The concept is simple: Both the National and American League managers select three players (and one alternate) to participate in a mini home-run-derby-style competition where each hitter gets three swings, with the team collecting the most home runs after three rounds winning the swing-off and, in turn, the All-Star Game.
On Tuesday night, it was the National League, led by Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber, the New York Mets’ Pete Alonso and Miami’s Kyle Stowers, who bested the American League lineup of the Athletics’ Brent Rooker, Seattle’s Randy Arozarena and Tampa Bay’s Jonathan Aranda 4-3 to win the competition.
Giants starting pitchers Robbie Ray and Logan Webb, two of San Francisco’s three representatives, including reliever Randy Rodriguez, were among a handful of players who were caught off guard by the new rule, and spoke to reporters after the game about what unfolded in the National League’s dugout during the ninth inning. (h/t The San Francisco Standard’s John Shea)
“[Dodgers manager] Dave Roberts comes down and goes, ‘Guys, you won’t believe this. If the game ends in a tie, I pre-selected three guys for a Home Run Derby. That’s how we’re going to finish it,” Ray said.
“Nobody knew. We were all like, ‘Is this really how all this is going to happen?’ ”
“I honestly had no clue this was a thing,” Webb added. “We heard who was going to do it, and I was super excited to see Stowers in it, and then they said Schwarber and Pete. and I’m like, ‘All right we’re going to win.’ ”
And that’s exactly what the National League did, thanks to Schwarber hitting all three of his pitchers over the wall for home runs.
“I told Scharber afterward, ‘Dude, you’re just cool, you’re just a cool dude,’ ” Webb shared.
The format, while it elicited mixed reactions online, was an overwhelming success in the eyes of Webb and other MLB players.
“I have a group text with other players around baseball,” Webb said, “and they said we should never play an extra-inning game again. We should always end games just like that. It should be just straight Home Run Derby.”
“A perfect way to end this All-Star Game,” Webb said.
The Mets enter the second half of the 2025 MLB season in playoff position -- currently in a Wild Card spot while neck and neck with the Phillies for first place in the NL East.
But the group that has gotten New York to this point will be changing in the coming weeks, with the trade deadline rapidly approaching and New York having a handful of big needs.
Here are the five biggest storylines to watch as the second half unfolds...
What happens at the trade deadline?
If the 2024 deadline was the Mets' dipping their toe in the water during a season where the team exceeded expectations, this deadline should see them diving in.
The Mets have two huge needs (center field and the bullpen), one big need (the starting rotation), and one moderate need (third base).
And it would be shocking if the first two needs aren't addressed.
The current situation in center field has Tyrone Taylor starting some days and Jeff McNeil others. That situation is not tenable, with Taylor posting a .580 OPS and McNeil better suited for the infield dirt. Among the options who could be available? Cedric Mullins of the Orioles and Jarren Duran of the Red Sox, though the cost to acquire Duran would be relatively massive.
In the bullpen, New York is getting a dominant season from Edwin Diaz but remains in need of a true setup man. The return of Brooks Raley will help, but more is needed.
While the rotation is finally at full strength, there are questions surrounding Sean Manaea (health) and Clay Holmes (a potential innings limit), so New York should absolutely be looking to bolster its starting staff -- perhaps with a trade for a pending free agent like Zac Gallen or Seth Lugo.
Unless a true blockbuster develops, the Mets won't have to part with prized prospects like Jett Williams, Jonah Tong, or Nolan McLean in order to address their deficiencies.
Since being sent down to Triple-A Syracuse to -- in David Stearns' words -- work on things that were "not statistical," Alvarez has nevertheless gone off power-wise while also working to refine his defense and other aspects of his game.
Jun 17, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; New York Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez (4) walks against the Atlanta Braves in the second inning at Truist Park. / Brett Davis - Imagn Images
In 64 at-bats over 18 games, Alvarez has hit .250/.333/.672 with eight home runs.
He's still striking out at a high clip (22 times in those 18 games), but Alvarez is getting very close to a return to the majors.
Given how young Alvarez is, it's easy to forget that he's still coming into his own as a hitter. It's also easy to forget that he blasted 25 homers in 123 games as a rookie in 2023, and still possesses massive power potential.
The Mets don't need Alvarez to be a game-changer at the plate for them in the second half, though. They just need him to be a consistent threat.
Both pitchers have top of the rotation upside, and are developing and performing in a way where their big league debuts could be around the corner.
When McLean and/or Sproat are called on could have a lot to do with whether the Mets add to the staff at the deadline and how often they employ a six-man rotation.
In the event the team suffers a long-term injury to any of its regular starters, though, it's McLean or Sproat who should get the call.
Alonso has 247 career home runs, putting him six away from passing Darryl Strawberry for the most in Mets history.
New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso (20) celebrates in the dugout with his teammates after scoring in the seventh inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field. / Wendell Cruz - Imagn Images
There's a chance Alonso passes Strawberry by the time the Mets wrap up a homestand against the Giants and Guardians in early August. But with one patented power surge, he could get there quicker.
New York opens the second half with a six-game homestand against the Reds and Angels before heading on the road for six games against the Giants and Padres.
This is also around the time when Alonso's future will start to become a topic again, with him all but certain to opt out of the two-year deal he signed during the offseason.
Winning the division is important, though it hasn't mattered a ton when it comes to which teams advance to the LCS (like the Mets did last year after earning a Wild Card spot) and World Series.
Still, the Mets' goal should be to win the division, which would at the very least guarantee them home field in the three-game Wild Card Series.
If they win the division and finish with one of the top two records in the NL, they will get a bye to the LDS.
With the Braves on the verge of selling in what has been a shockingly down year for them, and both the Marlins and Nationals not close to contention, this will be a two-team race between New York and Philadelphia. And the remaining head-to-head matchups could decide it.
The Mets and Phillies have seven regular season games left against each other -- Aug. 25 to 27 at Citi Field and Sept. 8 to 11 at Citizens Bank Park.
The Yankees entered the All-Star break with a 53-43 record but have seen their place atop the AL East slip away.
Although the Yanks have done a good job of pivoting away from Juan Soto and their additions have borne fruit, there are still plenty of holes to fill on this roster if the team hopes to win the division and make it back to the World Series.
Here are five storylines to watch as the Yankees begin the second half of the 2025 season...
Luis Gil's return
The 2024 AL Rookie of the Year has not thrown a pitch in a major league game this season and it has really hurt the rotation.
Combine that with the loss of Gerrit Cole before the season started and the recent season-ending injury to Clarke Schmidt, and New York could use the boost from a returning Gil.
However, how will Gil perform after nearly a year on the shelf?
The 27-year-old had his first rehab start this week, allowing one run on two hits and one walk over 3.1 innings (50 pitches/36 strikes) with Double-A Somerset. Gil was dominant in limited work, striking out six batters in what can only be seen as an encouraging start for the young right-hander.
As for Gil's timeline, manager Aaron Boone said the starter's buildup will be "more conservative." Until Gil is built up to throw 85-90 pitches, the Yankees won't see him on a big league mound. But once they do, it'll be like a trade deadline acquisition.
May 9, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suarez celebrates after hitting a home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chase Field. / Mark J. Rebilas - Imagn Images
Cashman said that he is prioritizing pitching, both in the starting rotation and bullpen, but also admitted that they need a third baseman. Whatever moves Cashman makes, they'll need to be significant if the Yanks hope to return to the World Series.
Arizona's Eugenio Suarez could be a great fit at third, while starters like Zac Gallen or Merrill Kelly could also make their way to the Bronx from the desert.
Last season, Cashman's big move was bringing over Jazz Chisholm Jr., and it helped solidify the infield. This season, the longtime GM will have to do more.
Race for the AL East
The Yankees enter the second half of the season on a two-game losing streak and two games back of the Toronto Blue Jays for first place in the division.
