we finally had some substantial offensive action in the All-Star Game. After getting an out in the next at-bat, Bubic would be taken out and replaced by Detroit Tigers right-hander Casey Mize, who gave up a two-out solo blast by Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks to right-center field. The NL had a 6-0 lead and they looked like they were going to cruise to only their second All-Star Game victory in the past 12 years . But the very next inning showed a very different story was going to unfold.
Off-Field Moments Such As The Annual Stand Up To Cancer Ceremony & A Holographic Recreation Of Hank Aaron’s 715th Home Run Are Shown
Before we continue on with the game action, there are a couple of off-field moments that occurred at Truist Park. Firstly, we had the middle of the 4th inning Stand Up To Cancer ceremony sponsored by MasterCard. The moving scene of tens of thousands of people holding up signs and placards with who they were standing up for was shown in the event that lasted a few short moments. That was definitely emotional. Something else that was occurred after the conclusion of the sixth inning. The field at Truist Park would show a holographic rendition of the old footage of Hank Aaron hitting the 715th home run of his career on the night of April 8, 1974, when he passed Babe Ruth’s record of 714 home runs(that still stands as an American League record). The ceremony showed the footage at old Fulton-County Stadium near downtown Atlanta on the night of Aaron hitting number 715. When that moment was shown on the broadcast and for the audience at the current home ballpark of the Atlanta Braves to see, a flare was launched from home plate to the spot in left-center field where the ball landed over the fence for the home run. Audio from the televised and radio broadcasts of that game between the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers was heard, as Aaron rounded the bases after hitting that homer off Los Angeles southpaw Al Downing. The famous footage of two field stormers patting Aaron on the back as he jogged towards third base was shown and the celebration that awaited him at home plate was seen as well. A pretty incredible thing that they were able to do at Truist Park was creating the holographic images of Aaron and Downing along with showing the massive size of the baseball as it was thrown to Hammerin’ Hank at the moment when he made history in passing the Babe to become the new Home Run King.
This was an incredible tribute that payed homage to the legendary batter who played most of his career in a Braves uniform. Henry Aaron passed away in January of 2021, just months before the All-Star Game that year was set to occur at Truist Park. But because of a political misunderstanding(that I won’t get into right now), the 2021 game was moved out of Georgia. Now, four years after he passed away, Aaron was being memorialized for the greatest thing he ever did on the baseball field. He did a lot of great things off the field as well. Aaron’s widow, Billye, was in attendance for this All-Star contest and she probably stuck around to see that historic recreation of her late husband’s most outstanding achievement in his playing career. I had no idea that a baseball park could have the technology to recreate such a magical moment. I had seen such playing surface visual graphics occur for other sporting events such as Final Four basketball games and big-time football games on the hardwood floor or grass turf field, but never at a Major League Baseball stadium had I seen something like that. I bet it was pure magic for the folks in attendance to see something like that. Definitely a surprise that nobody saw coming. Another notable off-field thing that occurred during the game was the singing of God Bless America by an opera singer, who had to restart the song after the microphone he was singing into was not connected to the stadium sound system. An easy fix occurred with a replacement microphone and the guy sung with his beautiful voice the lyrics of the song of national pride sung during the seventh inning stretch of special games at ballparks throughout the country(mostly the song is reserved for Sunday games). The game itself was starting to get more interesting before the middle of the 7th.
