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PHILADELPHIA — The bosses of Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association spoke Tuesday and expressed belief the game is doing well — which is about where their agreement ended.

A chief disagreement: Both suggest fans are on their side, and MLB’s effort to ensure support has not been appreciated by the union.

To win fan support, MLB launched a “Level the Playing Field” advertising campaign that has become inescapable, particularly on its TV network. The league says it is responding to fan concerns about competitive balance by attempting to overhaul the economic system and install a salary cap and floor — which players are fighting — in the next collective bargaining agreement.

“I have watched over the last few years the owners, the commissioner’s office, try to convince fans — the consumers of their product — that the product is broken,” Bruce Meyer, the interim executive director of the MLBPA, said at a gathering with reporters before the All-Star Game. “Trying to convince fans and the world that, you know what, you are going to these games in record numbers, including small-market teams that have actually been at the forefront of increases in attendance — and instead, the league, the supposed stewards of the game, has spent an inordinate amount of time trying to convince those same fans that they don’t have hope, or they shouldn’t have hope.

“… I think it’s perverse.”

The league argues it is reflecting a view heard overwhelmingly from fans.

“We’re listening to our fans,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in a separate Q&A with reporters. “What our fans in a number of our markets are telling us — better than half of them — is there’s a lack of competitive balance in the game and everything we propose is directed at addressing that fan concern.”

At the heart of the labor fight is ownership’s assertion that small-market teams lack a fair chance to succeed, and the players’ arguments that payroll does not guarantee victories, and if small-market owners want to spend more, they can.

“In order for this game to reach its full potential … we need to make sure that fans in markets, at the beginning of the season, have a realistic belief that their team has a chance to win,” Manfred said. “I think that we need a system where fans, particularly in smaller markets, can have some hope that the players that are signed and developed by their organizations can actually stay there through free agency.”

Meyer’s response: Look at the records of the Brewers, Guardians, Rays and Cardinals over the past decade, and look at the young stars many small-market clubs have locked up long before free agency. Additionally, the owners of those clubs can simply spend more money on major league salary.

“The fans in those markets deserve to have them compete,” said Meyer, who took over after Tony Clark was forced out in February, “and the fact that [those owners] want this all-purpose excuse to not have to compete doesn’t change the fact that competitive balance in baseball is healthy.”

Do fans agree? Yes, Manfred said, citing a “sophisticated” process in which the league uses professional pollsters and focus groups, among other sources.

No, said Meyer, who pointed to a poll in The Athletic in which just 34 percent of respondents said their favorite team would have “a significantly better chance at making the postseason in a cap system.”

“If they were so concerned about fans,” Meyer said of the league’s owners, “they would be listening to the fans all across baseball who are literally chanting, ‘Sell the team.’ ”

No small-market team since the Royals in 2015 has won the World Series. On the other hand, Meyer pointed at the struggles of the Mets, who have “the richest owner,” and the Yankees, who “have won one World Series in the last 25 years.”

“That doesn’t sound like an existential crisis,” Meyer said.

Manfred countered that there are always exceptions, but that “over a very long period of time, there’s a very strong relationship between who gets into the playoffs and who proceeds, notwithstanding the exceptions.”

Both sides have exchanged initial proposals for a new CBA ahead of the current agreement expiring Dec. 1. The expectation is the league will lock out the players as negotiations then pick up.

Last month, President Donald Trump said MLB should have a salary cap. A sports fan known to interject himself into issues past presidents avoided, Trump could intervene if a lockout drags on.

Asked if he would welcome intervention, Manfred declined to speculate.

“He is a great sports fan, and he is really knowledgeable about the business of sports, so it doesn’t surprise me he’s interested,” Manfred said. “But beyond that, I’m going to pass [on the question].”

Both the league and union want players to participate in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, but hang-ups include the league wanting mandatory participation, according to ESPN.

Unlike the World Baseball Classic, which occurs in spring as players are ramping up, the Olympics will be midseason, when pitchers will be stretched out and hitters in rhythm.