The road for New York won't be easy, though.
After a three-game set in Atlanta to start the second half, the Yanks will travel to Toronto to take on the Blue Jays for three games. The last time they were in Canada, the Yankees were swept in a four-game series. They will hope to avoid a repeat of that, but they'll need to find more offensive consistency to overcome their recent pitching woes.
New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) hits a double during the fourth inning at Yankee Stadium. / Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images
Aaron Judge Triple Crown/MVP watch
One player the Yankees can count on this season is Judge.
Judge leads the league in just about every category, but his performance in the second half will be one to watch. He's currently on pace for 59 home runs, but we've seen the Yankee Captain get on a homer streak that can threaten his AL home run record (62).
There's also the MVP race to watch. The only potential player to threaten Judge going back-to-back is Mariners backstop Cal Raleigh. The 2025 Home Run Derby winner leads the majors in home runs (38) and is on pace to hit 64, which would set a new AL record. He also leads the league in RBI (82) while ranking second in slugging and OPS.
Judge leads the league in average (.355), OBP (.462), hits (125), OPS (1.195) and is second in homers (35) and RBI (81). If he can overcome Raleigh in homers and RBI, he'll be the first Triple Crown winner since Miguel Cabrera in 2012 and the first Yankee to do so since Mickey Mantle in 1956.
Max Fried's health/Cy Young aspirations
Fried has been everything the Yankees have asked for and more.
When Cole went down, Fried stepped up to be the ace and is in the conversation for the Cy Young award. The southpaw is first in the AL in wins (11), tied for fourth in ERA (2.43) and tied for eighth in strikeouts (113).
However, Fried left his last start early due to a blister and it could lead to some missed time for the ace. While that could hinder his Cy Young chances, the Yankees are hoping Fried is healthy and available for the postseason run. Fried has thrown 122 innings across 20 starts, and his career-high was 185.1 in 30 starts back in 2022. Fried is on pace to pass those numbers, which could lead to some issues for the oft-injured pitcher.
Perhaps the blister will give Fried the reprieve he will need to go deep into October. But we'll need to watch how the workload is affecting him.
Who doesn’t love a summer rental? Few strings attached, could result in lifelong memories. Perhaps the Mets should look into one to add to their outfield mix.
Cedric Mullins is a nifty power-speed combo who would give the Mets a lefty-hitting option for center field, a position where they could use an offensive uptick. Mullins is a free agent after this season, so he’d likely be in Flushing just for the rest of this season, which, of course, likely tempers what level of talent the Baltimore Orioles can ask for in return.
So is Mullins, who has a 30-homer, 30-steal season on his resume, a Met match?
Let’s look at the Pros and Cons of David Stearns potentially trading for the outfielder who has nicknames ranging from "Parking Lot Ced" – for his ability to crush homers completely out of minor league ballparks – to "The Entertainer."
PROS
At the beginning of this season, Mullins, who turns 31 in October, gave Orioles fans a reminder of his broad skill set. In his first 23 games, he had a slash line of .295/.433/.590 with six homers and five stolen bases. On April 24, his OPS sat at 1.023 and it looked like he was primed for his best season since 2021, when he went 30-30, had an .878 OPS, made the AL All-Star team and finished ninth in AL MVP voting.
Since then? Um, we’ll get into that in the "Cons" section of this piece.
For now, we move on to how Mullins is a proven source of pop, having hit double-digits in homers in all five seasons as a regular, including 13 so far this year. He’s on pace for his first 20-plus homer season since ‘21. His next home run will be the 100th of his career.
He’s got plenty of derring-do on the bases, too. Mullins has stolen 13 bases in 16 tries this year (81.3 percent) and sits just a shade under 80 percent for his career. In 2022, he became just the fifth Orioles player to record back-to-back seasons of 30-plus steals. His running game would fit nicely on a Mets team that is very efficient at stealing bases – they are 74-for-84 (88 percent).
Mullins, once a switch-hitter who gave it up before his big ‘21 season, could give the Mets a left-handed hitter to pair with Tyrone Taylor, who’s a superior defensive player, in a platoon in center. Mets center fielders ended the first half 24th in average (.223), 25th in on-base percentage (.282), 23rd in slugging (.332) and 24th in OPS (.614).
Only two teams have fewer home runs than the four the Mets have gotten from their center fielders.
Jun 18, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; Baltimore Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins (31) runs the bases after hitting a home run against the Tampa Bay Rays in the second inning at George M. Steinbrenner Field. / Nathan Ray Seebeck - Imagn Images
CONS
Mullins has fizzled after his hot start, batting .188 with a .243 on-base percentage and .340 slugging in 56 games. That means he’s at .218/.302/.411 for a .713 OPS at the All-Star break. Still, his OPS is 99 points higher than the MLB average. The MLB average slash line is .245/.315/.400.
In fairness to Mullins, his first-half numbers in 2024 were not spectacular (.629 OPS), but he roared after the All-Star break, notching an .831 OPS, including a .374 on-base percentage.
Since his big 2021, he’s never had a full-season OPS over .721. If he’s going to offer a platoon option, he’s got to be better against right-handed pitchers (.197 average so far this year).
He’s walking more than ever – he’s got a 10.3 percent walk rate, which would be the first in double-digits in his career – but his 23.4 percent strikeout rate would be the second-highest of his career.
Some of his defensive metrics have backslid, so he might not be the defender he once was.
VERDICT
Because Mullins is going to be a free agent after the season, his price tag -- should the Orioles move him -- will be more palatable than it would be for a player with years of remaining club control. That’s why Mullins makes more sense for the Mets than, say, a player such as Jarren Duran, the Red Sox outfielder who won’t be a free agent until after the 2028 season.
The Mets, you may have heard, are intent on developing their farm system. Still, true contenders can’t let prospect hoarding stand in the way of improving the big league club in a go-for-it season. Acquiring Mullins, who should not command a strafing of the top end of their prospect list, fits with that boost-the-system mandate while also pumping some power and speed into the major league squad.
And retaining their best prospects would give the Mets the flexibility to make a bigger deal for pitching, another need. Jeff McNeil could ditch his part-time center field work and concentrate on raking as the second baseman.
In his career, Mullins has thrived at Citi Field, a noted pitcher’s park, recording a 1.026 OPS. Maybe the Mets should put his Queens comfort to work for them in the second half.
Considering the Yankees’ lofty baseball accomplishments and stirring history, it figures that they have authored significant moments in Major League Baseball’s annual All-Star Game.
From the very first edition of the Midsummer Classic in 1933, when at least one milestone unfolded as if it were ordained by the baseball gods, to the last time the All-Star Game was played in 2019, Yankee talent has made an impact in the battle between the leagues.
Here’s a look at some of the best moments and performances by Yankees. Any complaints about the order they’re in? Maybe next year we’ll consider fan balloting, like the game itself.
Ruth goes yard
First is best, right? Or something like that. In the very first All-Star Game in 1933 -- why the heck did it take so long? -- Babe Ruth blasted the first home run in Midsummer Classic history in the American League’s 4-2 victory over the National League at Comiskey Park. What, you thought Joe Cronin was going to do it? With a runner on in the third inning, Ruth connected off Bill Hallahan of the Cardinals, adding another line to his remarkable baseball biography. Ruth also made a terrific catch in right field in the game and teammate Lefty Gomez twirled three scoreless innings.
Trivia time: Who hit the first All-Star homer in NL history?
...
Answer:Frankie Frisch of the Cardinals in the sixth inning. That’s not as good a story as Ruth.
