Courtesy of Keith Allison
The Mid-Summer Classic is a day that every baseball fan has scheduled on their calendar. The host of this year’s MLB All-Star Game: Atlanta. All-Star Weekend officially kicked off with the MLB draft, which began on Sunday, July 13 at 6:00 EST, and ran through Monday. Then it was time for the Home Run Derby on Monday Night. This year’s contestants included: Cal Raleigh (SEA), Junior Caminero (TB), Brent Rooker (OAK), Byron Buxton (MIN), Jazz Chisholm Jr. (NYY), Oneil Cruz (PIT), James Wood (WAS), and Matt Olson (ATL). Lastly, the MLB All-Star Game would conclude things on Tuesday Night, with the National League being the home team in Atlanta.
The favorite coming into this year’s Dinger Derby had to be the league’s home run leader, Raleigh, who currently sits at 38 big flies, the second most before an All-Star Break in MLB history. The Mariners catcher has been the storyline of the season thus far, and looked to become the first catcher to ever win the contest. Other major contenders included Cruz of the Pittsburgh Pirates, known for his exit velocity and distance on his homers, and Wood, the left fielder for the Washington Nationals who has quickly made his name known in just his second season in the big leagues.
In what was one of the more exciting first rounds of the derby we have seen, Raleigh ousted Rooker by less than an inch on their farthest home runs, allowing the Big Dumper to join Buxton (20 home runs), Caminero (21), and Cruz (21) in the semifinals. Buxton got the semis underway, belting seven homers, and Caminero had no trouble reaching eight with almost a minute to go, booking his spot in the final. Raleigh put up the biggest number of round two with an impressive 19 long balls, as Cruz could only muster up 13, ending his night. The second-year man from Tampa Bay against the MLB leader in homers from Seattle for the dinger derby crown. Raleigh would go first and produce 18 home runs, proving plenty as Caminero fell short with 15. With this win, Raleigh became the first catcher to ever win the home run derby, and only the second Mariner, joining Ken Griffey Jr., who won three times (1994, 1998, 1999).
The final and main event of the mid-summer classic featured the All-Star Game between the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). Paul Skenes for the NL and Tarik Skubal for the AL, both the frontrunners for the Cy Young Award, would get the starts. Skenes had no trouble working a 1-2-3 first inning, including two strikeouts. However, Skubal got in some early trouble after soft-hit base knocks from Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuna Jr. put runners on first and second with nobody out. Diamondbacks star Ketel Marte then belted a two-run double down the left field line to open up the scoring. Both pitching staffs seemed to lock in until the sixth inning, where a three-run home run off the bat of Pete Alonso and a Corbin Carroll solo shot a couple batters later extended the NL’s lead to 6-0. The AL did not go away, however, fighting back in the top of the seventh, getting on the board via a three-run blast from Athletics All-Star and home run derby participant Brent Rooker. An RBI groundout later on in the inning made things 6-4 heading to the bottom of the seventh. Down to their final three outs in the top of the ninth, the AL rallied, coming up with clutch hits, the biggest an infield single by Steven Kwan to tie things up in the last frame. The NL had no more chances, but made nothing of it as Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman quieted their bats.
Due to both teams using up all of their pitchers and making sure nobody pitched too long, the league adapted a new home run swing-off competition, where each team selects three players to get three swings; whichever league ends up with more homers is deemed the winner. In its inaugural appearance at the All-Star Game, the AL chose Brent Rooker, Randy Arozarena, and Jonathan Aranda, while the NL went with Kyle Stowers, Kyle Scharber, and Pete Alonso. Rooker got the AL off to a solid start, going 2-for-3, before Stowers got the NL on the board with a homer himself. A homer off the bat of Arozarena gave the AL a 3-1 lead, but Scharber quickly stole the show, hitting all three out, shifting the pressure on the AL. Aranda didn’t have an answer, hitting one off the wall but not getting any out, and the NL took home the 2025 ASG in Atlanta, their first win since 2023, and just their second win in the last 12 years.