The AL-All Stars Answer Back With A Crooked Number In The Top Of The Seventh That Makes The Margin More Tight Heading Into The Late Innings
In the top of the seventh inning, the AL was desperate for a response to the four-run sixth inning that their pitching just surrendered to the National League. They got some immediate help with a leadoff single by Toronto Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk and a walk by Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda that forced Roberts to go to the bullpen as Adrian Morejon of the San Diego Padres was taken out of the game for San Francisco Giants reliever Randy Rodriguez. Brent Rooker of the A’s came up to bat for Ryan O’Hearn of the Orioles as the designated hitter, with Rooker providing a swing that he saved from his HR Derby performance the night before. Rooker hit a fastball out to deep left center field and the ball landed in the bleachers. It was a 3-run homer by Rooker, who cut the National League’s six-run lead in half. The American League All-Stars were finally on the board and this game turned on its heads. Rodriguez would walk Maikel Garcia of the Royals and Garcia would steal second base following a fly out and the throw by the NL catcher in the Rockies’ Hunter Goodman went out to center field, allowing Garcia to advance to third base. Garcia got batted into home plate by his Kansas City teammate in Bobby Witt Jr, who grounded out to second base. The score was now 6-4 in favor of the NL All-Stars. Roberts had to bring in another reliever following a fielding error and Trevor Megill of the Milwaukee Brewers ended the top of the seventh with the “home team” National League still in front. But the game had suddenly turned on its head and a dramatic ending was now in the realm of possibility.
Carlos Estévez came in to pitch for the American League in the bottom of the seventh, as the former closer for the Angels now on the Royals gave up a couple of base runners but was able to get himself out of the jam. In the top of the 8th, Jacob Misiorowski came in to pitch as the most controversial All-Star of them all in 2025. Misiorowski had just made his big-league debut with the Brewers roughly a month ago and had only pitched five games as a starting pitcher. But due to his fiery style of throwing pitches(able to crank up the velocity to triple-digits), the Miz was starting to gain popularity on the social media channels that MLB highlights are shown on and he was chosen as a replacement pitcher selection. That decision irked some players, mostly on the Philadelphia Phillies, who felt that they had two starters worthy of being chosen to the All-Star Game that weren’t. In spite of the criticism, Misiorowski showed what he was made of as he barely avoided having one of his 100+ mph pitches hit out of the park by Randy Arozarena of the Mariners and he stayed steady even when he gave up a two-out single. Misiorowski got pinch-hitter Zach McKinstry to line out to end the inning and the AL was still behind by two runs. The bottom of the eighth showed some moments of suspense and a legendary manager coming onto the field to take out a reliever from the game.
The Bottom of the 8th Features A Near Injury Scare To A Star Third Baseman Who Many Teams Want As A Trade Acquisition And Joe Torre Makes A Special Mound Visit In Making A Pitching Change
In the bottom of the 8th inning, Sean Smith of the Chicago White Sox came in to pitch and he threw a couple of fastballs inside on Arizona third baseman Eugenio Suárez, who ended up getting hit on the finger on the fourth pitch of the at-bat. Suarez had a bit of a painful reaction and that prompted Roberts and a trainer to come out and check on him. This injury scare definitely spooked the D-Backs and their fans, but also the fans of a potential team who might want to trade for Suárez at the deadline. Suárez was able to stay in the game, either due to there being no reserve players left on the bench for the National League team or just he felt fine. James Wood of the Washington Nationals pinch-hit for Hunter Goodman and grounded into a fielder’s choice that had Suárez out at second base.
After that, a significant moment occurred when Joe Torre came out of the dugout for the American League to make a pitching change. Something that hadn’t been seen in some 15 years of the Hall of Fame Manager who won four World Series titles as the manager of the Yankees in the last years of the 20th century(2000 is included in that time frame, in spite of most people considering the year 2K to be the very first year of the 21st century). Torre took the young Smith out of the game and that was a nice thing for Aaron Boone to do in having his old manager make a pitching change. Torre’s presence as an honorary co-manager of the American League team was special and it occurring in Atlanta where he played for and managed the Braves was pretty amazing. Andres Muñoz came in to pitch for the American League and gave up a walk to Corbin Carroll, but got the next two batters out to end the 8th inning with the score still 6-4 in favor of the NL. The ninth inning was certainly going to be dramatic as the American League batters were down to their last-chance swings.
