The “Most-Star” Game
As the Midsummer Classic tries to hold on to its relevancy, some traditional participants are being left out.
Next week the Major League Baseball world will descend on Atlanta for its annual All-Star festivities. The centerpiece of the days-long event is the battle between the American and National Leagues, the last traditional “All-Star Game” of any of the major North American pro sports leagues.
The other leagues have gone in these directions:
• The NFL abandoned pads and helmets at the Pro Bowl and instead has squads of stars competing in flag football after years of indifference on the part of players looking to avoid injuries.
• The NHL now breaks up its teams by division with All-Star participants competing in a mini tournament.
• The NBA, which has been criticized for players mailing it in for years, (there’s no D in All-Star) now at least spices up the end of games by using the Elam Ending.
But baseball, long bound by tradition but making progress towards modernization in a crowded sports marketplace, still holds on to the game much as it was first presented in 1933.
One of the major storylines of the walk-up to the game is the snub (for now) of Mets rightfielder Juan Soto from the contest. Soto famously signed a $765M contract to move from The Bronx to Queens, and despite strong numbers, he was passed over in the NL outfield (and a $100K All-Star bonus) for the likes of Corbin Carroll, Kyle Stowers, Fernando Tatis Jr. and James Wood – all deserving, but as deserving?
While the Soto snub is hard to fathom for the Mets faithful, it continues a curious pattern from recent years: baseball’s highest paid players have had a hard time gaining All-Star recognition. In fact, in five of the last six years in which an ASG was played, the highest paid player was excluded.
2025 – Juan Soto (no)
2024 – Max Scherzer (no)
2023 – Max Scherzer (no) & Justin Verlander (no)
2022 – Max Scherzer (no)
2021 – Mike Trout (yes)
2020 – No ASG
2019 – Stephen Strasburg (no)
2018 – Clayton Kershaw (no)
Not only have baseball’s top players been regularly excluded from the All-Star roster of late, so have past game MVPs.
Last year’s recipient of the Ted Williams MVP Award, was fittingly a Red Sox outfielder, Jarren Duran. But unlike Williams, who was named an All-Star in 17 0f his 18 full big league seasons, Duran was (rightfully) left behind this year despite leading the AL in triples, at bats and plate appearances.
Duran, who was one of an astonishing 32 first-time All-Stars chosen in 2024, replaced Aaron Judge in centerfield for the AL in last year’s game, touched up Hunter Greene for a two-run home run in the fifth inning to break a 3-3 tie and provide the deciding runs in the junior circuit’s 5-3 win. But that past glory was overshadowed by Boston’s swoon and his own regression to his career means.
In fact, over the past 10 years, only three All-Star Game MVPs have ever returned to the game at all.
2025 - ???
2024 – Jarren Duran (no)
2023 – Elias Diaz (no)
2022 – Giancarlo Stanton (no)
2021 – Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (yes)
2020 – no game
2019 – Shane Bieber (yes)
2018 – Alex Bregman (yes)
2017 – Robinson Cano (no)
2016 – Eric Hosmer (no)
One who has is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who is the only one of the seven active former ASG MVPs who’ll appear in the 2025 game. He was also the only former ASG MVP to play in 2024’s contest. By contrast, from 2004 to 2011, there were at least THREE former ASG MVPs in each game.
Since 1962 when an MVP was first named in the game, 22 different Hall of Famers captured a combined 25 MVPs. Obviously that count doesn’t include Mike Trout (not yet eligible), Roger Clemens, or Pete Rose (who would certainly qualify if on-field prowess was the only criteria). From 1965 through 1972, every All-Star Game MVP (Juan Marichal, Brooks Robinson, Tony Perez, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Carl Yastrzemski, Frank Robinson, Joe Morgan) ended up being enshrined in Cooperstown. Frank Robinson was the MVP of the legendary 1971 Midsummer Classic in Detroit, which featured 21 Hall of Famers (plus Rose) including each of the first six batters to step to the plate for the NL.
But outside of the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and perhaps a handful of others, don’t look for that level of generational talent in the All-Star game anymore. You can call it depth or call it parity, but over the past two years there will have been at least 55 first time All-Stars. The 23 this year (with more likely to come) is creeping up on the record total of 32 from last year. Some will say this is good for the game, with so many more players being rewarded for their first-half accomplishments. Others will point to the watering down of the star power that baseball has so sought to revive for years. If everyone is an All-Star, who really is one?