NEWYou can now listen to Pakinomist articles!
This week’s All-Star festivities in Philadelphia will be a hometown showcase.
The Phillies have two players – Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber – competing in the Home Run Derby on Monday. A day later, four more Phillies players – Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo, Brandon Marsh and Jhoan Duran – will join Schwarber and Harper in the All-Star Game.
On the American League side, it will also be a homecoming for Millville, New Jersey native Mike Trout, whose 12th All-Star Game will carry special meaning.
With All-Star week about to get underway, here are 10 storylines to watch.
Who will be the starting pitchers?
Rowan Kavner: There are two strong options for American League manager John Schneider. The Yankees’ Cam Schlittler leads AL pitchers in bWAR, ERA and WHIP, while Schneider’s Blue Jays’ ace Dylan Cease leads AL pitchers in fWAR, strikeouts, strikeout rate and opponents’ batting average. They have clearly been the two best pitchers in the AL.
It’s a little more complicated in the National League.
Jacob Misiorowski would have been the obvious choice in the midst of a historically underwhelming season. He leads all qualified MLB starters in ERA, strikeouts, WHIP and opponents’ batting average. Shane Bieber (in the shortened 2020 season) and Gerrit Cole (in 2019) are the only qualified starters to ever record a strikeout rate higher than Misiorowski’s (39.6%) over a full season.
The only problem? The Miz won’t be there. He has been replaced because he will pitch on Sunday and is unavailable for the All-Star Game. Paul Skenes might have made sense, but he faces Misiorowski on Sunday (and hasn’t had the other top contenders in the first half).
NL manager Dave Roberts told me last week that being the hometown pitcher “has to carry some weight” as he weighs his decision. If he chooses to go with a Phillies pitcher, there are two options: Sánchez and Luzardo.
Sánchez would have been the obvious choice until he coughed up nine runs in Kansas City on Monday. Despite that clunker, as long as he’s been cleared to pitch three days after his start on Saturday, he would make a lot of sense. Atlanta’s Chris Sale, Cincinnati’s Chase Burns and Roberts’ World Series star Yoshinobu Yamamoto should also be among the other top considerations.
Cristopher Sánchez has been fantastic in the first half of the season for the Phillies. (Phebe Grosser/MLB Images via Getty Images)
A farewell to Justin Verlander
Deesha Thosar: This week’s All-Star week festivities will serve as a farewell stage for Verlander, giving his peers and fans a chance to celebrate his remarkable career. After announcing he will retire after the season, the future first-ballot Hall of Famer will take one final All-Star bow as one of the sport’s most accomplished pitchers.
Verlander is a throwback from a generation of pitchers who played the game with different priorities, including pitching deep into games, emphasizing durability and winning, and defining a legacy through consistency and longevity. It’s fair to question whether we’ll ever see someone like him take the mound again.
Justin Verlander ends his career with the team he started it with. (Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
Few careers can match Verlander’s resume. The 43-year-old is a 10-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award winner, a two-time World Series champion and the 2011 AL MVP. The right-hander has spent over two decades overpowering hitters, being the active leader in strikeouts (3,554), wins (266), complete games (26), games started (556) and innings pitched (3,571.1). Whatever MLB has in the works to honor Verlander in Philly, it’s sure to be a fitting tribute to one of baseball’s all-time greats.
Hometown Stars In Home Run Derby
Kavner: In 2018, the Nationals’ Bryce Harper beat the Cubs’ Kyle Schwarber in the final out to win the Home Run Derby. Eight years later, now Phillies teammates, they will meet again in front of their hometown fans.
It is the first time since the 2018 derby that two teammates are competing. (That year it was Schwarber and Cubs teammate Javier Báez).
Harper has selected Dodgers third-base coach Dino Ebel, one of his World Baseball Classic Team USA coaches, as his Derby pitcher. Ebel pitched to Schwarber during last year’s All-Star Game swing-off, helping Schwarber launch three home runs on three pitches to earn MVP honors.
Speaking of that downturn…
Thosar: Could another Home Run Derby style decide the All-Star Game? After last year’s dramatic tiebreaker captivated fans, including Schwarber, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with three home runs, the option is back on the table in Philadelphia.
Under MLB’s All-Star rules, games tied after nine innings skip extra innings and go straight to a swing-off. Three manager-selected hitters from each league get three swings each, and the team with the most home runs after all innings will claim the victory. The format was introduced to avoid overworking pitchers while adding late-game drama.
