Down one run with a runner on and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Seattle Mariners outfielder Julio Rodríguez stepped to the plate in front of his home crowd—a night after clubbing a single-round record 41 home runs in the Home Run Derby—with a chance to make All-Star Game history.
If the setup seemed a little too perfect, that’s because it was: Rodríguez walked, and Phillies closer Craig Kimbrel struck out José Ramírez to give the National League its first All-Star Game victory since 2012.
But the NL wasn’t alone in ending Tuesday night on a high. Let’s run through the winners and losers of the 2023 Midsummer Classic.
Winner: All-Star Game MVP Elias Díaz
Trailing 2-1 in the top of the eighth, things were looking grim for the National League. Félix Bautista—he of the historic 51 percent strikeout rate—was on the bump, with arguably the weakest part of the NL’s batting order due up. But then a little magic happened.
After Nick Castellanos coaxed a nine-pitch walk, in stepped 32-year-old Rockies catcher Elias Díaz, an unlikely first-time All-Star who’s been a below-average hitter in all but one season of his nine-year career. Diaz had zero extra-base hits in Colorado’s 13 games leading into the All-Star break, but he worked Bautista to a 2-2 count, then deposited a hanging splitter into the left-field stands to give the NL a 3-2 lead that it wouldn’t relinquish.
It took, essentially, the most improbable of outcomes, but in his first All-Star at-bat, Díaz earned MVP honors—and became a summertime legend.
Winner: The National League
Before Tuesday’s victory, the Senior Circuit had lost nine consecutive All-Star Games, and 21 of the previous 25. The last time the NL won, Matt Cain was the team’s starting pitcher, Dan Uggla the starting second baseman, Rafael Furcal the starting shortstop, and Melky Cabrera the game’s MVP. Yeah, it’s been that long. It took a clutch performance by an unlikely hero, but the NL finally broke the streak.
Loser: Nike’s Design Team
It’s not often that the world’s most profitable sportswear brand takes an L on a national stage, yet Nike has done just that at the MLB All-Star Game two years in a row. This year’s jerseys—which featured Seattle-inspired teal and blue camo-patterned colorways—looked more fit for Tron characters than baseball players:
Credit to Nike for making this year’s kits more “creative” than last year’s drab, gold-lettered, Hollywood-inspired unis, but ugly’s still ugly. (Leave the black pants in the ’70s, please.) Beyond the gaudy designs, the monochromatic nature of matching All-Star uniforms makes it difficult to identify the team each player is from, which undercuts MLB’s efforts to ensure every city is represented.
There’s a simple solution here, MLB: Let the players wear their own damn uniforms. They wear their own unis for the Home Run Derby, but switch into batting practice-ass garb a night later. Why? If Nike must flex its design muscles, at least let the players wear City Connect uniforms, the most hideous of which don’t even compare to what’s been on the field for the past two Midsummer Classics. Bring team jerseys back to the All-Star Game!
Winner: Brent Rooker and the A’s Traveling Fans
Lost in the tragedy of what is likely one of the Athletics’ last seasons in Oakland has been the success of 28-year-old journeyman Brent Rooker. The A’s DH started the year hot—his 1.4 fWAR ranked fifth in the American League over the first month of the season—before pitchers adjusted throughout May and June. But Rooker looked better to start July, and he entered the All-Star Game with a season-long slash line of .246/.341/.485 and a wRC+ 33 percent better than league average.
Apparently, Rooker wasn’t the only person who made the trek from Oakland to Seattle. When Rooker doubled off Reds closer Alexis Díaz to spark a sixth-inning rally, A’s fans throughout T-Mobile Park chanted “Sell the Team” in protest of the franchise’s impending move to Las Vegas. Though his side would go on to lose the game, Rooker’s big moment—and his place in the week’s festivities—gave Oakland and its fans another venue in which to protest as they fight to keep a baseball team that’s been part of the city since 1968. And protest they did:
Loser: Félix Bautista
The most dominant pitcher in baseball had one job to do, and he failed. Bautista’s season may go down as one of the best for a reliever in MLB history—the Orioles closer has 23 saves and a 1.07 ERA—but surrendering a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning of the All-Star Game makes him the biggest loser of the night.
Loser: In-Game Pitcher Interviews, but Mostly Me
Full disclosure: I’m generally not a fan of in-game player interviews. I know, I know, I’m a loser traditionalist for that. But there’s something about the risk involved—imagine the awkward pause, or worse, after a mic’d player makes an error on live television—that makes me anxious. I’m always anticipating a Kevin-with-the-chili disaster unfolding in real time, which creates quite the uncomfortable viewing experience.
During last year’s All-Star Game, Fox experimented with miking the most mercurial (read: maniacal) breed of athlete: the starting pitcher. To his credit, Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah breezed through that broadcast, striking out the side on 18 pitches while talking shit and dishing on the thought process behind each pitch sequence. It was an entertaining half-inning, but one I desperately wanted to end from the moment it began.
The Rangers’ Nathan Eovaldi was the chosen one in this year’s contest, and to my chagrin he faced adversity almost immediately. Dodgers designated hitter J.D. Martinez opened the inning with a single, and it took Eovaldi seven pitches to retire Nolan Arenado before he surrendered a base hit to Luis Arraez, which put runners on first and second with one out.
Perhaps it was just his breathing pattern, but at one point it sounded like Eovaldi was whispering his responses to Fox broadcaster Joe Davis, and there were long pauses after each question as the Texas starter navigated talking and pitching with runners on base. It didn’t seem like Eovaldi enjoyed being peppered with questions as he tried to go about his business.
Eovaldi retired the next two batters in short order to finish the frame and avert disaster, but the secondhand awkwardness—even if I may have imagined some of it—was almost too much for me to handle.
We’re playing with fire here. Tuesday’s segment should be taken as a warning of the pitfalls of in-game interviews with active pitchers, but I’m concerned the commissioner’s office will view it as a success and double down on such interviews in the future. Hopefully MLB will stick to miking up pitchers for exhibition games and won’t get greedy again come October.
Winner: Seattle’s Shohei Pitch
Before Shohei Ohtani signed with the Angels in 2017, the Mariners—whose success with future Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki opened the floodgates for more Japanese stars to play in the U.S.—were considered a front-runner, in part because of their connection to Ichiro, but also because of the large Asian American population in Seattle and Ohtani’s rumored preference to play for a West Coast team.
Though the M’s lost the bidding war six years ago, the Seattle faithful showed love to Ohtani—who will be a free agent after this season—throughout the All-Star festivities. In his first at-bat on Tuesday night, the home fans chanted “Come to Seattle.”
Whether or not it ultimately swayed him, Ohtani noticed.
“Every time I come here, the fans are very passionate,” Ohtani said through an interpreter during media availability. “It’s very impressive. I actually spent a couple of offseasons in Seattle. I like the city.”
There’s a long way to go between now and free agency, but Mariners fans did their job this week in Seattle.