Jeter’s first step to history
In the 2000 game at Turner Field in Atlanta, Derek Jeter got to start because of an injury to Alex Rodriguez, and he made the most of the chance. Jeter was 3-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored. He doubled off Randy Johnson in the first inning, singled off Kevin Brown in the third and hit a two-run single off Al Leiter in the fifth. His performance earned him the game’s MVP award -- he was the first Yankee to claim that hardware. It also set the stage for Jeter becoming the first player in MLB history to be named MVP of the All-Star Game and the World Series in the same season. To date, he’s the only one. It was also the first of two 3-for-3 performances in All-Star Games for Jeter. He also did it in 2004.
Recency bias? No
There was no All-Star Game in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so this one in Cleveland is the most recent one and Shane Bieber of the Indians was the MVP after a blazing fifth inning in which he struck out the side. But pinstriped fingerprints were all over this Midsummer Classic. CC Sabathia, who was retiring at the end of the season, was there as an honorary member. The Yankee lefty, who started his wonderful career in Cleveland, received multiple ovations, including when he threw out the ceremonial first pitch. He even surprised Aroldis Chapman with a mound visit in the ninth. Masahiro Tanaka threw a scoreless inning and was the winning pitcher and Chapman struck out the side in the ninth for the save.
Derek’s last Midsummer stand
In 2014, Jeter played in his final Midsummer Classic and went 2-for-2 with a run scored. Did Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals groove one for him in the first inning, helping Jeter rip a double? Who cares? It made for a nice capper to 14 All-Star Games for the Yankee captain, who finished with a .481 average (13-for-27) -- third-best all-time.
American League infielder Derek Jeter (2) of the New York Yankees waves to the crowd as he is replaced in the fourth inning during the 2014 MLB All Star Game at Target Field. / Scott Rovak - USA TODAY Sports
Gehrig goes off
They didn’t invent the All-Star Game MVP Award until 1962, but Lou Gehrig probably would’ve won the trophy if it had existed in 1937. He went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer off Dizzy Dean and four total RBI in the AL’s 8-3 victory. It was his second straight Midsummer Classic with a home run after a slow start to his All-Star career. Entering the ‘36 game, he had been 0-for-9 against the NL’s best.
Who needs the DH?
Vic Raschi threw three scoreless innings of relief to earn the win in the AL’s 5-2 victory in 1948, including a key strikeout of Richie Ashburn with the bases loaded. And, in the days before the designated hitter, he proved adept at the plate, too. Raschi smacked a tie-breaking, two-run single in the fourth inning to give the AL the lead for good. Not bad for someone who was a .184 hitter in his career.
Lefty goes long
This wouldn’t happen today, considering that starters often don’t pitch six innings during regular season games. But Gomez threw six innings of one-run ball in the 1935 All-Star Game, holding the NL to three measly hits. It was part of a remarkable run for Gomez, who still has the ASG record with three wins.
One Mo moment
In 2013, Mariano Rivera made his final All-Star appearance, throwing a scoreless inning at Citi Field to much applause. Maybe his MVP award was partly sentimental, but he certainly deserved as much recognition as possible. After all, he was selected to 13 All-Star teams, had a 0.00 ERA and a record four saves. He also had missed most of 2012 with a knee injury and is the greatest relief pitcher in the history of baseball.
American League pitcher Mariano Rivera (42) of the New York Yankees walks off the field with catcher Salvador Perez (13) of the Kansas City Royals after retiring the National League in the 8th inning. / USA TODAY-USA TODAY Sports
Joe D, super sub
Joe DiMaggio had only played 12 games before the Midsummer Classic because of injury, but was added to the team as a reserve and then got into the starting lineup when Tommy Henrich was hurt. DiMaggio, seizing the moment, went 2-for-4 with three RBI in an 11-7 AL win.
Second billing
The 1983 game was all about Fred Lynn’s grand slam, the first one in Midsummer Classic history. But Dave Winfield starred, too, going 3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI.
Honorable mentions
All four Yankee home run derby champs: Tino Martinez (1997), Jason Giambi (2002), Robinson Canó (2011) and Aaron Judge (2017)... DiMaggio homered in 1939, the first ASG at Yankee Stadium... Not a performance, but a ballpark: The 2008 game, the last ASG at Yankee Stadium, matched the record for innings (15) and set the record for time (four hours, 50 minutes). Jeter was quoted afterward saying it was like the Stadium itself didn’t want the game to end.
The Mets don’t have a particularly notable history of big hits or meaningful plays in All-Star Games, but they’ve had their share of compelling moments in the Midsummer Classic, mostly built around pitching performances, which fits with what they’ve been as an organization all these years.
Here, then, is my list of the 10 most memorable moments/performances, which are dominated, not surprisingly, by Tom Seaver:
10) 1970: Seaver makes first All-Star start
Coming off the Miracle Mets’ 1969 championship, manager Gil Hodges gave Seaver the start in Cincinnati’s brand-new Riverfront Stadium, and had him go three scoreless innings, as he racked up four strikeouts.
It was a different time, obviously, in the way pitchers were handled, but this tidbit still seems remarkable: Hodges used Seaver in relief the Sunday before the All-Star Game, bringing him into the ninth inning even after the Expos had broken a 3-3 tie and taken a 5-3 lead, and then allowed him to pitch those three innings two days later in a game the NL eventually won 5-4. Seaver went on to pitch in eight All-Star games (he made the team 12 times), posting a 4.85 ERA mostly because he allowed three runs in one inning in 1975.
9) 2006: David Wright goes deep in his first appearance
In the first of his nine All-Star Games, in Pittsburgh, Wright took lefty Kenny Rogers deep in the second inning -- his first at-bat. It was only the second All-Star home run by a Met, 27 years after Mazzilli hit his in Seattle, and no Met has hit one since.
It was Wright’s only extra-base hit as an All-Star, but he did hit .389 in his nine appearances, going 7-for-18.
8) 1990: Darryl Strawberry shows off his Howitzer
Strawberry didn’t have many memorable moments during his eight All-Star Games, but in 1990 at Wrigley Field, he drew oohs and aahs for a spectacular throw he made from right field in the seventh inning.
With one out and Julio Franco on third base, Jose Canseco lofted a fly to medium-range right field. Strawberry caught the ball with momentum going toward the plate and threw a strike on the fly to Mike Scioscia to get Franco and end the inning. The throw kept the NL close at 2-0, but that turned out to be the final score as the AL won.
7) 1968: Seaver strikes out Mickey Mantle
Nobody knew yet what an immortal Seaver would become, but in hindsight, this was quite an historic moment, as the Mets’ future Hall-of-Famer struck out Mantle in his final All-Star at-bat.
By then, Mantle was a shell of his former self but he was picked for sentimental reasons, and named honorary captain of the AL team as he appeared in his 20th All-Star Game (MLB played two All-Star games from 1959-62). Pinch-hitting in the eighth inning in the Astrodome, Mantle was overpowered by Seaver on four pitches, going down swinging on a high fastball. For Seaver, it was one of five strikeouts as he pitched the seventh and eighth innings in a 1-0 win for the NL.
New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso (20) reacts after the second round in the 2019 MLB Home Run Derby at Progressive Field. / Ken Blaze/USA TODAY
6) 2019 and 2021: Pete Alonso wins Home Run Derby; 2025: Alonso goes deep
Let’s face it, for years now the Derby has generated more interest than the game itself, and in this case, it raised Alonso’s rookie profile. He was already the talk of New York, with 30 home runs at the All-Star break, and made no secret of how much he wanted to win the derby. So when he did it, out-homering Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the finals, Alonso was an instant star on the national stage.
In the game the next night, held in Cleveland, Alonso went 1-for-2, driving home two runs in the eighth inning with a bases-loaded single as the NL rallied but wound up losing 4-3.
Alonso won the Derby a second time in 2021 at Coors Field in Colorado, which made it back-to-back wins since the event wasn't held in 2020 due to the pandemic.