There is no way to predict another draw, but all the ingredients are there. There’s elite pitching, stacked lineups and every run will come at a premium, so another swing-off is still a real possibility. If that happens, who will be crowned the hero? Last year in Atlanta, after the NL and AL finished in a 6-6 tie for ninth, we saw Brent Rooker vs. Kyle Stowers in round one, followed by Schwarber vs. Randy Arozarena in round two, and finally Jonathan Aranda vs. Pete Alonso in round three. The NL won the All-Star Game, 7-6, after the unprecedented swing-off.
Trout to start in hometown All-Star game
Kavner: The Trout’s 12th All-Star Game will be a particularly memorable one.
Trout’s hometown of Millville, New Jersey, is less than 50 miles from Philadelphia, and the Angels superstar has been thinking about the possibility of playing in this All-Star game since before the season began.
“It would be huge,” Trout told me two weeks ago, when he was still on the injured list with a hamstring strain. “It would definitely be special.”
The trout has returned from his pre-stretch – as he promised to do – just in time. He starts in the outfield for an AL team that could use his pop with Aaron Judge injured.
Which AL Rookie Will Step Up?
Kavner: It’s a special year for rookie talent, and much of it will be on display on the American League roster.
Munetaka Murakami returned from his hamstring injury just in time to be added to the American League roster after launching 20 homers in his first 57 big league games. Kevin McGonigle is already one of the most valuable shortstops in the game at 21 years old. Cleveland has two AL Rookie of the Year contenders in the game in second baseman Travis Bazzana and pitcher Parker Messick.
They’ve all risen to the occasion in their first MLB season, and it will be fascinating to see who holds their own — or takes their game to another level — against the sport’s best competition.
Munetaka Murakami returned from the injured list just in time for the All-Star Game. (Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images)
MLB continues to showcase international stars
Thosar: Is it the World Baseball Classic or the All-Star Game? Just four months after another successful WBC, which ended with Venezuela beating the United States for its first-ever WBC title, the All-Star Game will continue to showcase baseball’s global reach.
From Latin America to Asia to the land down under, Philly’s Midsummer Classic will feature plenty of stars whose baseball journeys began in different countries.
There are 22 international-born players earning spots on the All-Star roster (33.8%), including 12 players in the NL and 10 in the AL. The list features players from Cuba (7); Dominican Republic (5); Venezuela (4); Canada (2); Japan (2); Australia (1); and Curaçao (1). Guardians rookie second baseman Travis Bazzana, a native of Hornsby, Australia, becomes just the fourth-ever Australian native to play in the All-Star Game, joining Grant Balfour (2013); Liam Hendriks (2019, 2021-22); and Dave Nilsson (1999).
Various All-Star rosters represent the international talent pipeline that has become essential to MLB’s biggest stages.
Will this week be the showcase for Junior Caminero?
Kavner: Caminero is one of the hottest hitters on the planet right now — he had 12 homers in his last 16 games entering the weekend before the break — and he’s looking for revenge after falling just short of becoming the youngest player ever to win the Home Run Derby last year.
Would anyone be surprised if he won the Derby and then took home All-Star MVP honors? At just 23 years old, the AL starting third baseman is quickly becoming one of the league’s most promising superstars.
First time All-Stars to watch
Thosar: Some have been there, done that (looking at you, Trout, Freddie Freeman, Chris Sale, Juan Soto, Matt Olson, et al.). And then some will have no idea what to expect and will take in the All-Star week festivities with fresh eyes.
There are a record, eye-popping total of 29 players making their All-Star Game debuts this year. Among the large group, there are several names worth keeping an eye on who could steal the show.
Notable names making their first trip to the Midsummer Classic include Blue Jays right-hander Dylan Cease, Yankees first baseman Ben Rice and rising star right-hander Schlitter, Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker and local Phillies in Luzardo and outfielder Brandon Marsh rounding out the group of some of the game’s best players in the first half.
“I don’t necessarily come into the season saying, ‘I really want to be on the All-Star team,'” Rice told me if being selected was his goal. “But you can only hope that if you do your best every day and stick to your process and the results follow, then maybe you’ll get the chance.”
Key stars will be absent. Who will capitalize?
Thosar: We’ve been treated to so many household names over the years making regular appearances at MLB’s annual All-Star Game festivities, but this year the Midsummer Classic will be missing some of its biggest headliners.
Shohei Ohtani (left knee irritation), Judge (right rib stress fracture) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (elected not to play) are among the superstar absences, with aces Skenes and Misiorowski also unable to play in the All-Star Game because they both start on Sunday. In addition, Byron Buxton is dealing with a right hip impingement, while Nick Kurtz will also miss the game with a sprained right thumb.
Yet these absences create opportunities. With a handful of marquee names sidelined or unavailable, the spotlight shifts to first-time All-Stars and underrated talents, all eager to make a name for themselves. Watch for All-Star Game replacements like first baseman Willson Contreras and Murakami to make the most of their chances.