The AL Rallies Against Two Top-Tiered Closers And Ties The Game At Six And It Stays That Way In The Bottom Of The Inning, Leading To A Unique Contest That Would Determine The Winner
The top of the ninth inning started, with Robert Suarez coming in to pitch for the National League, which was looking to close out this game with little to no drama. Suarez leads the entire sport in saves this season as a dominant closer for the San Diego Padres and he was seeking a clean outing here. Maikel Garcia came up first and he grounded out to third base, where Eugenio Suárez made a fantastic play in running to grab the ball with his bare right hand and throw it to Matt Olson, who caught it at first base. But that defensive play wouldn’t be enough to prevent a rally. Up next to bat was Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins and the homegrown Georgia star hit a ball to right field that ended up being a double. Bobby Witt Jr came up to bat and swung at an 0-2 fastball that ended up going down the right-field line in fair territory. Buxton came around to score and the AL was only down by one run. It was 6-5 and Dave Roberts decided to go fetch his last available arm out of the NL All-Star bullpen in Edwin Diaz, who had to deal with the game-tying run at second base and the go-ahead run at the plate. Jazz Chisholm Jr was up next in the lineup and he hit a ball hard down the first base line, but Olson was able to field the ball in sliding for it and he threw it to a charging Diaz, who stepped on first base in outrunning Chisholm for the out. Diaz had to turn around though and make sure that Bobby Witt didn’t come around to score. Witt was now at third base and the American League was down to their final out of the game.
The last hope for the AL All-Stars was Cleveland Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan, who came in for Riley Greene earlier in the game. Kwan had to somehow get a base hit off one of the best closers in the league in order to tie up this game and force it to the bottom of the ninth. After fouling off a couple of pitches on a two-strike count, Kwan swung at a slider Diaz threw and it dribbled off his bat softly. The ball went over slowly towards Suárez at third base and because of his speed Kwan was able to run safely into first base. Witt had scored from third and the game was tied up at six. An unbelievable comeback from the AL All-Stars who were now looking for the lead. Thankfully, Diaz was able to get out of the jam in getting Arozarena to strike out on an ABS-challenged pitch that was initially called a ball but it was clearly in the strike zone. The bottom of the ninth was on tap and the National League had to walk it off or there would be a special ending to this MLB All-Star Game.
Aroldis Chapman came in to pitch for the American League as the veteran fireballer was representing the Boston Red Sox. Chapman got Kyle Schwarber to ground out and then struck out Tatis. Brendan Donovan was the last batter up and he would hit a ball off his bat that didn’t travel far. Donovan thought that the ball was foul, but it actually was ruled fair by home plate umpire Dan Iassogna and Alejandro Kirk tagged Donovan out to end the inning. This game was all tied after nine innings. Usually in a regular game that would mean extra innings. But in this All-Star Game, something more entertaining would occur in order to determine which league would be the winning side. Something that was proposed a few years ago and hadn’t been tested out in a live game… until this one. Let’s see what it is and how it went down.
The All-Star Game Has A Swingoff Ending For The Ages: A HR Derby Mini-Contest Replaces Extra Innings & Three Batters From Each Side Get Three Swings To Hit Home Runs That Are Added Onto The Tally Of Each League
So the All-Star Game at Truist Park went into a swingoff stage that was implemented in the 2021 offseason during the lockout that delayed the start of the 2022 regular season. The swingoff would be used as an entertaining way to end the All-Star Game, where both leagues would have three batters each compete against each other in a shortened but more intense version of the HR Derby. The past few years, the All-Star games that were played didn’t make it to that stage where a swingoff was a legitimate possibility. But now it was going to happen and not all the players were aware that it was. The same went for the fans, as some of them decided to leave the game early(I wouldn’t blame them, the game started right before 8:30 pm local time). But both managers had to make those choices and have one of their assistant head coaches throw pitches behind a protection barrier used for the HR Derby and during on-field pregame batting practices. Kevin Burkhardt of FOX Sports interviewed both managers on the field and asked them who their three batters would be. Aaron Boone had a supply of sluggers to go through, but surprisingly he did not choose the biggest superstar of them all in Aaron Judge. Instead he chose Derby participant from the night before in Brent Rooker(who didn’t make it out of the first round but put on a good show), former Derby participant Randy Arozarena(he hasn’t won it yet) and Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda(who has a reputation for hitting bombs out of a spring training ballpark that his team has to play home games at this year). Dave Roberts went with a more impressive trio of rookie outfielder for the Marlins in Kyle Stowers(who was the sole representative for the other Florida team), Kyle Schwarber(who has a knack for hitting leadoff bombs to start out games) and Pete Alonso(the two-time HR Derby champ to wrap it up if necessary). Whichever trio got more HRs would be the winner of the swingoff and All-Star Game. But here’s the kicker: each batter would only have three swings maximum to hit as many home runs out as possible. So, a batter could get as many as three home runs in a round or come up empty-handed. The AL would get the first swing in each round and the NL was set to have a potential walk-off chance with the Polar Bear himself if it was necessary.