In the 2025 game, after Alonso passed on participating in the Derby, he blasted a three-run homer to become the third Mets player to ever homer in an All-Star Game. His heroics came a few innings before the NL won the game on the first-ever swing-off, which was decided with Alonso in the on-deck circle.
5) 1967: Rookie Tom Seaver closes out longest All-Star Game
Seaver wasn’t in the plans to pitch until the game, held in Anaheim, Calif., went to the 15th inning and the National League was running out of pitchers. Then, Tony Perez hit a home run in the top of the 15th to put the NL ahead and the Mets’ young star came on to get the final three outs of the 2-1 win.
Seaver earned a relatively easy save, getting Tony Conigliaro to fly out, and then, after walking Carl Yastrzemski, getting Bill Freehan to fly out before finishing with a flourish, striking out Ken Berry to end the longest All-Star Game ever by innings -- a distinction that game now shares with the 2008 game.
4) 1979: Lee Mazzilli hits homer, draws game-winning walk
People who are old enough to have seen it remember the switch-hitting Mazzilli’s opposite-field home run as a left-handed hitter, down the left field line in the old Seattle Kingdome. It was the first home run ever by a Met in an All-Star Game and it tied the game 6-6 in the eighth inning for the NL, but perhaps not as many recall he drew a bases-loaded walk in the top of the ninth to drive in what turned out to be the winning run in a 7-6 victory.
For that matter until I looked it up, I sure didn’t remember that the walk came off Ron Guidry, the Yankees’ reigning AL Cy Young Winner. Quite a night for the local kid from Brooklyn in what turned out to be Mazzilli’s only All-Star appearance.
Jul 14, 2015; Cincinnati, OH, USA; National League pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) of the New York Mets throws against the American League during the sixth inning of the 2015 MLB All Star Game at Great American Ball Park. / Frank Victores - USA TODAY Sports
3) 2015: Jacob deGrom strikes out the side on 10 pitches
At this point, deGrom was the reigning Rookie of the Year but still widely considered Harvey’s sidekick, with Harvey back from Tommy John surgery and seemingly rounding into ace form again. Then, deGrom went out and had an inning in the All-Star Game so dazzling, striking out the side -- Steven Vogt, Jason Kipnis, and Jose Iglesias -- on 10 pitches, that the buzz around him changed instantly.
“I knew he was good but I didn’t know he could do that,” I remember a scout telling me a couple of days later. “Dotting the corners at 98 with his fastball, it was eye-popping.” Just a preview of what was to come, as it turned out.
2) 1984: Rookie Dwight Gooden strikes out the side
This was in an era before social media, the internet, and interleague play, when nationally televised games were few and far between. So when Gooden arrived in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park for the All-Star Game as a 19-year-old rookie, he was leading the National League in strikeouts yet he was still largely an unknown to most of the baseball nation, not to mention American League hitters.
Then, he went out and lit up TV screens across the country, striking out the side after entering the game in the fifth inning, mowing down Larry Parrish, Chet Lemon, and Alvin Davis. Gooden pitched another scoreless inning in the sixth, allowing only a bloop double to Eddie Murray, and that quickly made a name for himself nationally.
Anyone who was there will never forget just how electric the atmosphere was as Harvey took the mound at his home ballpark that night, perhaps the best pitcher in the sport at that very moment, just 24 years old.
Harvey was up to the occasion, striking out Miguel Cabrera and Jose Bautista in the first inning to escape a mini-jam, allowing just a Mike Trout opposite-field double in two scoreless innings. Anyone who was there also never would have believed it would be Harvey’s only All-Star appearance.
ATLANTA — The sport that gave fans the ghost runner on second base to help expedite regular-season games that go to extra innings also gave everyone the first home run swing-off in history to decide an All-Star Game on Tuesday night.
“First time of it, there was a lot of pressure, but I thought it was pretty exciting,” Aaron Boone, the manager of the American League, said after the extracurricular home-run session.
The new rule—if the All-Star Game is tied after nine innings, a home-run swing-off determines the winner—was implemented for the first time when the AL came back from a 6-0 deficit on Tuesday and tied the score 6-6 with two runs in the top of ninth at Truist Park in Atlanta. The National League prevailed when game MVP Kyle Schwarber mashed three long balls on the three pitches he faced.
“It was like a hockey shootout,” Schwarber said.
The new All-Star tie-breaking rule was memorialized in the last Basic Agreement to avoid long extra-inning All-Star Games; the 2002 Midsummer Classic in Milwaukee had to be halted tied 7-7 in 11 innings because both teams ran out of pitchers.
The rules are simple—the day before the game, both managers must designate three batters and an alternate to participate in the potential swing-off. They look for players with power who are going to play late in the contest, NL manager Dave Roberts said.
That’s why Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani weren’t available; they left the game early and weren’t designated for the swing-off assignment.
“[Roberts] asked yesterday, ‘if there was a tie would you do it?’” Schwarber said. “I said, ‘absolutely,’ not thinking we’re going to end up in a tie when I said yes.”
Each batter gets three swings in three concerted rounds, one batter from each league in each round. At the end, the homers are tallied for the final score. If it’s still tied after those three rounds, then it goes to sudden death—the swing-off ends on the next homer.
Boone designated Brent Rooker, Randy Arozarena and Jonathan Aranda. Roberts chose Eugenio Suarez, Schwarber and Pete Alonso, Rooker and Alonso both hit three-run homers earlier in the game.
Suarez was hit with a pitch on the tip of his left pinky during the top of the eighth and went for X-rays that Roberts said were negative. He remained in the game, but had doubts about swinging in the extra round.
“I have the rest of the season still to play,” Suarez said. “I didn’t want to take the chance.”
Instead, Roberts replaced him with his alternate, Kyle Stowers.
Rooker got the AL off to a quick lead with two homers in the first round. Stowers hit one for the NL. The AL was leading 3-1 adding an Arozarena blast when Schwarber came to the plate in the bottom of the second round. He hit each pitch out, one longer than the other.
“I was just thinking, ‘Well, if I can get two here, [Alonso] can just finish it off,’” Schwarber said. “I got two right away and was able to sneak that third one out.”
Aranda went homerless, meaning Alonso never had to hit. The unique proceedings was over.
“It’ll be interesting to see where this goes,” Boone said after the game. “There’s probably a world when you can see that on the field maybe in some regular-season mix, I don’t know. I wouldn’t be surprised if some people started talking about it like that. It’s a blast. You get to it and all of a sudden, here you go.”
Like the ghost runner, stranger things have happened.
Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, a perennial All-Star, flips his bat into the air after hitting a three-run homer against the Dodgers. During the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby, bat flips should become an integral part of the show, suggests Times columnist Bill Shaikin. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
We need bat flips.
The home run swing-off to end Tuesday’s All-Star Game was great. Whether you embrace it as a revelation or dismiss it as a gimmick, baseball needs more of that kind of imagination on the national stage. On the morning after the game, it’s what you’re talking about.
But baseball cannot count on a tie score every summer.
The All-Star Game cannot live off old glories. The All-Star Game cannot thrive simply because the NFL turned the Pro Bowl into a flag football game and skills competition while the NBA turned its All-Star Game into a week of parties and 48 minutes of a defense-free scrimmages.
Baseball can say its All-Star Game is the best, but the bar is as low as the final round of a limbo competition. Baseball needs the best players, not the best available players, in the game. And, in an era dominated by social media and short attention spans, baseball needs innovation in the Home Run Derby — not just in an All-Star Game tiebreaker, but in the actual Home Run Derby that is its own Major Television Event on the night before the game.
The first suggestion, from Brent Rooker, the Athletics’ All-Star designated hitter: “I had the idea that we would just stick PCA (the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong) and (the Athletics’) Denzel Clarke in the outfield during the Home Run Derby and just let them run down balls. That’s a fun idea that popped into our clubhouse a few weeks ago.”