“We went down the road on LA 2028 because we saw it as a unique opportunity to market the sport with our very, very best players,” Manfred said. “It is a disruptive undertaking for us. Put money to one side — you’re disrupting the entire season. And if we’re going to undertake that effort, we want our very best out there so that people see how great our game really is.”

Meyer said the two sides are in a “very early stage” of discussion.

“In general, our players want to play in the Olympics,” Meyer said. “… We want to make sure that [players] have things like travel and accommodations and things that they deserve based on who they are.”

Meyer said the union has cooperated with a federal investigation into a youth baseball company owned and created by the MLBPA.

Reading from a statement, Meyer said, “It’s our understanding the MLBPA and its current staff are not and have never been targets of this ongoing investigation.”

The All-Star break is officially in full swing, and following an absolutely epic Home Run Derby Monday, fans are primed and ready for the Midsummer Classic this evening. Philadelphia is hosting the festivities for the first time since 1996, bringing the best of the best to the City of Brotherly Love. The American League leads the National League all-time, 48-45, and has dominated the better part of the last three decades, losing just five times since 1997 and winning 10 of the last 12. Though we can’t forget last season, when a tied game after nine led to the first “swing-off” tiebreaker that allowed the NL to take the W as Philly’s own Kyle Schwarber won it in dramatic fashion.

Two star-studded lineups will be managed by a pair of excellent managers. Dave Roberts, the Los Angeles Dodgers skipper, is managing back-to-back years and his fifth All-Star game, and he will have five of his players on the roster. Making his managerial debut in the Midsummer Classic, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider will be at the helm for the American League. The Jays fell to the Dodgers in a thrilling, seven-game World Series in 2025, and though Toronto hasn’t been as dominant this season, Schneider will have four players attending with Cy Young contender — and an old White Sox pal — Dylan Cease getting the start for the AL.

Leading the field with the most elected All-Stars are the hometown Philadelphia Phillies, with six players represented this year, including two-time All-Star Cristopher Sánchez, who is starting on the mound for the National League. One of the best fun facts coming out of this year’s game is that Roy Halladay was the last starting pitcher to represent both the Blue Jays (2009) and the Phillies (2011). Veterans Chris Sale, Freddie Freeman, and Justin Verlander will each make their 10th All-Star Game appearance, while Mike Trout was elected for the 12th time and will start in center field.

There are also quite a few young guys and rookies making their All-Star debut as well, as there are 11 players younger than 25 years old, and 36 first-timers. There is so much talent on both rosters, but I want to focus on three of those first-timers: Miguel Vargas, Munetaka Murakami, and Tristan Peters.

If you told White Sox fans a year ago that the team would go from 102 losses to three All-Stars (with a few more that were deserving or right on the cusp), they would probably think you were crazy. Heck, if you told them at the beginning of April, it would have felt like one big joke. But here the South Siders are: sending three excellent players to the national stage while holding first place in the AL Central.

Third baseman Miguel Vargas has not only been one of the best stories of the year, but his improvement across every facet of his game over the past two years has been amazing to watch. He’s been consistent every year with not chasing pitches while walking at higher rates. Still, the increases in production across his offensive stats while playing a solid third base have propelled him into the top players in the American League. Vargas’ 3.3 WAR is the fifth-best in the AL, his 13.7% walk rate ranks ninth, his .848 OPS ranks 13th, and he is tied for sixth with 21 home runs. I mean, seriously, this year’s Savant page is bonkers.

He can also rock a blue suit on the red carpet, so pray for the league.

Japanese rookie sensation Munetaka Murakami has also impressed pretty much everyone since he joined MLB, and despite being injured for the past six weeks, he still is tied for seventh for most homers in the AL with 20, and holds a 148 wRC+ on the season, sixth in the AL (min. 250 PAs). Mune’s 33.6% strikeout rate is the highest in the AL and fourth-highest in MLB, though he essentially balances that out with his 17.8% walk rate (third in AL), .540 slugging percentage (sixth) and 911 OPS (fifth). And again, he has maintained all of this while not playing for over a month. Murakami’s nine home runs were just beaten out by Kyle Schwarber’s 10 in the first round of the Home Run Derby, but his swing looked smoother than ever, and it certainly wasn’t a bad showing for his first time around.