This was like a batting edition of shootouts in hockey on the ice rink and similar to penalty kicks in soccer matches, but the way to get on the board is smashing baseballs into the outfield stands. So, Rooker started this swingoff by receiving pitches from the Yankees first base coach Travis Chapman, who was invited to the All-Star Game as a part of Boone’s coaching staff. Wearing his number 75 jersey, Chapman threw some pitches out to Rooker, who whiffed at the first swing but then had his second swing be a successful blast to the left-center bleachers for the first home run of the swingoff. Rooker’s final swing would be another homer to the left-center bleachers and he gave the American League an early 2-0 lead in the swingoff. The bar was set and the NL had to respond in kind. The left-handed batting Kyle Stowers then came up to bat, but before he did he got interviewed by FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, who asked Stowers if he was expecting to be a part of this swingoff. Stowers admitted that he had no idea that the All-Star Game was going to end like this and he said that he would give this “my best shot and see what happens”. Young Stowers tried his best indeed, as he would have Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel(who used to be the Angels’ third base coach in the latter years of Mike Scioscia’s reign) throw balls out to him. Ebel has some HR Derby experience in recently helping Teoscar Hernandez win the Derby in 2024 at Globe Life Field, so he was the perfect guy to go to for throwing balls to sluggers in a derby format. Stowers’ first swing was way short of home run distance, but his second swing barely had the ball make it over the tall brick wall in right field for a home run. The NL was on the board, but Stowers’ third swing would be a pop fly. So, the AL had a lead of 2-1 in the swingoff entering Round 2.
In Round 2, Randy Arozarena led it off and sought to pad the lead for the American League in the swingoff. Randy could have potentially made it as big of a gap as 5-1 if he hit a homer on all three of his swings. Arozarena’s first swing would be a line drive base hit, not good enough for this home run swingoff. But his next swing ended up flying high in the air and the ball had enough trajectory to make it to the left-field seats for a home run. The AL had reclaimed its two-homer lead, but Arozarena’s final swing ended up being very costly. Arozarena hit the ball far off his bat, but it fell just short of the warning track in center field. It was a 3-1 lead for the AL All-Stars, who should have prayed for a bigger lead because Kyle Schwarber was coming up and he was about to inflict massive damage on the baseballs that Dino Ebel would be soft-tossing to him. Having the second-most home runs hit of any batter since 2017, Schwarber was ready to go to work and his first swing belted the ball to deep center field. The ball landed in the nature section where the batters eye was set up in and the NL was back down by one just like that. For his next swing, Schwarber swatted the longest homer of the competition with a blast to the right-center field seats that was similar in length to some of the homers blasted out by Cal Raleigh and Oneil Cruz the night before in the actual derby. The score was tied 3-3 and Schwarber wasn’t done yet. On his third and final swing, Schwarber ended up going down to a knee when he pulled the ball deep to the Chop House to give the NL the lead. Schwarber had successfully performed a swingoff “hat trick” and the NL was ahead 4-3. But it wasn’t over yet. The final round had to occur and all the pressure was on Jonathan Aranda to hit the maximum amount of homers on all of his swings. Pete Alonso would be used if Aranda hit at least one home run, but if Aranda came up empty-handed the swingoff would be over and the National League would win the competition and the game.
