The 92nd MLB All-Star Game is here in Los Angeles, as are Sports Illustrated editors and writers Matt Martell, Emma Baccellieri, Will Laws and Nick Selbe to watch along with you from Dodger Stadium.
WL (8:14 p.m. ET): The pregame festivities are just about over. Melissa O’Neil sang the Canadian national anthem, Ben Platt sang the U.S. national anthem, Denzel Washington read a dedication to Jackie Robinson (who debuted for the Dodgers 75 years ago) and Mookie Betts led a special stadium-wide birthday greeting for Jackie’s wife Rachel Robinson, who turns 100 today. Then, Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela threw out the first pitch to Alejandro Kirk. The real first pitch should be coming in the next few minutes here. Do we have any bold predictions?
MM (8:15 p.m. ET): Bold prediction: I will not throw up the Dodger Dog I just ate.
WL (8:16 p.m. ET): Honestly I can’t believe that’s what you went for after it’s all they’ve been serving us in the press box this week.
NS (8:17 p.m. ET): Bold prediction: Clayton Kershaw goes two innings with at least four strikeouts, setting the home crowd into a frenzy.
MM (8:19 p.m. ET): Hey look, it's SI's own Tom Verducci!
MM (8:20 p.m. ET): Bold prediction: Shohei Ohtani homers off Kershaw on the first pitch of the game.
MM (8:21 p.m. ET): That was good enough! I hope Shohei doesn't take a single pitch the entire night. Also, I hope he steals like seven bases.
MM (8:23 p.m. ET): HAHAHAHAHAHAHA or gets picked off.
WL (8:24 p.m. ET): Pretty good summary of the Angels’ season right there.
WL (8:26 p.m. ET): I don’t think enough could be said about giving the hometown guy the start in the ASG if there’s a viable candidate. Dodgers Stadium is pretty electric right now. Far more than if, say, Sandy Alcantara had picked off Ohtani there.
MM (8:27 p.m. ET): I agree. Also, it's fun to see that Rafael Devers is getting no lead off first base at all now. From the left field auxiliary press box, it looks like Devers and Paul Goldschmidt are holding hands. That's how small Devers's lead is
EB (8:28 p.m. ET): Agreed, Will—yes, I think Alcantara probably deserved it more just on the merits. But the ASG isn’t just about the merits! It’s a celebration of everything that goes into the season, and it’s fine for that to include some fan service—that’s why I love the inclusion of Miggy and Pujols on the rosters, too
MM (8:29 p.m. ET): Adding the legacy All-Stars might be the crowning achievement of Rob Manfred's time as commissioner.
NS (8:29 p.m. ET): As phenomenal as he's been, people will not be talking about how great of a first half Sandy Alcantara had in 2022 years from now. They will 100% remember Clayton Kershaw starting the All-Star Game in front of his home fans.
MM (8:33 p.m. ET): OK, predictions time: Who hits the first home run?
NS (8:33 p.m. ET): I'll go with a former Dodger: Joc Pederson.
MM (8:34 p.m. ET): I'm going with Paul Goldschmidt, in this inning. Shane McClanahan doesn't have it!
WL (8:34 p.m. ET): Byron Buxton off Kershaw next inning. Just because.
EB (8:34 p.m. ET): I’ll take Stanton, who leads off the next inning for the AL.
WL (8:35 p.m. ET): Andrés Gimenez with the flair on the behind-the-back toss to start the 4-6-3 double play! This has been a pretty awesome first inning. All it’s missing is a home run...
WL (8:36 p.m. ET): OMG
MM (8:36 p.m. ET): I WIN!
NS (8:37 p.m. ET): Babe Ruth in the World Series. Joe Namath in the Super Bowl. Matt Martell in the All-Star Game. All great moments in sports predictions.
MM (8:38 p.m ET): Imagine this inning if Andres Giménez hadn't turned that nifty double play!