Last but DEFINITELY not least is center fielder Tristan Peters. Replacing Byron Buxton due to injury, Peters was a late All-Star addition, but his success this season has been beyond impactful to the White Sox and truly unprecedented. Peters was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays in the offseason for “cash considerations,” in what may end up being some of the best money that GM Chris Getz has spent thus far. His .301 batting average is the third-best in the AL and ninth-best in all of baseball, and Peters has mashed 20 of his 75 hits for doubles (26.7%), tied for fourth-most in the AL (alongside Vargas). From the Savannah Bananas to hitting for the cycle in his first full major league season, to the MLB All-Star game, it’s been a lot of fun watching him get to this point.

None of the Chicago White Sox players are starters right now, but hopefully they’ll get an inning at some point tonight. Cease has quite the lineup behind him, nonetheless, especially with all of that power loaded from top to bottom, with Trout leading off and Yordan Alvarez batting second while leading all of baseball with a 1.059 OPS and the AL with 31 homers. Two Derby contestants being on your team is also a flex, with Junior Caminero batting fourth, and Ben Rice balancing out the lineup in the seven-spot while being second in the AL with 29 bombs.

Since being snubbed for an All-Star selection in 2022, Cease is finally making his debut at the Midsummer Classic and is having arguably his best season yet with a 2.84 ERA. His 36.9% strikeout rate is trailing only the flame-throwing Jacob Misiorowski of the Milwaukee Brewers. Walks have always been something that Cease has struggled with in his career, and his 11% BB% is the fifth-highest among all qualified starters, but striking out over a third of your opponents while holding them to a .189 batting average has helped maintain his success this season.

For the National League, the lineup Cristopher Sánchez has behind him is just as scary, with MLB home run leader Schwarber giving Cease a run for his money right off the bat, followed by consistent sluggers Juan Soto and Freeman. Sánchez has been an elite pitcher for the last several years, and his 2.62 ERA and 1.186 WHIP have kept him not only front of mind as an All-Star but as a potential Cy Young candidate for the NL this season. His 38.6% chase rate is among the best in all of baseball, and his changeup is simply nasty, with opponents batting just .167 against him while drawing a 45.2% whiff rate on the pitch.

Tune into FOX at 7 p.m. CT for the action, and feel free to follow along with us in the comments!

Chat it up.

The regrettably Oriole-light 2026 edition of MLB’s All-Star Game gets under way at 8pm tonight, or however long after 8pm that it takes to do all of the pre-game activities – player introductions and all of that – that MLB doesn’t schedule before 8pm. You can watch the game on Fox and that’s it.

Adley Rutschman is among the American League reserves. It’s nice for him that he’s back in the game for the third time. Probably it was more fun a couple of years ago when he had several teammates there with him. His revival after a couple of down years has been important for the Orioles holding on to what they can so far this season and it is going to be significant for next year as well. He will probably catch two or three innings and get one or two at-bats tonight. Enjoy it while it lasts.

American League starting lineup

1. Mike Trout – CF
2. Yordan Álvarez – DH
3. Shea Langeliers – C
4. Junior Caminero – 3B
5. Bobby Witt Jr. – SS
6. Cody Bellinger – RF
7. Ben Rice – 1B
8. Riley Greene – LF
9. Ernie Clement – 2B

Dylan Cease is the AL starting pitcher.

As a general rule, I don’t go in for “oh, what a nice story for baseball” narratives. I don’t care about nice stories for baseball. I want the Orioles to win games and Orioles players to play well and that’s it. Anybody else has other people to cheer for them and enjoy them. It won’t be me.