An all-in-one Home Run Derby and skills competition of outfielders contorting their bodies in all directions to make highlight-worthy catches? That’s a cool thought.
The bat flip, once scorned as an instrument of disrespect, is now celebrated by the league itself. It naturally lends itself to the “Did you see it?” reels young fans share on Instagram and Snapchat.
The first round of Monday’s Home Run Derby was exhausting. It took nearly two hours, and what little flash there was felt forced. Besides, the sluggers you most wanted to see — Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge — declined to participate.
“I already did it,” Judge said Tuesday. “I don’t know what else you want from me. I think it’s time for somebody else to step up and do their thing and have fun with it. I love seeing new faces in the game go out and do their thing.”
Said Dodgers pitcher and Hall-of-Famer-in-waiting Clayton Kershaw: “It’s a lot of swings, man. It’s not easy to do. When I used to hit, I was tired after taking six swings. I can’t imagine doing that for three straight hours.
“If Shohei and Aaron Judge and those guys, if they had them all in there, it would be awesome. You can’t expect those guys to do it every single year.”
So keep the eight-man field but split it into two groups: four players in the traditional format, and four players in a one-round competition judged not only by how many home runs you hit but with how much flair you toss your bat after each one.
Dodgers veteran pitcher Clayton Kershaw, tapping gloves with teammate Will Smith after pitching in the second inning during the All-Star Game. (Daniel Shirey / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
The creative and outrageous dunks in the NBA's slam dunk competition go viral. The All-Star bat flips would too.
“With respect to an event like the Home Run Derby, we should continue to innovate,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “It’s fundamentally an entertainment product.”
There’s an idea, Rob. Run with it.
“The game piece of it? Fundamentally, I believe in the game,” Manfred said. “I think what we have to do is continue to work with our very best players to make sure that they’re here and showcasing themselves in front of a fan base that is really, really important to us over the long haul.”
Right now, all the very best players are not here. When MLB announced the All-Star rosters, the league selected 65 players. By game time, with all the replacements for players that withdrew, the All-Star count was up to 81.
That meant that, for every four players announced as an All-Star, one chose not to play.
“Usually, when you think All-Star Game, you think probably the best at the time in the game right now are going to be playing,” Phillies All-Star designated hitter Kyle Schwarber said.
Sometimes they are: On Tuesday, Schwarber was the most valuable player, with the winning swings in the swing-off.
Schwarber and Kershaw noted that, for the most part, the position players are here, and the pitchers dominated the list of missing stars. Pitchers throw harder these days. They need time to recover. Tony Clark, the executive director of the players’ union, talked about the need for players to find “opportunities on the calendar to take a breather.”
And, frankly, the All-Star Game does not mean nearly as much to players as it did before interleague play started 28 years ago. Winning one for the National League used to actually mean something.
“The All-Star Game then and the All-Star Game now are two completely different things,” Clark said. “The requirements for players, the travel and logistics for their family and support, the day to day of a 162-game season is more complex and it’s more challenging than it’s ever been.”
Yet in 1980, when the All-Star Game was played at Dodger Stadium, players had one free day before resuming the schedule. Today, players have two days.
And, in 1980, fans got to see the players they wanted to see. Should each team have an All-Star representative? Yes. Should managers feel compelled to use every one of those players? No way.
On Tuesday, the National League used 13 pitchers and the American League 11.
In 1980, each league used five pitchers. Steve Stone and Bob Welch each pitched (gasp) three innings. The top four batters in the American League lineup — Willie Randolph, Fred Lynn, Rod Carew and Reggie Jackson — each batted at least three times.
Today’s pitchers are reluctant to work even one inning in the All-Star Game if they pitched on the final weekend of the first half. So move the All-Star Game back one day to Wednesday, and move the Home Run Derby back one day to Tuesday. No longer would players have to scramble for Sunday night private jets to get to the All-Star Game by Monday morning.
As a bonus, MLB could play the Futures Game on Monday, when no other games are being played, instead of in relative invisibility because the league insists on putting what it says is a showcase event up against a full schedule of regular-season games.
“It would be great,” Clark said, “to just have a conversation around the All-Star Game and talk about the All-Star Game and the great players that we have, doing so in a way that truly highlights the Midsummer Classic and truly puts players in a position where they are sprinting to come to the game.”
ATLANTA — Cal Raleigh was just as successful with the first robot umpire All-Star challenge as he was in the Home Run Derby.
Seattle’s catcher signaled for an appeal to the Automated Ball-Strike System in the first inning of the National League’s win Tuesday night, getting a strikeout for Detroit’s Tarik Skubal on San Diego’s Manny Machado.
“You take ‘em any way you can get ’em, boys,” Skubal said on the mound.
Four of five challenges of plate umpire Dan Iassogna’s calls were successful in the first All-Star use of the ABS system, which could make its regular-season debut next year.
Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson won as the first batter to call for a challenge, reversing a 1-0 fastball from Washington’s MacKenzie Gore in the fifth inning that had been called a strike.
Miami’s Kyle Stowers lost when ABS upheld a full-count Andrés Muñoz fastball at the bottom of the zone for an inning-ending strikeout in the eighth.
Mets closer Edwin Díaz earned a three-pitch strikeout against Randy Arozarena to end the top of the ninth on a pitch Iassogna thought was outside.
Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk used ABS to get a first-pitch strike on a 100.1 mph Aroldis Chapman offering to Brendan Donovan with two outs in the bottom half.
“The fans enjoy it. I thought the players had fun with it,” NL manager Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers said. “There’s a strategy to it, if it does get to us during the season. But I like it. I think it’s good for the game.”
Skubal had given up Ketel Marte’s two-run double and retired the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman on a groundout for his first out when he got ahead of Machado 0-2 in the count. Skubal threw a 89.5 mph changeup, and Iassogna yelled” “Ball down!”
Raleigh tapped his helmet just before Skubal tipped his cap, triggering a review by the computer umpire that was tested in spring training this year and could be adopted for regular-season use in 2026.
“Obviously, a strike like that it was, so I called for it and it helped us out,” Raleigh said.
An animation of the computer analysis was shown on the Truist Park scoreboard and the broadcast. Roberts laughed in the dugout after the challenge.
“I knew it was a strike,” Machado said.
Skubal doesn’t intend to use challenges during regular-season games if the ABS is put in place. He says he’ll rely on his catchers.
“I was joking around that I was going to burn two of them on the first balls just so that way we didn’t have them the rest of the game,” he said. “I’m just going to assume that it’s going to happen next year.”
Before the game, baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred indicated the sport’s 11-man competition committee will consider the system for next season.
“I think the ability to correct a bad call in a high-leverage situation without interfering with the time of game because it’s so fast is something we ought to continue to pursue,” Manfred said.
ABS decisions may have an error of margin up to a half-inch.
“Our guys do have a concern with that half inch, what that might otherwise lead to particularly as it relates to the number of challenges you may have, whether you keep those challenges during the course of the game,” union head Tony Clark told the Baseball Writers Association of America. “Does there need to be some type of buffer zone consideration? Or do we want to find ourselves in a world where it’s the most egregious misses that we want focus in on?”
Manfred sounded less concerned.
“I don’t believe that technology supports the notion that you need a buffer zone,” he said. “To get into the idea that there’s something that is not a strike that you’re going to call a strike in a review system, I don’t know why I would want to do that.”
MLB sets the top of the automated strike zone at 53.5% of a batter’s height and the bottom at 27%, basing the decision on the midpoint of the plate, 8 1/2 inches from the front and 8 1/2 inches from the back. That contrasts with the rule book zone called by umpires, which says the zone is a cube.
“We haven’t even started talking about the strike zone itself, how that’s going to necessarily be measured, and whether or not there are tweaks that need to be made there, too,” Clark said. “So there’s a lot of discussion that still needs to be had, despite the fact that it seems more inevitable than not.”
