All-Star Week: July 17-21
The best players on Earth have gathered at Louisville Slugger Field for the 2023 All-Star Game! Voting finished on Monday, and we had two players elected, and four players in the game overall! Here were the final winners - the same as in the most recent update, all the way around.
The closest race was at 3B in the AL, where Bryant edged out Oklahoma's Alex Bregman by just 7,000 votes. Our Morio Ishihara had the most votes of any NL non-winner, so you could consider him the DH-elect if you like, although it appears that San Diego's Carlos Correa will DH. A few players from these lineups are injured and won't participate - Angels CF Parker Meadows, Rays 2B Jose Altuve and Thunder SS Tim Anderson will all be idle cheerleaders on Wednesday.
The full roster is as follows.
AL by team:
66ers: LF Andrew Benintendi, CF Andres de la Torre, RF Juan Soto
Anchors: 3B Matt Wallner
Angels: CF Parker Meadows
Athletics: LF Nick Decker, LF Eloy Jimenez
Blizzard: LF Jeremy Perry
Blue Jays: SP Pauly Milto
Cherries: SS Allen Cordoba, SP Josh Johnson, RP Graeme Stinson
Crescents: RP Chris Holba, RF Alexis La Madrid
Indians: C Gage West
Lynx: RP Corey Knebel, C Shea Langeliers
Mariners: SS Corey Seager
Oilers: 3B Alex Bregman, SP Shohei Ohtani
Orioles: SP Shelby Miller, CL Wandy Peralta
Rays: 2B Jose Altuve
Red Sox: 3B Kris Bryant
Rounders: 2B Nico Hoerner
Royals: 3B Matt Chapman
Saguaros: C Steven Williams
Scorpions: C Brad Debo, RF Bryce Harper, 1B Rhys Hoskins
Solons: CF Allen Hazeltine, RF Zack Shannon
Stars: 1B Justin Bour, LF Alex Cantu, CL Jose Torres
Tigers: RP Bryant Jordan, SP Enrique Soto
Twins: 1B Seth Beer
Violets: 3B Chris Antrim, LF Adam Wesche
White Sox: SP Andrew Triggs
Yankees: SP Noah Syndergaard
Beavers, Navigators, Rangers, Rockies: not represented
Astros: RF Ramon Gutierrez, C Buster Posey
Beacons: CF Sammy Siani, LF Travis Swaggerty
Bees: C Kole Cottam, 3B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B Morio Ishihara, SP Jose Quintana
Blackbirds: CF Mike Trout
Braves: RP Ivan Vieitez
Brewers: SP Adrian Morejon, SS Dansby Swanson
Burros: SS Rece Hinds
Cardinals: 1B Cody Bellinger
Colts: CL Hidekazu Hirose
Cubs: SS Francisco Lindor, SP Drew Pomeranz
Explorers: 3B Damone Hale, LF Cameron Misner
Giants: RF Steele Walker
Lions: 2B Raynel Delgado
Marlins: 3B Drew Mendoza
Mets: CF Jake McCarthy
Monarques: 1B Jeremy Wolf
Nationals: CL Brett Cecil
Oaks: SP Eduardo Rodriguez
Padres: RP Brooks Crawford, SP Chase Farrell
Phillies: SP Matt Logozzo
Pirates: SP Wu-Shiun Chen
Reds: C Jonathan Lucroy
Silver Sox: RF Koshi Higuchi, 2B Brad Martin, 3B John Valente
Suns: CL Durbin Feltman, 2B Scott Fitzgerald, C Cal Raleigh, SS Brice Turang
Thunder: SS Tim Anderson, SP Steven Brault
Cascades, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Flyers, Marshals: not represented
I have checked the setting to make sure an All-Star is chosen from each team, so I don't know why 9 teams are left unrepresented. I guess that belongs in the Bug Reports forum. Anyway, it's a nice recognition to be tied for the highest number of All-Stars this season, although the other team with 4 representatives are the Suns, who are sub-.500 at the break.
Let's get to the game!
Shohei Ohtani (12-5, 3.55) vs. Wu-Shiun Chen (7-4, 2.78)
AL: SS Cordoba, LF Benintendi, RF Harper, 1B Hoskins, DH Seager, 3B Bryant, C Debo, CF de la Torre, 2B Hoerner
NL: CF McCarthy, 3B Guerrero, 1B Bellinger, LF Trout, RF Higuchi, 2B Martin, C Posey, SS Lindor, DH Correa
The injury subs: Nico Hoerner replaces Jose Altuve, Andres de la Torre replaces Parker Meadows, Francisco Lindor replaces Tim Anderson. Because Quintana pitched on Sunday, we're having him sit. Chen is definitely a worthy starter as well, and was the Cy Young winner last year.
Scoring summary:
T2: de la Torre singled to left, Seager scored. 1-0 AL
T2: Hoerner hit into double play, Bryant scored. 2-0 AL
B2: Trout homered to right. 2-1 AL
T4: Hoerner homered to left-center, de la Torre scored. 4-1 AL
B4: Bellinger homered to center, Guerrero scored. 4-3 AL
T5: Hoskins homered to center. 5-3 AL
T6: Bregman singled to right, Bryant scored. 6-3 AL
B7: Lucroy doubled to right-center, Fitzgerald scored. 6-4 AL
AL wins 6-4
W: Pauly Milto (Blue Jays) L: Matt Logozzo (Phillies) S: Jose Torres (Stars)
MVP: Nico Hoerner (Rounders)
Easy MVP choice there. After Hoerner's HR the NL never got closer than the final margin of two runs. Guerrero was the only NL player with multiple hits, though Bellinger probably would've been the MVP of a National League win. Ishihara came in in the 8th inning, flew out to right and played the final inning at first base - Cottam and Quintana didn't get into the game, which is fine.
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Some Bee-specific news: we're going to be much healthier after the break. Michael Pineda and Min-Kyu Phyo have both been activated from the disabled list, and Ben Parks was activated as well but sent to AAA Hawaii. It hurt me to do, but I sent Ray Gaither back to AAA as well. He's pitched pretty nicely out of the rotation but he's the odd man out roster- and contract-wise. Te'Kwaan Whyte went down as well to make room for Phyo - we'll roll with Kasser as a utility infielder for now since he's the better defender.