Baseball’s Mid-Summer Classic Was Anything But...

I’ve had a number of people approach me in the past couple of days asking me my thoughts of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, so I thought it warranted a column.

The 2025 All-Star Game was the 95th in the series. The American League currently leads the series with 48 wins, while the National League has 45 wins, and there have been 2 ties.

Despite having 7.2 million viewers for Tuesday’s Mid-Summer Classic at Truist Park in Cumberland, Georgia – the most viewers since 2017 - the game was anything but classic

First, I need to come clean. I’ve been involved in sports in one way or another for over six decades, and my favorite sport is baseball. I simply love the history of the game and I’m a baseball purist. I dislike Astroturf, the Designated Hitter, the Pitch Clock, and lights at Wrigley Field.

As a youngster I looked forward to MLB’s All-Star Game. That’s when the players in both leagues actually gave a damn about beating the other league, as well as competing against the best of the best. In those days (circa 1960s) the Senior Circuit (National League) handed the Junior Circuit (American League) their lunch. The players and teams played to win. In the 1970 All-Star Game, Cincinnati’s Pete Rose collided with Oakland catcher Ray Fosse. The collision occurred in the 12th inning, with Rose scoring the winning run for the National League. Fosse was injured on the play and never fully recovered; shortening his career. Ironically, Rose and Fosse were friends and had dinner together the previous night.

Fast forward to today. Major League Baseball still can’t decide if they want the fans to select the players, have the players do the choosing, or a combination of both. Some players now opt out, feigning an injury. Others, meanwhile, receive a rather nice paycheck when they negotiated a bonus for making the All-Star team in their contract.

The only things I liked about the 2025 game was the military flyover and the players wearing their own team uniforms instead of the clown suits they’ve used the past several years. That’s it. Two things in a 3-hour baseball game.

Other than that, thumbs down to all the other gimmicks they used to help spice up the All-Star game:

• Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw came to the All-Star Game as a “Legend Pick” by Commissioner Rob Manfred. He entered the game in the second inning, and retired both batters he faced. Kershaw was pitching in his eighth career All-Star Game, which is tied for the third most all time. The only pitchers to make more appearances in All-Star Games are Roger Clemens (10) and Mariano Rivera (nine). Along with Kershaw, Randy Johnson, Tom Seaver, Juan Marichal, Don Drysdale and Jim Bunning also pitched in eight. Manfred did it because Kershaw is winding down his Hall of Fame career. He is 4-1 this season with a 3.38 ERA which is good, but not great. His roster spot should have gone to a pitcher who is having a great season. Heck, Manfred should have placed Sandy Koufax on the roster and have him toss a few Uncle Charlies.

·      The 2025 MLB All-Star Game lasted until a tie-breaking home run derby-style swing-off, following a 6-6 tie after nine innings. This was the first time in All-Star game history that such a tiebreaker was needed. The Midsummer Classic was decided by a Home Run Derby-style swing-off for the first time. Three hitters from each league, three swings each. The league with the most total home runs wins.

     The National League triumphed over the AL with its trio of Kyle Stowers, Kyle Schwarber and Pete Alonso outhomering the AL trio of Brent Rooker, Randy Arozarena and Jonathan Aranda, 4-3. The result goes down as a 7-6 All-Star Game win for the NL, its second victory in three years following nine straight for the AL. The players chosen weren’t even the best home run hitters on the roster. Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, who were both removed early in the game, were already showered and left the ballpark by the time the ninth inning rolled around.

      Play the game until there’s an actual winning. Heck, in the 1967 MLB All-Star Game, Detroit Tiger catcher Bill Freehan caught all 15 innings as he was the only catcher for his team throughout the entire contest. The game ended with a 2-1 loss for the American League. 

·        The 2025 All-Star Game also brought the first use of the ABS challenge system in an All-Star Game, where a batter, pitcher or catcher can challenge a ball or strike call using Hawk-Eye's tracking technology. Major League Baseball used it during Spring Training and may adopt it during regular season play next year. Why? Why take out the human element? What does that teach young kids playing Little League Baseball? To challenge every call they think isn’t correct? Baseball as a modern sport was developed in the mid-19th century, with the first formal rules established by the New York Knickerbockers in 1845. Those rules didn’t include tracking technology. Missed and blown calls are a part of the game. Leave it alone.

·        Having players mic’d up during a game is utterly ridiculous. They took it one step further during the All-Star Game by having starting pitcher Tarik Skubal mic’d up and asking him questions during his wind-up. Imagine asking Pete Rose or Kirk Gibson a question seconds after they just bowled over a shortstop on an attempted steal of second base.

Tiger All-Stars have less than stellar showings

The Detroit Tigers are one of baseball’s best stories this season, carrying last season’s sizzling finish into 2025. Six Bengals were awarded All-Star berths for their efforts thus far in ’25, and deservedly so. The Tigers had four starters: Skubal, Gleyber Torres, Riley Greene and Javier Baez. Skubal allowed two runs in the first inning and Casey Mize allowed one run (a dinger) in the sixth inning. Torres, Greene, Baez and Zach McKinstry finished 0-for-8 with three strikeouts.

Detroit limps into All-Star break

The Detroit Tigers had an excellent first-half of the season with a 59-38 record (.608 percent) and are enjoying a 11 ½ game lead over the Minnesota Twins. The pesky Cleveland Guardians and the Kansas City Royals are both 12 games back, while the Chicago White Sox – the worst team in the Big Leagues – are 27 games off the pace.

Detroit, however, limped into the All-Star break with a four-game losing streak, including a three-game sweep by the Seattle Mariners at home where they allowed 35 runs in the three contests. Please note: During the Detroit Tigers’ 1984 World Championship season, they were also swept by the Mariners.

Look for the Bengal brass to pick up a solid reliever prior to the trade deadline. Yes, they could use another big right-handed bat, but it isn’t going to be in the form of Alex Bregman, who already balked at a Detroit offer during the off-season.