EB (8:39 p.m. ET): Earlier this week, Dusty Baker said he’d never seen Shane McClanahan pitch. But he actually managed against him in Game 6 of the 2020 ALCS, when McClanahan allowed 3 runs in 1.2 innings. Seems like he might be getting a similarly forgettable outing here.
NS (8:42 p.m. ET): Kind of surprised Kershaw only got one inning, but perhaps he only wanted one.
MM (8:42 p.m. ET): I wonder if we'll see McClanahan again in the second inning.
WL (8:43 p.m. ET): Maybe if Kershaw had gone two, but that would seem pretty weird if he got a second one after Kersh didn’t despite not allowing a run.
MM (8:44 p.m. ET): Nobody should ever strike out looking in an All-Star Game.
WL (8:45 p.m. ET): Sandy’s hitting triple digits here. Tim Anderson is a good contact hitter, but I’d be surprised if he prevents a strikeout of the side.
WL (8:48 p.m. ET): Welp! He did, but a 1-2-3 inning all the same for Sandy. AL doesn’t have a hit since the first pitch of the game.
NS (8:50 p.m. ET): The way the shadows are peering in between the mound and home plate, it's a good thing we got some runs in the first inning. Have to imagine it's difficult for hitters to pick the ball up.
MM (8:52 p.m. ET): I would laugh so hard if Joc tried to bunt his way on against the shift here. (It won’t happen, but it would be fun.)
NS (8:53 p.m. ET): Is anybody else having a hard time discerning the AL players from the umpires? Like Emma said, bring back players wearing their teams' normal jerseys in the ASG, please.
MM (8:54 p.m. ET): José Ramírez is really hugging the line there at third.
NS (8:58 p.m ET): I wonder how many hit batters it would take for an All-Star Game brawl...
MM (8:58 p.m. ET): Has anyone ever been ejected from an All-Star Game?
WL (8:59 p.m. ET): The Dodger Stadium organ player just played “Running Up That Hill,” and I think I’ve officially heard it everywhere I’ve left my house the last month.
NS (9:00 p.m. ET): Dodgers organist Dieter Ruehle always has his finger on the pop culture pulse.
MM (9:01 p.m. ET): Guys, I don't know what that is.
WL (9:01 p.m. ET): Wasn’t there a big home plate collision in an ASG once? (And Matt, it’s a Kate Bush song from the ’80s that was heavily featured on this season of Stranger Things.)
EB (9:01 p.m. ET): Omg Matt, how do you not know “Running Up That Hill”!?
MM (9:02 p.m. ET): Yes, Pete Rose destroyed Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star Game. And I don't watch Stranger Things.
EB (9:02 p.m. ET): This probably just means you haven’t poisoned your brain like I have on TikTok, where it’s really blown up after the Stranger Things revival, so congrats on that account.
NS (9:02 p.m. ET): If it wasn't featured in a movie from the last 60 years, Matt won't know it.
MM (9:03 p.m. ET): Yes, I watch cinema, not things that are more strange.
NS (9:03 p.m. ET): i would bet mine, Will's and Emma's combined salaries that Matt is not on TikTok.
MM (9:03 p.m. ET): I am not.
EB (9:03 p.m. ET): lmao
NS (9:03 p.m. ET): 💰
WL (9:04 p.m. ET): Unfortunately those odds were a million to one, so not much gained there.
WL (9:10 p.m. ET): During our pop culture moment, Joe Musgrove worked around a walk to Ohtani to retire the AL, which still has zero hits since Ohtani’s single to lead off the game.
MM (9:17 p.m. ET): Paul Goldschmidt ends his day 1-for-1 with a two-run homer. Not a bad way to spend your All-Star break. Freddie Freeman is stepping in to pinch-hit. Loud chants, “FREDDIE, FREDDIE, FREDDIE” from the Dodgers fans here. Pretty cool! And then he grounds out to second where Andrés Giménez makes another slick back-handed play.