The Mexican-born first baseman with only 11 home runs in the season so far was interviewed by Tom Verducci of FOX and he would step up to the plate. Aranda sought to be a hero for the AL, even if it was in vain due to Alonso being on tap. Aranda’s first swing would be well-hit, but not well enough as the ball landed way short of the warning track in right-center field. The second swing by Aranda was dramatic, as it looked like the ball had enough trajectory to make it into the stands. But the tall brick wall in right field stood in the way and the ball hit the top part of it. It would have been a home run in basically every other park in the country(save for PNC Park in Pittsburgh with the Roberto Clemente Wall and a rather tall but shallow right field wall at Camden Yards in Baltimore), but it was no good at Truist Park. That was a devastating turn of events there, as the final swing for Aranda would determine whether Pete Alonso would come up next or not. If Aranda managed to hit a ball out of the park and Alonso came up empty on his three swings, then there would probably be a sudden death swingoff stage where the hitters would alternate between swinging once at a time until one of them came up empty-handed while the other succeeded and that’s how the winner would be determined at that point.
Thankfully, we didn’t need that as Aranda’s final swing ended up having the ball fall well short of the left-field wall. The National League All-Stars had won the first ever swingoff in All-Star Game history and they had won their second All-Star Game in the past 12 years. An amazing ending to a magical night of baseball excellence. This game had everything in it plus some. Three home runs, a come-from-behind rally from six runs down, a tribute to the true Home Run King and an epic swingoff to crown the winner. The NL had to do a little bit more than expected to get this All-Star win, but they succeeded. The reward was this game being remembered as one of the most exciting Midsummer Classics played in modern times. Does it beat Bo Jackson’s efforts at the 1989 All-Star contest at the Big A(when it was at its largest capacity)? Probably not. Does it top the back-to-back years of home runs hit by Mike Trout? I would say no. But it’s definitely up there among the top echelon of All-Star Games. It’s probably the best one in the past decade and definitely the best one in the last five years. This game was well deserved for Atlanta, whose Braves may stink this year but they at least got to host an All-Star Game and events that were incorrectly moved away from their home ballpark in 2021. Twenty-five years of waiting(the old Turner Field hosted it in 2000) and they got a great game that was preceded by an awesome HR Derby that had a catcher win the event for the first time ever. Truist Park showed out big time as the second-youngest ballpark currently in all of MLB.
Kyle Schwarber was named the Ted Williams All-Star Game MVP, as he basically stole the award from Pete Alonso, who would have won it with his three-run shot had it not been for the swingoff. Alonso could have won it anyways if the swingoff had to be determined by his bat, but that didn’t happen. Either way, it was still a great All-Star that definitely wasn’t mid. Schwarber winning the award is fitting, as next year’s Midsummer Classic will occur at his home ballpark of Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pa. That game will have a tough act to follow and hopefully they will succeed in doing so. In 2027, the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field will get its fourth chance to host the best and brightest stars in the big leagues of baseball as the renovated classic baseball haven will definitely provide a good showing on the North Side of Chicago. As of now, there is no team that has volunteered to host the 2028 All-Star Game that is set to coincide potentially with the Olympic Games occurring that year in Los Angeles. Baseball will be a part of the sports played by the Olympian athletes and the entire tournament will occur at Dodger Stadium. The only question is how an All-Star Game and 162-game schedule can fit in with an Olympic tournament that could potentially include big-league stars on their respective countries’ rosters. We shall see how that shakes out and what the scheduling plan will be. One thing is for sure: I sure was proven wrong by the All-Star Game’s entertainment value. Even though it seems a little boring due to the star pitchers dominating for the most part, sometimes the bats do break out and they give people a reason to root root root for a fantastic ending. And the folks in Atlanta received it in an unexpected, exhilarating form.
Kent Bewley's News Story Collection 