The winners and losers of the 2015 MLB All-Star game
Another MLB All-Star game is in the books and the big winner shouldn’t really be a surprise. It’s the American League, who happens to win a lot of these. The 6-3 victory over the National League team was the third straight win for the AL bunch.
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Whichever AL team makes it to the World Series now gets home-field advantage. (Send your thank-you cards to Bud Selig for that one, folks). In the smaller scale, the game brought many other winners and losers.
There were big-name disappointments and big-name successes, another chapter to a great comeback, two pitchers who absolutely dominated, one who didn’t and the announcer the Internet loves to hate. Let’s have a look:
THE WINNERS
• Mike Trout: What more is there to say about Trout? The best player in the game proved it yet again. He took home MVP honors for the second straight year, something no player has ever done in the All-Star game. He hit a lead-off homer and scored two runs.
• Prince Fielder: Prince is back, y’all. After his injury-shortened 2014 season, Prince Fielder is making a strong case for AL comeback player of the year. While the All-Star game doesn’t count toward that, he certainly impressed Tuesday night as well. He had two RBIs off the bench and scored a run.
• The Royals: For all the controversy and hand-wringing about the Kansas City Royals dominating the All-Star vote, there was no Royal letdown. The AL team won, so delete those tweets about how Royals fans were just handing the NL home-field advantage in the World Series. Royals players had three of AL’s seven hits, including Lorenzo Cain, who had two hits and an RBI.
• Pete Rose: We all knew this was The Hit King’s party. Cincinnati loved seeing Rose getting honored on the field. Even through that didn’t end with reinstatement papers and a one-way ticket to Cooperstown, it was nice to see Rose celebrated in his hometown by the fans of the game he excelled at. As for “Let Pete in!,” that will be decided another day.
• Jacob deGrom: He was completely filthy. How’s this for making an impact on the national stage? The reigning NL Rookie of the Year struck out three AL hitters on 10 pitches. You know you did well when Pedro Martinez is raving about you:
• Brian Dozier: The Minnesota Twins second baseman has been having a great season (19 homers and 50 RBIs) on a team that’s surprising a lot of folks. He doesn’t get as much attention as he deserves, playing in Minnesota and all, but Dozier made his presence known with a solo homer in the eighth inning.
THE LOSERS
• Clayton Kershaw: It just wasn’t meant to be for Kershaw in the All-Star game this year. He wasn’t chosen for the squad originally, but made the team as a last-minute sub. Then he came into a 1-1 game in the fifth inning and let in the go-ahead run and one more. He took the loss for the NL.
• Bryce Harper: The big stage is usually a place where Harper thrives. But the current favorite for NL MVP didn’t bring his home-run stroke to the Midsummer Classic. He was 0-for-3, striking out twice. He doesn’t have an All-Star game hit in his career yet, but he doesn’t sound too worried about it.
• The entire NL, really: Since 1997, the National League has only won the All-Star game three times. That’s not good.
• A.J. Burnett: After making his first All-Star game in the final year of his career, Pirates pitcher Burnett didn’t get into the game. He had custom Batman cleats and everything. That’s the risk for pitchers in a game like this, but still it would have been nice to see Burnett get a chance to play in his one and only All-Star selection.
• The Fox announce booth: Fact is, people often hate the announcers. Especially the national guys. So Harold Reynolds and Joe Buck getting a lot of heat from baseball fans isn’t exactly new, but they also didn’t help themselves. From Joe Buck saying that Jhonny Peralta is an NL MVP candidate to Reynolds saying, well, a lot of stuff, the haters were out Tuesday night. People seem to generally like Tom Verducci, though, so there’s that.
• Everybody who had to face Aroldis Chapman: Chapman, baseball’s unquestioned top fireballer, showed us exactly why he’s so great. He pitched the ninth for the NL, striking out all three batters he faced — Brock Holt, Mike Moustakas and Mark Teixeira. Chapman threw 14 pitches, only two of which didn’t hit 100 mph. He topped out at 103 mph, on a third strike to Moustakas. Nasty.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