WL (9:18 p.m. ET): Kinda surprised Goldy, the NL MVP favorite, just got the one AB. Brian Snitker probably could have worked in one or two of the NL’s plethora of first basemen at DH.
WL (9:19 p.m. ET): Also—three batters faced for Framber Valdez, three groundouts. On brand.
MM (9:20 p.m. ET): Juan Soto is playing center field for the first time ever in a major league game.
WL (9:21 p.m. ET): Soto pinch hit last inning for Mookie Betts, who also surprisingly just got one at-bat in front of the home crowd.
MM (9:22 p.m. ET): Also, Pete Alonso is playing first base for the NL now. So Freeman's day is done after that pinch-hit ground out.
MM (9:23 p.m. ET): Hey look, the AL finally got its second hit! José Ramírez laces a single to left field.
WL (9:24 p.m. ET): Vlad Jr. follows with a fly out to the warning track. Tony Gonsolin looking ripe for the pickin’ so far. Could the NL ERA leader for much of the first half follow what the AL ERA leader did and give up the first runs of the game for his team?
NS (9:25 p.m. ET): Center fielder Juan Soto's fielding percentage: 1.000.
MM (9:26 p.m. ET): And then Giancarlo Stanton happened. Wow.
WL (9:28 p.m. ET): Byron Buxton makes it back to back. So three of the four players we picked to homer first, have hit the first three homers. Not bad, team!
MM (9:29 p.m. ET): Stanton's home run had a 111.7 mph exit velocity and traveled 457 feet! My goodness!
NS (9:30 p.m. ET): Me watching you three with your correct HR picks:
MM (9:35 p.m. ET): LOL I KNOW THIS SONG!
WL (9:35 p.m. ET): Ha, I wasn’t sure on that one.
MM (9:36 p.m. ET): How?! (For those of you at home, they did a name that tune competition, with a Beach Boys song. It was "California Girls.")
WL (9:36 p.m. ET): I like the Beach Boys, but all their songs kinda sound the same.
MM (9:37 p.m. ET): Will, that is blasphemy! Meanwhile, Meanwhile, Julio Rodríguez is in the game playing center field, so I know who I will be watching for the next few innings.
MM (9:41 p.m. ET): It's Albert Pujols time!
NS (9:41 p.m. ET): Here comes a first pitch cookie, let's hope he can do something with it.
WL (9:41 p.m. ET): We’re robbed of a William Contreras at-bat with Willson on base! William honestly probably only merited one plate appearance, though.
MM (9:42 p.m. ET): How dare Brian Snitker send Albert up to face a right-handed pitcher.
MM (9:43 p.m. ET): Joc Pederson walking up to "Dancing Queen" is perfect.
WL (9:44 p.m. ET): It brings the house down every time. Hopefully that’s one music take we can all agree on.
NS (9:45 p.m ET): In this live blog, we respect ABBA.
WL (9:50 p.m. ET): Miguel Cabrera gets his first AB and grounds out to short. The legends are 0-for-2 so far.
EB (9:50 p.m. ET): Impressed with Dodger fans’ continued commitment to booing even Astros who were not there in 2017, like Kyle Tucker.
WL (9:51 p.m. ET): Miguel Cabrera gets his first AB and grounds out to short. The legends are 0-for-2 so far.
WL (9:54 p.m. ET): José Ramirez, meanwhile is 2-for-2 after that bloop to right. He’s had an eventful night with that error at third base last inning.
WL (9:56 p.m. ET): Dodgers fans in the outfield bleachers were just serenading Juan Soto with “We want Soto!” chants to the makeshift center fielder. That would just be unfair.
NS (9:58 p.m. ET): Mookie, Freeman, Turner, Soto ... could you imagine?
WL (10:02 p.m. ET): The subs have really started to come in hot and heavy here in the fifth. All the AL’s starters are out of the game. Ronald Acuña Jr., meanwhile, is getting his third AB.
NS (10:02 p.m. ET): Snitker thinks they're still playing for home field advantage.