Manfred has tested ABS in the minor leagues since 2019, using it for all pitches and then switching to a challenge system. Each team gets two challenges and a successful challenge is retained. Only catchers, batters and pitchers can call for a challenge.
“Where we are on ABS has been fundamentally influenced by player input,” he maintained. “If you had two years ago said to me: What do the owners want to do? I think they would have called every pitch with ABS as soon as possible. That’s because there is a fundamental, very fundamental interest in getting it right, right? We owe it to our fans to try to get it right because the players as I talked to them over a couple of years really, expressed a very strong interest or preference for the challenge system that we decided to test.”
Skubal wondered is all contingencies had been planned for.
“If power goes out and we don’t have ABS — sometimes we don’t have Hawk-Eye data or Trackman data. So what’s going to happen then?” he said. “Are we going to expect umpires to call balls and strikes when it’s an ABS zone?”
It’s 2025 but the Cubbies offense is breaking 19th century team records.Photograph: Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images
The Major League Baseball season has reached its halfway point, or, more accurately, we’ve landed at the All-Star break, with 60% of the schedule already in the books. So, how did it go? Here’s a handful of storylines to chew on as we prepare for the second-half stretch run.
What hasn’t happened
Remember the torpedo bats that were a destroyer of worlds in the season’s opening days? Some geniuses even said they were the latest example of how “over-innovation can ruin baseball” (no idea who wrote that zinger). Well, so far that’s looking like the kneejerk reaction of the season, or maybe several seasons. The Yankees, who are the chief adapters of the redesigned bats that boast customized sweet spots, hit 15 home runs in three games against Milwaukee at the start of the season. Then they calmed down and struck 1.46 home runs per game from then on. Yes, they still lead the league in homers, and yes, they’re averaging more dingers per game than they did last year when Juan Soto was in their lineup. But the tech has not in fact made a complete farce of the game. Has Cal Raleigh, the Mariners’ torpedo bat swinging MVP candidate, been aided by the innovation? Well, he has 38 homers this season, four more than his career-high already, while Triple Crown candidate Aaron Judge, who doesn’t use a torpedo bat, has 35. This time, let’s go with a more conservative take on the bats: the jury’s still out.
Oh, the bullpens …
What drives fans the most crazy? The way their manager handles his bullpen. Don’t believe me? Try searching “bullpen management” on X and see what comes up; it’s not pretty. But here’s the thing: when your starting pitchers average well under six innings a game, and you have to figure out how to get an additional nine, 12, 15 outs or more, where’s the roadmap for that? There isn’t one – managers make it up on the fly most nights. With a bevy of starters recovering from elbow injuries, while upper management continues to nurse the long men, desperate brass are forced to shuttle relievers between the minors and the majors looking for fresh arms. It’s pretty ugly. Is anyone getting it “right?” Well, few outside LA are going to sympathize with the super-rich Dodgers, but their skipper Dave Roberts is getting just 4.5 innings a game from his beleaguered, injury riddled starters, the worst number in all of baseball (the MLB average is 5.2). Apparently there’s more than a few teams that’ll be looking for bullpen help at the 31 July trade deadline. Yeah, you think?
Stand up for Detroit
Remember last July when the Tigers were dealing away players, and then somehow made the playoffs and came within a single victory of the American League Championship Series? Well, as it turns out, that run was no fluke. The Tigers have an 11.5 game lead in the AL Central at the break, the largest such lead they’ve had since the All-Star Game began in 1933. For context, the historic 1984 Tigers that began 35-5 had an eight-game lead at the break. Detroit own the best record in all of baseball, even after losing their last four games.
So what’s gone right? Tarik Skubal has stiff competition from Boston’s Garrett Crochet in his bid to win a second successive Cy Young, but the Tigers hurler has walked just 16 batters in 121 innings – an astonishingly low number. Meanwhile, Detroit’s lineup is full of redemption songs, with three players in the top five favored for the AL Comeback Player of the Year award (Rangers ace Jacob deGrom leads that group). Former No 1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson has recovered from an abysmal 2024 to power up a Tigers offense driven by Gleyber Torres, Riley Greene and Zach McKinstry, allowing the bats to overshadow a middle-of-the road pitching staff, Skubal aside. But perhaps the story of the season is Javier Baez. The once big-dollar-bust is an All-Star this season, and has upped his OPS by more than 230 points from last season and is Detroit’s face of mojo as they head to the second half of the season.
The Lost Boys
The Colorado Rockies weren’t daunted by the 2024 White Sox’ modern MLB record for losses in a season. With a team of misfits, horrific ownership and tough NL West neighbors, the Rockies went to work on besting (or worsting) the ChiSox right out of the gate. And away they went, losing 36 of 46 games at Coors Field, a modern home record.
Elsewhere, pitching phenom Paul Skenes is one of the only bright lights at the Pirates, who continue to sag, having failed to finish higher than fourth in the NL Central since 2017. Their lack of competitive play is even enough to get Commissioner Rob Manfred somewhat “concerned” about the Buccos, not to mention teams such as the Marlins, who lead a system of meandering franchises whose ownership appear uninterested in winning. Clearly a salary cap, which every other major North American sports league has in some form or other, could help with such imbalance. But with a divide between rich and richer owners and a players’ union that’s fought against a cap for its entire existence, that will always be a tough sell, and so the issue will be a source of labor strife after the 2026 season.
And speaking of a tough sell, MLB has been trying to unload a short-term package of games since ESPN opted out of the final three years of their rights deal worth roughly $1.5bn. Manfred, who admitted that having to find another suitor to replace those lost dollars is not all that fun, says there’s been “progress” in that search and says he should have some news in the coming weeks.
Odds and ends
Thanks to breakout star Pete-Crowe Armstrong, Kyle Tucker, Nico Hoerner and virtually everyone else in the Cubbies lineup, Chicago are having their biggest OPS+year since, well, 1884. They lead the Brewers in the NL Central by a single game. In the NL East, the Phillies have power issues, but it’s Zach Wheeler and their starting pitching that’s given them a short lead over the Mets, who started fast and fell faster, losing 17 of 27 games heading into the break. In the AL East, the Yankees slumped themselves out of first place, while the surprising Blue Jays overtook the Bombers despite an inferior run difference. The once hotter than hot Rays traded places with the Red Sox who rode a 10-game winning streak into third place at the break, all after controversially trading away Rafael Devers and losing Alex Bregman to injury. The Houston Astros of the AL West dealt away their best player, Tucker, in the offseason, but look better without him: hurlers Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown and a white hot pen have the ‘Stros in a commanding first place position after an un-Astro-like 2024. In the NL West, the “Best Team Ever” are yet to play like it, but then again, LA have been missing most of their rotation for most of the season.
The Dodgers are likely to get stronger when it matters though. Shohei Ohtani is pitching again and has an ERA just over one as he stretches out for the postseason, Tyler Glasnow just returned, with Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki to follow. Add that to All-Star Yoshinobu Yamamoto and it’s clear that we ain’t seen nothing yet. Whether or not heavily favored LA can become the first repeat World Series winners since the 2000 Yankees is the question heading into the second half.
Kyle Schwarber celebrates after hitting his third home run in the tiebreaker at the All-Star Game. (Brynn Anderson / Associated Press)
Technically, there was no winning pitcher in Major League Baseball’s 95th All-Star Game.
The man who gave up the night’s biggest swings, however, was probably as deserving as any.
As the American League stormed back from a 6-0 deficit in Tuesday’s Midsummer Classic, a rarely contemplated reality started to dawn in both dugouts.
Three years ago, MLB changed its rules for how to break ties in its annual marquee event, instituting a home run “swing-off” to be conducted at the conclusion of the ninth inning. Each team selected three players, who each got three swings. Whichever team hit the most home runs in those nine swings wins the game.
