Breaking News

These are the 20 best travel destinations for summer 2024, according to Google Flight Searches 3 Google Maps updates to make summer travel easier SPACECENT is up the new war zone > United States Space Force > Article Display Tuberculosis — United States, 2023 | MMWR Thousands of US bridges are vulnerable to collapse from a single hit: NTSB Why don’t the Blazers or ROOT Sports offer standalone streaming? Up to 200,000 people estimated to travel to Vermont for total solar eclipse How fast will April’s total solar eclipse travel? The UN Security Council demands a ceasefire in Gaza during Ramadan Mexico in the emerging world order

The 92nd MLB All-Star Game is here in Los Angeles, as will Sports Illustrated editors and writers Matt Martell, Emma Baccellieri, Will Laws and Nick Selbe, who will be watching with you from Dodger Stadium.

WL (8:14 p.m. ET): The pre-game celebrations are pretty much over. Melissa O’Neil sang the Canadian national anthem, Ben Platt sang the US national anthem, Denzel Washington read a dedication to Jackie Robinson (who made her debut for the Dodgers 75 years ago) and Mookie Betts performed a special stadium-wide birthday greeting for Jackie’s wife Rachel Robinson, which is 100 years old today. Then Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela threw the first throw to Alejandro Kirk. The actual first pitch should be here in the next few minutes. Do we have bold predictions?

MM (8:15 p.m. ET): Bold prediction: I’m not going to throw up that Dodger Dog I just ate.

WL (8:16 p.m. ET): Honestly, I can’t believe you went for it after it’s all they’ve given 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 and sends the home crowd into a frenzy.

MM (8:19 p.m. ET): Hey look, it’s Tom Verducci from SI!

MM (8:20 p.m. ET): Bold prediction: Shohei Ohtani homer ahead of Kershaw in first place of the game.

MM (8:21pm ET): That was good enough! I hope Shohei doesn’t take a single pitch all night. Also, I hope he steals about seven bases.

MM (8:23pm ET): HAHAHAHAHAHAHA or will be picked up.

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 a start in the ASG when there’s a viable candidate. Dodgers Stadium is pretty electric right now. Much more than if, for example, Sandy Alcantara Ohtani had picked up there.

MM (8:27pm ET): I agree. Also, it’s fun to see that Rafael Devers isn’t getting a lead from first base at all now. From the left auxiliary press stand, it looks like Devers and Paul Goldschmidt are holding hands. That’s how small Devers’ lead is

EB (8:28 p.m. ET): Agreed, Will – yeah, I think Alcantara probably deserved more just for the merits. But ASG isn’t just about the merits! It’s a celebration of everything coming into the season and it’s okay if there’s some fanservice involved – that’s why I love adding Miggy and Pujols to the squads too

MM (8:29 p.m. ET): The addition of the old All-Stars could be the culmination of Rob Manfred’s time as commissioner.

NS (8:29 p.m. ET): As phenomenal as he was, people aren’t going to talk about how great a first half of Sandy Alcantara was in 2022 years. You will 100% remember Clayton Kershaw starting the All-Star Game in front of his home fans.

MM (8:33 p.m. ET): OK, Prediction time: Who will hit the first home run?

NS (8:33 p.m. ET): I’m dating a former Dodger: Joc Pederson.

MM (8:34 p.m. ET): I’m going into this inning with Paul Goldschmidt. Shane McClanahan doesn’t have it!

WL (8:34 p.m. ET): Byron Buxton ahead of Kershaw in the next inning. Only because.

EB (8:34 p.m. ET): I’ll take Stanton, who leads the next inning for the AL.

WL (8:35 p.m. ET): Andrés Gimenez with the behind-the-back flair to start the 4-6-3 doubles play! That was a pretty great first inning. Only one home run left…

NS (8:37 p.m. ET): Babe Ruth in the World Series. Joe Namath at the Super Bowl. Matt Martell in the All Star Game. All the big moments in sports predictions.

MM (8:38 p.m. ET): Imagine this inning if Andres Giménez hadn’t shot that nifty double play!

EB (8:39 p.m. ET): Earlier this week, Dusty Baker said he’s never seen Shane McClanahan on the court. But he actually made it against him in Game 6 of the 2020 ALCS when McClanahan allowed 3 runs in 1.2 innings. Seems he’s having a similarly memorable outing here.