WL (10:04 p.m. ET): Neither Acuña nor Soto could do anything there, and the NL is trailing 3–2 heading into the sixth.
WL (10:08 p.m. ET): The NL hasn’t had a hit since the first! It definitely doesn’t feel like that for some reason, perhaps because they reached on a Ramirez error, but it’s true.
NS (10:10 p.m. ET): Yep, the Ramirez error and McNeil's HBP are the only baserunners.
WL (10:17 p.m. ET): Snitker put in seven subs in the field that last half-inning behind Joe Mantiply, with the lone exception being Pete Alonso, who hasn’t had an at-bat yet after entering for pinch-hitter Freddie Freeman in the fourth.
NS (10:18 p.m. ET): My sympathies go out to all those using their own personal scorebooks trying to keep up.
MM (10:18 p.m. ET): Nestor Cortes said he was going to break out something special during the All-Star Game. I hope we see a knuckleball!
WL (10:20 p.m. ET): We have a full Yankees battery with him and Jose Trevino behind the plate.
WL (10:27 p.m. ET): Pujols gets pulled for Garrett Cooper with men on first and second for the NL after Cortes hits Travis d’Arnaud with a pitch. Cooper’s pretty underrated, especially against lefties. Could be a big moment here, though it’d feel bigger with Pujols up.
MM (10:28 p.m. ET): Brian Snitker really pinch-hit for Pujols with a lefty pitching. I would give both my arms to see Pujols face Nasty Nestor.
WL (10:30 p.m. ET): And it doesn’t pay off. Cooper goes down swinging. NL has gone 5 1/3 innings without a hit.
MM (10:36 p.m. ET): If you had told me before the season that Jose Trevino would get a hit in the All-Star Game, I wouldn't have believed you. What a fun story.
NS (10:36 p.m. ET): So who do we think Dusty is going to in a save situation?
MM (10:37 p.m. ET): Gotta be Hendriks, right? Although maybe Clay Holmes, because the Yankees have a doubleheader against the Astros on Thursday ...
WL (10:37 p.m. ET): Give us Jorge López.
MM (10:38 p.m. ET): I would love to see it.
WL (10:38 p.m. ET): Maybe ... Verlander? That could be fun.
WL (10:42 p.m. ET): Well, here comes López for the bottom of the seventh, so much for that.
NS (10:43 p.m. ET): You guys realize we're very much within range of a swing-off tiebreaker. That is, if the NL can somehow scrape together a run.
EB (10:43 p.m. ET): I need to see it. I NEED it.
WL (10:44 p.m. ET): I’d be happy with a hit, let alone a run.
WL (10:50 p.m. ET): Yet another hitless inning from the NL. This is pretty sad, as it’s not like the AL has been bringing in their murderer’s row of pitchers—no Cole, Verlander or Ohtani. Instead, it’s been the likes of Paul Blackburn, Martín Perez and Jorge López.
NS (10:50 p.m. ET): Dusty's choice of starters didn't work out, but his bullpen strategy could not be working out any better.
WL (10:56 p.m. ET): Ty France pinch-hitting for Ramirez there (and striking out against Ryan Helsley) means every position player has been used.
EB (10:57 p.m. ET): Also, gotta shout out the organist’s choice of “La Vie en Rose” for that France at-bat.
NS (10:58 p.m. ET): Before the game, Liam Hendriks called Luis Arraez "the most annoying at-bat in the league" (he meant it as a compliment). You can see why after he almost took off Jake Cronenworth's head with that scorched two-strike single
WL (11:01 p.m. ET): A fitting result for MLB’s batting average leader. But he’s stranded after Andrew Benintendi and Julio Rodríguez are retired, and we’re headed to the bottom of the eighth with the score still 3–2 in favor of the AL.
NS (11:02 p.m. ET): Of the 13 fastballs Helsley threw that inning, eight clocked in at 100 mph, topping out at 103 🔥
NS (11:04 p.m. ET): Is that? Could it be???