It was penalty kicks for baseball. A hockey shootout on the diamond.
The only difference, though, was that this sport’s version required a coach to take part in the action.
Enter Dino Ebel — veteran Dodgers’ third base coach — and, now, victorious pitcher in the inaugural All-Star Game swing-off.
“What an exciting moment, I think, for baseball, for all the people that stayed, who watched on television, everything,” Ebel said, after teeing up the NL hitters for a 4-3 win in the home run swing-off, and a 7-6 win overall in the All-Star Game.
“That was pretty awesome to be a part of … I had like 10 throws just to get loose. And then it’s like, ‘Let’s bring it on.’ ”
Indeed, in an event that can often go stale once starters get removed in the early innings, the finish to Tuesday’s game energized both the stands and the dugouts, with players from both teams emptying onto the field and wildly cheering each swing.
“That was like the baseball version of a shootout or extra time,” said Philadelphia Phillies star Kyle Schwarber, who went three for three in his turn at the plate to ultimately lift the NL to the win, and earn All-Star Game MVP honors. “It was really fun. I credit the guys on our side, who were really into it.”
“First time in history we got to do this,” added Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts, who was previously 0-3 as an All-Star Game manager before Tuesday’s dramatic conclusion. “I think it played pretty well tonight.”
Perhaps the greatest twist: In the middle of it all was Ebel, a 59-year-old base coach who, as a utility infielder from 1988 to 1994 in the Dodgers’ minor-league system, never advanced past triple A.
In addition to his duties as third base coach and outfield instructor for the Dodgers, Ebel is something of a batting practice specialist these days. He’s thrown it on a daily basis to Dodgers hitters ever since the team hired him in 2019, and as a staff member with the Angels for years before that. He has pitched for four different players in the Home Run Derby, including Albert Pujols, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernández’s win in Texas last year.
Kyle Schwarber celebrates with teammates after the NL won the All-Star Game tiebreaker. (Brynn Anderson / Associated Press)
Ebel and Schwarber even had previous history of doing batting practice together, back when Ebel was a coach on Team USA’s 2023 World Baseball Classic squad two years prior.
“He's got great BP,” Schwarber said. “A lot of credit goes to him, just kind of getting thrown into the firestorm there and not being rattled by it, being able to keep pumping really good strikes to us.”
By the time Schwarber came up in the second round of the swing-off, the NL was in somewhat dicey position. Brent Rooker of the A’s started the event off with two home runs for the AL. Kyle Stowers of the Miami Marlins and Randy Arozarena of the Seattle Mariners each traded one, leaving the AL ahead 3-1.
And while Schwarber is one of the league’s most feared sluggers, with 30 long balls this year and 314 in his career, he said he rarely takes actual batting practice on the field, leaving him admittedly “a little nervous” as strolled to the dish.
“I think the first swing was kind of the big one,” Schwarber said. “I was just really trying to hit a line drive, versus trying to hit the home run. Usually, that tends to work out — especially in games.”
As Schwarber was preparing for his round, he and Ebel discussed where exactly he wanted the ball thrown.
“I’m gonna go left-center to center field,” Schwarber told Ebel. “So just throw it down the middle.”
Three thunderous swings later, Schwarber had put the NL in front with three towering blasts.
Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel was the man of the moment at the All-Star Game. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“This was putting it more on the line,” Ebel said of Tuesday’s format, which unlike the Home Run Derby or daily BP, required more patience and precision with each player permitted only three swings. “Like right now, you’re gonna win it or you’re gonna lose it. And we won it.”
Indeed, when the Tampa Bay Rays’ Jonathan Aranda suffered an 0-fer that culminated in a pop-up, the NL team swarmed Schwarber, who then sought out Ebel and embraced him with a hug.
“A lot of credit goes to him for the National League bringing it home,” Schwarber reiterated.
“Put a ‘W’ next to Dino's name in the paper,” Roberts echoed. “Dino should get the win, absolutely.”
This week was memorable for Ebel even before Tuesday’s swing-off.
On Sunday morning, he flew home early from the Dodgers’ road series in San Francisco to be with his son, Brady, for the MLB draft. From their living room, the Ebel family celebrated after Brady was selected 32nd overall by the Milwaukee Brewers, then packed up and headed for Ontario International Airport to catch a red-eye flight Sunday for Atlanta.
And after getting in early on Monday morning, Ebel had been going nonstop around All-Star festivities, joining his fellow Dodgers coaches (who made up the honorary NL staff after winning the pennant last year) for media appearances, throwing batting practice in a pre-Home Run Derby workout on Monday and, as it turned out, doing it again with Tuesday’s game in the balance.
“It’s pretty high adrenaline going for me right now,” Ebel said from the NL clubhouse postgame. “I haven’t gotten too much sleep. But right now, I feel like I’ve slept for days. Because I’m wired up.”
Instead of a tie or the game going to extra innings, MLB and the players' union agreed that if the Midsummer Classic was tied after nine innings, the game would be decided by a home run derby. Of course, it wouldn't be like the one fans saw on Monday night but it gave an electric finish to an entertaining contest.
Each manager chose three batters to take three swings. Whoever had more homers was deemed the winner and Kyle Schwarber led the National League to victory on Tuesday.
But one question remained: how did each league's managers -- especially Aaron Boone -- choose who would be hitting?
Well, the Yankees skipper made it clear how that process went.
"We had to pick our guys yesterday," Boone said after the game. "Wanted to make sure I picked guys I knew would be in the game there and still hot. That was my choice."
Boone's choice of three hitters was the Athletics' Brent Rooker, the Mariners' Randy Arozarena and the Rays' Jonathan Aranda. Interesting choices, for sure.
Rooker put on a show in Monday's Home Run Derby, hitting 17 bombs and missing out on the second round because eventual winner, Cal Raleigh hit a ball less than a foot further. The Athletics outfielder has 20 homers this season, which is eighth in the AL. Arozarena has 17, which is 15th in the league but Aranda has only 11 this season.
Where was Aaron Judge? Where was Junior Caminero, who was the Home Run Derby runner-up?
As Boone explained, he wanted players who were playing in the later innings as they were more warmed up and ready to go. So that means starters who play 3-4 innings are not available.
"We weren’t going to switch. We picked our players yesterday, then it was just the matter of picking the order," Boone said when asked about planning for the All-Star Game. "You have a plan going in. You know the starters are playing half the game, you got a couple of guys nursing through some things so you're protecting a couple of guys too and keeping it shorter for them. You plan for that going in."
Even if Boone had his full roster available, it may not have mattered. Schwarber did what he does best, hitting three bombs with his three swings, and clinching the win without Pete Alonso having to take a swing.
The Yankees skipper was impressed by the swing-off performance even if he wasn't surprised.
"I'm not shocked, especially after he clipped the first one," he said. "You get that first one under your belt. He put three great swings on it...I saw him nodding his head and he did Schwarber-type things."
That was the obvious question after the All-Star Game ended in a dramatic home run swing-off on Tuesday night in Atlanta, the first ever of its kind, after the game itself was played to a 6-6 tie after nine innings.
Three players on each side, three swings each. Those were the rules.
If ever there was a spot for Judge, this was it. But apparently Judge and Ohtani had already left Truist Park for a private flight to enjoy the off days before the second half of the season resumes, as many of the top stars for years have done after being taken out of the game.
Too bad. What potential for even more drama. It could have come down to Judge and Pete Alonso, who was lined up to hit third for the National League, a spot that figured to decide the swing-off.
Except Philadelphia Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber intervened with quite a clutch feat, hitting three home runs in his three swings, to put the NL over the top by a count of 4-3, and render Alonso’s swings unnecessary when the Rays’ Jonathan Aranda went homerless in his three swings.
Aranda instead of Judge. That’s quite a whiff for MLB.
Of course, nobody could have predicted the game would end in a tie, and this new format would be invoked for the first time ever.
Furthermore, Judge is one player who always does the right thing and may not have even been aware of the new format, which was adopted only last season and had received little publicity.
Still, with that type of drama as a possibility, MLB ought to make sure the biggest stars are there at the end just in case. Alonso told reporters the swing-off participants are named by the manager before the game, but suffice to say, both managers knew Judge and Ohtani wouldn’t be there.
In any event, if the swing-off seemed a hokey way to decide the game, it also came with genuine enthusiasm, as players from both teams lined up outside the dugout to cheer on the participants.
“The boys were into it,” was the way Schwarber put it when interviewed on the field afterward.
Even a traditionalist like Derek Jeter, commenting for FOX, admitted, “I wasn’t sure about it at first, but it was probably better than playing extra innings. It was exciting.”
The new format was adopted so that managers wouldn’t have to save pitchers for the potential of extra innings, thereby giving the most players the best chance to participate.
And as it turned out, a two-run rally in the ninth inning by the American League, which included the tying run scoring against Edwin Diaz on a slow roller by Steven Kwan of the Cleveland Guardians, made the swing-off possible.
It also denied a likely MVP award for Alonso, who had hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning off Royals lefty Kris Bubic to give the NL a 5-0 lead at the time.
And maybe it would have gone differently had NL manager Dave Roberts simply turned the ninth inning over to Diaz. Instead, he went first to Padres closer Robert Suarez, who gave up a run on one-out doubles by Byron Buxton and Bobby Witt Jr.
So with the tying run on second, Roberts brought in Diaz. He was fortunate when Matt Olson fielded Jazz Chisolm Jr.’s scorcher down the first-base line, tossing to Diaz covering for the second out of the inning.
With Witt Jr. at third, Diaz got Kwan, the little lefty slap hitter, to make soft contact on a back-door slider, but third baseman Eugenio Suarez had no chance to throw him out, and the game was tied.
Diaz got out of the inning by striking out Randy Arozarena on a two-strike pitch called a ball, and then overturned by Diaz’s challenge of the pitch by the ABS challenge system that was used for the All-Star Game.
All of which led to the swing-off and what could have been a fabulous finish for Alonso.
As it was, he said he was thrilled with his home run in the actual game after deciding to skip Monday's Home Run Derby for the first time in his career.
"That beats any Derby win,” Alonso told reporters in Atlanta. “That’s really special. The Derby is just batting practice at the end of the day. To do it playing in a game against the league’s best, that’s really special.”
Still, it could have been extra special.
Alonso said that during the swing-off, he was in the indoor cage, taking swings and watching Schwarber on a nearby TV monitor.
“He put on a hell of a show,” Alonso said. “I was standing by the cage, saying ‘hell, yeah, Schwarbs.’ I mean he’s my teammate here, so I was rooting for him.
“I was still ready for my moment if it came. Instead, we did it the easy way.”
Aranda came within a couple of feet of tying the swing-off at 4-4 as he hit one high off the wall in right.
All in all, it made for some unexpected drama that can’t be scripted. It was fun without Judge and Ohtani. It would have been a lot more fun with them.
No one wants to see players get hurt in a game, especially if it's during an exhibition. But that was potentially the case for Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suarez.
Suarez, playing in his second All-Star Game and a hot name in this trade deadline cycle, especially when it comes to the Mets and Yankees, led off the eighth inning against the White Sox's Shane Smith. On the fourth pitch of the at-bat, Suarez took a 96 mph fastball to the pinky of his left hand.
The infielder got on one knee in pain while trainers attended to him, but Suarez stayed in the game and ran the bases.
Suarez even played the field in the ninth and made a spectacular throw to get the first out of the inning.
It seemed as though Suarez avoided disaster but the third baseman was supposed to hit for the National League during the first-ever swing-off. He was replaced by the Marlins' Kyle Stowers.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who was leading the National League, said after the game that he had Stowers replace Suarez due to the hit-by-pitch. Suarez would tell the media that he received X-rays at Truist Park during the swing-off and that they were negative. He also said he's relieved by the results.
Suarez is having a great season, which is why he's the talk of many a trade rumor recently. At the break, he's slashing .250/.320/.569 with an OPS of .889. His 31 homers are second in the National League, while his 78 RBI lead the league.
He is in the final year of his contract, so he makes the perfect trade deadline acquisition as a rental, especially for a Diamondbacks team (47-50) who are 11 games back of the NL West crown but are still just 5.5 games back in the NL Wild Card.
ATLANTA (AP) — Kyle Schwarber went 3 for 3 in the first All-Star Game home run swing-off to put the National League ahead 4-3 following a 6-6 tie in which the American League rallied from a six-run deficit on Tuesday night.
In baseball’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shootout, the game was decided by having three batters from each league take three swings each off coaches. The change was agreed to in 2022 to alleviate the concern of teams running out of pitchers.
Schwarber was named All-Star MVP after going 0 for 2 with a walk in the game.
Brent Rooker put the AL ahead by homering on his last two swings, and Kyle Stowers — subbing for Eugenio Suárez — hit one.
Randy Arozarena boosted the AL lead to 3-1, and Schwarber was successful on all three tries, going down to a knee as he sent the one into the Chop House seats in right.
Jonathan Aranda failed on all three tries, hitting the right-field wall with his second, and the NL didn’t have to use its last batter, two-time Home Run Derby champion Pete Alonso, as it won for just the second time in the last 12 All-Star Games. The AL leads 48-45 with two ties.
Ketel Marte’s two-run double in the first had put the NL ahead, and Alonso’s three-run homer off Kris Bubic and Corbin Carroll’s solo shot against Casey Mize opened a 6-0 lead in the sixth.
The AL comeback began when Rooker hit a three-run pinch homer against Randy Rodríguez in a four-run seventh that included Bobby Witt Jr.’s RBI groundout.
Robert Suarez allowed consecutive doubles to Byron Buxton and Witt with one out in ninth, and Steven Kwan’s infield hit on a three-hopper to third off Edwin Díaz drove in the tying run.
Joe Torre, the 84-year-old former Yankees manager, went to the mound for a pitching change in the eighth to take the ball from Shane Smith and hand it to Andrés Muñoz. The Hall of Famer was picked as a coach by current New York skipper Aaron Boone, who managed the AL.
Heat on the mound
Paul Skenes, the first pitcher to start the All-Star Game each of his first two seasons, struck out Gleyber Torres and Riley Greene in a perfect first that included Aaron Judge’s inning-ending groundout. The 23-year-old right-hander reached 100 mph on four of 14 pitches.
Jacob Misiorowski, a controversial inclusion after pitching in just five major league games in his rookie season, fired nine pitches of 100 mph or more in a one-hit eighth 34 days after his major league debut. The 23-year-old righty, added to the NL roster by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, reached 102.3 mph.
There were 21 pitches of 100 mph or more, down from a record 23 last year but up from 13 in 2023, 10 in 2022 and one in 2021.
Robot umpire debuts
Four of five challenges were successful in the first use of the robot umpire in the All-Star Game
Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson also was successful as the first batter to call for a challenge, reversing a 1-0 fastball from Washington’s MacKenzie Gore in the fifth inning that had been called a strike. Mets closer Edwin Díaz and Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk also won challenges, and Marlins outfielder Kyle Stowers lost one.
Earning a hand
Freddie Freeman was removed for Alonso with two outs in the third inning, giving the crowd of 41,702 a chance to cheer a player who spent 12 seasons with the Braves and helped win the 2021 World Series title.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. arrived in a Valentino smoking jacket and Christian Louboutin shoes. Instead of having players line up on the foul lines as they were introduced, they walked to a four-level red podium stretching across the infield dirt with flashing lights, smoke a DJ and dancers.