NS (8:42 p.m. ET): Kind of surprised Kershaw only got one inning, but maybe 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 went two, but that would seem pretty odd if he got a second after Kersh didn’t, despite not allowing a run.

MM (8:44 p.m. ET): No one should ever watch an All-Star game.

WL (8:45 p.m. ET): Sandy hits triple digits here. Tim Anderson is a good contact hitter, but I’d be surprised if he prevented the side from striking out.

WL (8:48 p.m. ET): Welp! He did, but Sandy still got a 1-2-3 inning. AL hasn’t had a hit since the first pitch of the game.

NS (8:50 p.m. ET): The way the shadows are peeking between the mound and home plate is good we had some runs in the first inning. Must imagine it is difficult for hitters to pick up the ball.

MM (8:52 PM ET): I would laugh so much if Joc tried to beat the shift here. (It won’t happen, but it would be fun.)

NS (8:53 p.m. ET): Anyone else having a hard time distinguishing the AL players from the umpires? As Emma said, please bring back players wearing the regular kits of their teams in the ASG.

MM (8:54 p.m. ET): José Ramírez is really hugging the line there in 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 PM ET): Has anyone ever been kicked out of 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 in the last month.

NS (9:00 p.m. ET): Dodgers organist Dieter Ruehle always has his finger on the pulse of pop culture.

MM (9:01 PM ET): Guys, I don’t know what that is.

WL (9:01 p.m. ET): Wasn’t there once a major collision with the house plate in an ASG? (And Matt, it’s an ’80s Kate Bush song that featured heavily this season of Stranger Things.)

EB (9:01 PM ET): Omg Matt, how do you not know “Running Up That Hill”!?

MM (9:02 PM ET): Yes, Pete Rose destroyed Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star Game. And I don’t watch Stranger Things.

EB (9:02 PM ET): That probably just means you didn’t poison your brain like I did on TikTok where it really blew up after the Stranger Things revival, so congratulations on that.

NS (9:02 p.m. ET): If it hasn’t been in a movie in the last 60 years, Matt won’t know.

MM (9:03 p.m. ET): Yes, I watch movies, not things that are weirder.

NS (9:03 p.m. ET): I’d bet my, Will’s, and Emma’s combined salaries that Matt isn’t on TikTok.

WL (9:04 p.m. ET): Unfortunately, those odds were a million to one, so you didn’t win much 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 start the game.

MM (9:17 p.m. ET): Paul Goldschmidt ends his day 1-1 with a two-run homer. Not a bad way to spend your All-Star break. Freddie Freeman jumps in to duck. Loud chants, “FREDDIE, FREDDIE, FREDDIE” from the Dodgers fans here. Pretty cool! And then he lands in second place where Andrés Giménez makes another nifty backhand play.

WL (9:18 p.m. ET): Kind of surprised that Goldy, the NL MVP favorite, just got the one AB. Brian Snitker could probably have worked in one or two of the NL’s many first basemen at DH.

WL (9:19 p.m. ET): Also – three hitters faced Framber Valdez, three groundouts. On brand.

MM (9:20 p.m. ET): Juan Soto is playing midfield for the first time ever in a major league game.

WL (9:21 p.m. ET): Soto pinned last inning for Mookie Betts, who also surprisingly only got an at-bat in front of the home crowd.

MM (9:22 p.m. ET): Also, Pete Alonso is now playing first base for the NL. So Freeman’s day is over after this pinch hit came out.

MM (9:23 PM ET): Hey look, the AL finally has their second hit! José Ramírez laces a single into left field.

WL (9:24 p.m. ET): Vlad Jr. follows with a fly-out to the warning lane. Tony Gonsolin looks ready for the harvest so far. Could the NL ERA leader follow what the AL ERA leader did for much of the first half and give up the early 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 hit the first three homers. Not bad team!

MM (9:29 p.m. ET): Stanton’s home run had a baseline speed of 111.7 mph and covered 457 feet! My goodness!

NS (9:30pm ET): I’m watching you three with your right HR picks:

MM (9:35pm ET): LOL I KNOW THAT SONG!

WL (9:35 PM ET): Ha, I wasn’t sure about that.

MM (9:36pm ET): How?! (For those of you back home, they did a naming contest with a Beach Boys song. It was “California Girls.”)

WL (9:36 PM ET): I like the Beach Boys, but all of their songs sound kind of the same.