WL (11:04 p.m. ET): 🚨 WE HAVE A NATIONAL LEAGUE HIT 🚨
NS (11:05 p.m. ET): By my count, that snaps an 0-for-19 from the NL. Feels like a lifetime ago.
WL (11:06 p.m. ET): Perhaps even more shockingly, C.J. Cron follows by legging out a fielder’s choice to prevent a rally-killing double play.
WL (11:11 p.m. ET): With Hendriks coming in here to face d’Arnaud with two outs and one on, certainly seems like Dusty is indeed saving Verlander for the ninth. Epic troll move.
NS (11:12 p.m. ET): I can already hear the boos.
NS (11:19 p.m. ET): Among the healthy first-year All-Star pitchers, the only ones who haven't appeared in the game yet are Tyler Anderson, Jordan Romano and Emmanuel Clase.
MM (11:23 p.m. ET): Alright. We need a solo home run here to send it to the tiebreaker home run derby.
NS (11:24 p.m. ET): It's up to Garrett Cooper, Kyle Schwarber and Jake Cronenworth to give us our swing-off.
MM (11:24 p.m. ET): I don't think the NL is going to string together hits. So we need a solo blast.
EB (11:24 p.m. ET): The perfect way for Schwarber to redeem his first-round exist in the derby yesterday….
WL (11:25 p.m. ET): And it’s Clase coming in for the save.
MM (11:26 p.m. ET): Clase has thrown 304 cutters this year averaging 99.8 mph. And he's given up zero homers with that pitch...
WL (11:28 p.m. ET): If striking out looking in the All-Star Game gets you a fantasy football loser punishment, doing it in the bottom of the ninth down by a run gets you …?
EB (11:28 p.m. ET): You’re going to Waffle House for 48 hours.
MM (11:29 p.m. ET): Back to back strikeouts looking! POOR.
WL (11:29 p.m. ET): At least Cooper and Schwarber will have each other for company at Waffle House.
MM (11:30 p.m. ET): I wonder what they would talk about.
NS (11:30 p.m. ET): Probably Emmanuel Clase.
WL (11:31 p.m. ET): Well, at least Cronenworth went down swinging.
NS (11:31 p.m. ET): Quite the All-Star debut for the Cleveland closer.
WL (11:32 p.m. ET): One hit over the final eight innings for the NL.
MM (11:32 p.m. ET): The American League has won nine straight All-Star Games. That's wild.
EB (11:32 p.m. ET): I mourn the swing-off we didn’t get. Should we wrap up with our favorite moments?
EB (11:33 p.m. ET): My favorite moment was the one of the first ones we got: Clayton Kershaw picking off Shohei Ohtani! Such a fun combo of stars, totally unexpected, and a great reaction from the crowd.
MM (11:34 p.m. ET): My favorite moment: Shohei Ohtani singling on the first pitch he saw from Kershaw, just after he said he was swinging at the first pitch on the mic so everyone could hear him. It was beautiful, and made 10 times better because he was picked off.
WL (11:35 p.m. ET): I kind of wanna go with the first inning as a whole? But I’ll go with Goldschmidt’s home run. It was the final firework of that frame, and the crowd was really buzzing afterward like, “Oh, we could be in for something epic tonight.” I’m not sure it quite played out that way, but that home run by the NL MVP favorite was a cool conclusion to a fantastic first.
NS (11:35 p.m. ET): I'll go with Andres Giménez's sweet double play flip. In a game dominated by pitching with not a ton of highlights, that one definitely stood out, and it's cool that it came from a guy who probably ranks among the lesser known players here in his first All-Star Game.
EB (11:36 p.m. ET): Ooh, yeah, Nick—between that Giménez play, José Ramírez going 2-for-2, and Emmanuel Clase’s last inning, it was a fantastic night for Cleveland players.
NS (11:37 p.m. ET): Cleveland, as they say, rocks. (Had to do it, sorry.)