That said, even my cold heart can be swayed by Trout being back in the All-Star Game after an absence of a couple of years. His return to relative good health and pretty good performance this year is one of the better random things going on in baseball. In classic Angels form for the duration of his career, it’s coming for a team that is bad and going nowhere. It’s a real shame. Trout getting some late-career postseason success probably would be nice for baseball. I might even enjoy it, as long as it doesn’t come against the Orioles.

National League starting lineup

1. Kyle Schwarber – DH
2. Juan Soto – RF
3. Freddie Freeman – 1B
4. CJ Abrams – SS
5. Max Muncy – 3B
6. Ozzie Albies – 2B
7. Brandon Marsh – LF
8. Andy Pages – CF
9. Drake Baldwin – C

Cristopher Sánchez of the Phillies will start the game for the NL team.

One thing that always mildly interests me with All-Star starting lineups is thinking about how many of these guys are future Hall of Fame guys. Will we look back at this group of guys and think, wow, the fans really nailed it this time?

For the American League, there’s Trout, obviously. Much to my chagrin, Witt looks like a good pick with 26.8 bWAR through his first 4.5 seasons of his career. If Álvarez’s next five years look like his last five years, he could make it. At least for now, that looks like it for this lineup. Aaron Judge, who was elected as a starter but is not going to play, is going to make it some day. I have no joy in saying this.

Among the NL starters, Schwarber looks like a decent bet to hit the 500 home run club that’s the standard for any players who weren’t either caught using or widely believed to have used PEDs. Soto, with 45.4 bWAR and he’s still only in his age 27 season, couldn’t walk into the Hall if he retired tomorrow (for one thing, he hasn’t played the minimum ten seasons) but he probably could after about three more seasons that look like his career averages. Freeman will end up in Cooperstown. The elected starting NL DH, Shohei Ohtani, is also obviously heading there.

If you’re wondering how this compares to last year, I think last year’s elected AL starters had two definitely future HOFers: Judge and José Ramírez. The NL had Freeman, Ohtani, Manny Machado, and Francisco Lindor. Younger guys like Ronald Acuña Jr. and Pete Crow-Armstrong were also in that mix. So, this year’s is maybe about normal or maybe a little bit less on future HOF power than normal.

It does not matter who wins or loses this game.

Here’s the AL lineup:

Here’s the NL lineup:

Let’s go, AL

Discuss below:

The MLB All-Star Game in Philadelphia will feature 3 St. Louis Cardinals. Jordan Walker, Ivan Herrera and Riley O’Brien are all on the roster. Dylan Cease of the Toronto Blue Jays is the scheduled starter for the American League while Cristopher Sánchez of the Phillies will get the start for the National League. First pitch scheduled for 7pm central time and the game broadcast will be available on Fox.

The American and National League’s best, er, most available square off in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Yes, it’s All-Star week, which means tonight is the All-Star game, which means this is the final MLB-endorsed event until games restart on Friday. For some, especially Mariners fans, that might sound like a blessing. Those fans will be heartened to know Randy Arozarena is the Mariners only representative this year, and he’s not in this evening’s starting lineup. They cannot hurt you today, probably.

The AL has put together an excellent lineup and Ernie Clement. Mike Trout leads off followed by Yordan Alvarez and Shea Langeliers, completing a Western top third. Junior Caminero and Bobby Witt Jr. hit fourth and fifth as the league’s best players. The AL lacks star power on the mound, but Dylan Cease is perhaps the one exception; he’s the current favorite for the AL Cy Young this year. It’s not clear if or when Arozarena will make it into the game, though if it ends in a tie, he will once again be part of the swing off.

The NL’s lineup includes three Dodgers, two Phillies, two Braves, a Met and a National. They’ll also have a third Philly with Cristopher Sánchez on the mound. It’s an All-Star Game. They’re a great team, even they’re only representing a third of their league in the starting lineup.