MM (9:37 p.m. ET): Will, that’s blasphemy! Meanwhile, Julio Rodríguez plays midfield, so I know who I’ll be watching over the next few innings.

MM (9:41 PM ET): It’s time for Albert Pujols!

NS (9:41 PM ET): Here’s a first pitch cookie, let’s hope he gets something out of it.

WL (9:41pm ET): We’re being robbed of a William Contreras at bat with Willson on base! Honestly, William probably only deserved one record appearance.

MM (9:42 p.m. ET): How dare Brian Snitker send Albert against a right-handed pitcher.

MM (9:43 PM ET): Joc Pederson approaching “Dancing Queen” is perfect.

WL (9:44 p.m. ET): It brings the house down every time. Hopefully that’s a musical take we can all agree on.

NS (9:45pm ET): On this live blog, we respect ABBA.

WL (9:50 p.m. ET): Miguel Cabrera gets his first AB and comes up short. Legends are 0-for-2 so far.

EB (9:50 p.m. ET): Impressed by the continued commitment of Dodger fans to booing even Astros who weren’t there in 2017, like Kyle Tucker.

WL (9:51 p.m. ET): Miguel Cabrera gets his first AB and comes up short. Legends are 0-for-2 so far.

WL (9:54 p.m. ET): Jose Ramirez, now 2-for-2 after that bloop to the right. He had an eventful night with that mistake in the last inning at third base.

WL (9:56 p.m. ET): Dodgers fans in the outfield stands just serenaded Juan Soto with chants of “We want Soto!” to the makeshift center fielder. That would just be unfair.

NS (9:58 p.m. ET): Mookie, Freeman, Turner, Soto…can you picture it?

WL (10:02 PM ET): The subs have really started to come in hot and fierce here in the fifth. All starters of the AL are out of the game. Ronald Acuña Jr., meanwhile, gets 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 were able to make a difference there, and the NL is 3-2 down en route to sixth.

WL (10:08pm ET): The NL hasn’t had a hit since the first! For some reason it definitely doesn’t feel like it, maybe because they hit a Ramirez blunder, but it’s true.

NS (10:10 p.m. ET): Yes, the Ramirez error and McNeil’s HBP are the only baserunners.

WL (10:17 p.m. ET): Snitker fielded seven subs in the last half inning behind Joe Mantiply with the lone exception of Pete Alonso, who has yet to at-bat after stepping in for pinch-hitter Freddie Freeman in the fourth.

NS (10:18 PM ET): My sympathy goes out to all those using their own personal scorebooks and trying to keep up.

MM (10:18 p.m. ET): Nestor Cortes said he’s going to break out something special during the All-Star Game. I hope we see a knuckleball!

WL (10:20 p.m. ET): We’ve got a full Yankees battery with him and Jose Trevino behind the plate.

WL (10:27 p.m. ET): Pujols is drawn for Garrett Cooper with men in first and second for the NL after Cortes hit Travis d’Arnaud with a pitch. Cooper is pretty underrated, especially against lefties. Could be a big moment here, although it would feel bigger with Pujols on top.

MM (10:28 p.m. ET): Brian Snitker really hit Pujols with a left-hander. I would give both arms to see Pujol confront the nasty Nestor.

WL (10:30 p.m. ET): And it’s not paying off. Cooper goes down swinging. NL is 5 1/3 innings without a hit.

MM (10:36 p.m. ET): If you’d told me before the season that Jose Trevino would score in the All-Star Game, I wouldn’t have believed you. What a funny story.

NS (10:36 p.m. ET): So who do we think Dusty will be in a safe spot?

MM (10:37 PM ET): Must 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 PM ET): I’d love to see it.

WL (10:38 PM ET): Maybe…Verlander? That could be fun.

WL (10:42 p.m. ET): Well, here comes López for the end of the seventh, so much for that.

NS (10:43 PM ET): You know we’re well within reach of a swing-off tiebreaker. That is, if the NL can somehow scrape together a run.

EB (10:43 PM ET): Gotta 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): Another unsuccessful inning from the NL. That’s pretty sad as it’s not like the AL brought in their killer’s jugs – no Cole, Verlander or Ohtani. Instead, it was people like Paul Blackburn, Martín Perez and Jorge López.

NS (10:50 PM ET): Dusty’s choice of appetizers didn’t work, but his bullpen strategy couldn’t work better.