I’m going to be brave and say the AL wins this one 6-4. Witt hits a homer and a double and wins the MVP. Arozarena comes off the bench and gets hit by a pitch.

Lineups

Game Info

First Pitch: 5:00 p.m.

TV: FOX

I hope every MLB fan gets used to Bobby Witt Jr. in the All-Star Game. This is already Witt’s third All-Star Game, and Witt just turned 26 last month. The Kansas City Royals record for most All-Star selections is George Brett with 13; Salvador Perez is second with nine. After that, multiple Royals are tied with five selections, and it seems at least that Witt is on track to move into third place as soon as 2028.

Joining Witt is Michael Wacha, making his second All-Star appearance. Wacha’s first All-Star Game? All the way back in 2015, when he was but a wee 23-year-old with the St. Louis Cardinals.

It’s an All-Star Game with some new faces (Ben Rice, Drake Baldwin) and some old faces (Mike Trout, Freddie Freeman). May the best team win—and may the on-field interviews be as least cringy as possible.

2026 All-Star Game lineup

Starting pitcher for the AL is Toronto’s Dylan Cease, the first Blue Jay to do so since 2009, when Roy Halladay did so. On the mound for the NL will be Cristopher Sánchez of the hometown Phillies. Weirdly, the last Phillies pitcher to start the All-Star Game was… Roy Halladay, in 2011.

This is the 96th All-Star Game, and you can watch on Fox. Coverage started at 3:30 pm Arizona time, but I’m scheduling this to avoid most of the large quantity of bloviating before the game starts, some time after 5 pm. It’s the first time the contest has been at Citizens Bank Park: the last occasion in Philadelphia was exactly thirty years ago, at Veterans Stadium. No D-backs were involved in that contest. 🙂 Though future player Roberto Alomar was. The AL currently leads the series with a 48–45–2 (.516) record, and a 388–380 run advantage. The leagues have alternated wins the last four times: in 2025, the NL prevailed in the first ever swing-off tiebreaker, after blowing a 6-0 lead.

With Citizens Bank Park crossed off the list, that just leaves new Yankee Stadium, Tropicana Field and Sutter Health Park as the only currently active ballparks never to have held an All-Star Game. The last-named – home of the [THIS SPACE FOR RENT] Athletics, in case you were wondering – is for obvious reasons, and the Yankees did have the ASG in their old park relatively recently, in 2008. But the lack of an ASG for our expansion siblings, fifteen years after Arizona got one, is a little odd. I imagine MLB is using it as pressure: “Get a new park and we’ll give you an All-Star Game!” The hope is for the Rays to get a new park for 2029, but I’m severely doubtful.

We will see when and if the two Arizona Diamondbacks on the NL roster get into the game: Corbin Carroll and Eduardo Rodriguez. I’d be particularly happy to see ERod, finally making it into the All-Star Game in his 11th season. Obviously, the record for most seasons before appearing in an All-Star Game belongs to Babe Ruth, who only got selected in his 20th season. That would be because there wasn’t an All-Star Game for the first nineteen. But excluding those early days, only three players have had a longer wait than Eduardo’s 11 seasons to get into the Midsummer Classic, lead by Raul Ibanez who was in his 14th season when picked in 2009.

Alright, folks. It’s finally here: Ozzie Albies and Drake Baldwin are in the starting lineup for the National League and will rep the Atlanta Braves to begin this season’s MLB All-Star Game in Philadelphia. They’ll be joined by Matt Olson, Chris Sale and Raisel Iglesias, making it five Braves representatives for this season’s Midsummer Classic. It’s an exciting time and a much-needed break from what was turning into a bit of a slog as far as the regular season goes for the Braves.

How to watch

There’s no mystery this time. It’s on good ol’ Fox. They’re telling you to tune in at 8:00 p.m. ET so I’d iamgine that’s when the festivities will get started.

Where will the Braves be in the lineup?

Gracelyn did a post on it once the lineups were released on Monday so go check that out for your answer as to where Ozzie Albies and Drake Baldwin will be hitting in the lineup to start tonight’s game.

Are they still doing the whole “Swing-Off” thing in case of a nine-inning tie?

Yep! We got our first taste of it last year when the All-Star Game was at Truist Park and that format is still in place. If it does go to a swing-off then 2026 MLB Home Run Derby champion Jordan Walker, Hunter Goodman and James Wood will swing for the National League. The AL has selected Randy Arozarena, Willson Contreras and Munetaka Murakami to swing for them in case it comes down to it.

Let’s have some fun, shall we? Sam will be coming with the recap later tonight, so stay tuned for that.

This week’s All-Star Week festivities got off to a bombastic start on Monday night at Citizens Bank Park, with outstanding performances from established sluggers and burgeoning stars alike in the Home Run Derby. The spectacle of Jordan Walker silencing a partisan Philadelphia crowd with six consecutive bombs to snatch the title from Kyle Schwarber will be hard to top in terms of pure theatre, but let’s see what the Midsummer Classic itself has to offer!

Tonight, the Yankees will have both Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger representing them in the American League’s starting lineup; they’ll take on Philadelphia ace Cristopher Sánchez on his home mound as the Senior Circuit seeks to claim their second straight victory in the main event. The AL had mounted a late-inning comeback to erase a 6-0 lead, but Schwarber ultimately led the NL to victory by winning a Derby-esque swing-off challenge which replaced extra innings.

Of course, two other Yankees were named All-Stars this season: Aaron Judge and Cam Schlittler. Judge is still working his way back from the rib fracture he sustained in the first week of June. Schlittler was about as deserving as any pitcher to get the starting nod for the AL, but owing to his start this past Saturday, opted not to participate. Strangely, Blue Jays manager John Schneider, who will be leading the American League on the field tonight, said he was always planning to tap the Blue Jays’ Dylan Cease as the starter—even if Schlittler was available to pitch. Weird move, but all right.

Bellinger and Rice will hit consecutively in Schneider’s lineup, at the sixth and seventh spot respectively. (Everybody get those jokes out of the way now.) They were not voted into starting spots, but they will each get the nod regardless due to injuries to Judge and Byron Buxton in Bellinger’s case and the combination of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.‘s withdrawal from the event and replacement Nick Kurtz’s recent addition to the IL.

Rice participated in last night’s Home Run Derby, but failed to advance to the next round. He’ll still get a chance to show off the impressive game power which has brought him to the precipice of 30 home runs at the season’s intermission. Bellinger was slumping mightily ahead of the season’s final week, but finished strong with five hits in the last four games ahead of the break. He gets a chance to keep that momentum going against…well, somebody in the NL’s pitching staff. Since it tends to be a new face pitching every inning, and all. Just one big hit from either of them however, and they could join Derek Jeter (2000), Mariano Rivera (2013), and Giancarlo Stanton (2022) as the only All-Star Game MVPs in Yankees history.

The AL’s lineup is quite front-loaded for pure power, with Mike Trout leading off ahead of Yordan Alvarez, A’s backstop Shea Langeliers and Junior Caminero hitting cleanup. Bobby Witt Jr. and Bellinger provide a more contact-oriented lane in the middle; though both are plenty capable of muscling up themselves. After Rice comes Detroit’s Riley Greene and, yes, the AL’s leading vote-getter, Ernie Clement. To my eye, the NL’s starting lineup is more balanced, but there’s a Ship of Theseus quality to these batting orders, of course.

How to watch

Location: Citizens Bank Park — Philadelphia, PA

First pitch: 8:00 pm ET

TV broadcast: FOX

Radio broadcast: ESPN Radio

Online stream: MLB.tv (internationally)

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Time/Place: 8:00 p.m., Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA
Media: FOX Sports, ESPN Radio (Pre-Game coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. ET)
Pitching Matchup: AL- RHP Dylan Cease (6-4, 2.56 ERA) NL- LHP Cristopher Sánchez (11-4, 2.62 ERA)