WL (10:56 p.m. ET): Ty France batting there for Ramirez (and batting against Ryan Helsley) means every positional player was used.

EB (10:57 PM ET): Also, I have to shout out the choice of organist of “La Vie en Rose” for that France in the beat.

NS (10:58 p.m. ET): Before the game, Liam Hendriks called Luis Arraez “the most annoying hitter in the league” (he meant it as a compliment). You can see why, after nearly chopping off Jake Cronenworth’s head with this burned 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 retired and we’re on our way to finishing in eighth place still 3-2 in favor of the AL.

NS (11:02 p.m. ET): Of the 13 fastballs Helsley threw in that inning, eight reached 100 mph and peaked at 103 🔥

NS (11:04 p.m. ET): Is that? Could it be???

WL (11:04 PM ET): 🚨 WE HAVE A NATIONAL LEAGUE HIT 🚨

NS (11:05 PM ET): By my count, that’s a 0-for-19 from the NL. Feels like an eternity ago.

WL (11:06 p.m. ET): Perhaps even more shockingly, C.J. Cron by overriding 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 an on, Dusty certainly looks to be saving Verlander for the ninth. Epic troll move.

NS (11:12pm ET): I can already hear the boos.

NS (11:19 p.m. ET): Among the healthy freshman All-Star pitchers, Tyler Anderson, Jordan Romano and Emmanuel Clase are the only ones not to have appeared in the game.

MM (11:23 PM ET): Alright. We need a solo home run here to send him 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 momentum.

MM (11:24 PM ET): I don’t think the NL will be stringing hits. So we need a solo explosion.

EB (11:24pm ET): The perfect way for Schwarber to redeem his first-round existence in yesterday’s derby….

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 at an average speed of 99.8 mph. And he gave up zero home runs with that pitch…

WL (11:28 p.m. ET): If you bat at the All-Star Game you get a fantasy football loser’s penalty, if you make it with a run down in the ninth round you get…?

EB (11:28 PM ET): You go to the Waffle House for 48 hours.

MM (11:29pm ET): Back to back crossed out looks! POOR.

WL (11:29 p.m. ET): At least Cooper and Schwarber will be keeping company at the Waffle House.

MM (11:30pm ET): I wonder what they would be talking 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 an all-star debut for the Cleveland closer.

WL (11:32 p.m. ET): One hit over the last eight innings for the NL.

MM (11:32 p.m. ET): The American League has won nine straight All-Star games. This is wild.

EB (11:32 p.m. ET): Mourning the downturn we didn’t get. Shall we wrap up with our favorite moments?

EB (11:33pm ET): My favorite moment was one of the first we got: Clayton Kershaw picking up Shohei Ohtani! Such a fun combination of stars, totally unexpected and a great reaction from the crowd.

MM (11:34 PM ET): My favorite moment: Shohei Ohtani sings on the first pitch he saw Kershaw perform right after he says he’s swinging on the first pitch on the mic so everyone can hear him. It was beautiful and got ten times better for being picked up.

WL (11:35 PM ET): I kind of want to go with the first inning as a whole? But I’ll take Goldschmidt’s home run. It was the final firework display of that frame, and the crowd really hummed like, “Oh, we could be in for something epic tonight.” I’m not sure it quite went that way, but that home run of the NL MVP favorite was a cool end to a fantastic premiere.

NS (11:35 p.m. ET): I’ll take Andres Giménez’s cute double-play flip. In a pitch-dominated game with not too many highlights, this one definitely stood out, and it’s cool that it came from a guy who’s probably one of the lesser-known players here in his first All-Star game.

EB (11:36 p.m. ET): Ooh, yeah, Nick — between that Giménez game, José Ramírez going 2-on-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.)

WL (11:42 p.m. ET): Giancarlo Stanton wins ASG MVP due to his game-winning two-run moonshot. A well-deserved honor for the Los Angeles native and the third Yankee after Derek Jeter (2000) and Mariano Rivera (2013). It will do for us here tonight.

More Baseball Coverage: • The Cult of the Dodger Dog • Juan Soto Faces an Uncertain Future at the Nationals • All-Star Brothers Willson and William Contreras Are Living the Dream • The 2022 Home Run Derby, How It Happened • MLB Players have done some ideas for improving All-Star Week

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *