In 1984, Blue Jays shortstop Alfredo Griffin made his only All-Star team in a season where he hit .241 and smacked four homeruns while posting both a negative WAR and sub-.600 OPS. This selection wasn’t because he was a particularly well-rounded shortstop and made up for value where the bat lacked, or even a popular player, rather that he just happened to be in attendance at Candlestick as the plus one of teammate second baseman Damaso Garcia when hours before the game Hall of Famers Robin Yount and Alan Trammell backed out due to injury, forcing Orioles manager Joe Altobelli to scramble for middle infield replacements. Altobelli saw Griffin in the front row, and added him to the roster. Popular players, such as Reggie Jackson in a 1983 campaign where he batted .198 with 14 homers, or Sandy Alomar Jr. in a 1991 first half where he batted .241 with zero homers and four RBI, prompting Jack Buck to say on the air that Alomar doesn’t have All-Star numbers as he stepped into the box against the seasons eventual Cy Young award winner Tom Glavine, have always made All-Star games due to name checking. There have been players, such as 2012 Cub Bryan LaHair, who had such a good first half that an All-Star team has been made only for them to have such a poor second half that they never play in MLB again. Frankie Zak, a player who never hit a Major League homer and suited up for only 123 MLB games, made an All-Star team because of war-time restrictions requiring the league add a local player to the roster in 1944.
All of that information is a long-winded way to say that the All-Star game has a massive history of All-Stars that probably shouldn’t have been All-Stars for a variety of reasons beyond a traditional ‘snub’ or all thirty teams being required to have an All-Star. But as 2025’s All-Star game, which takes place a few days from now in Atlanta, inches closer, MLB has a monumental problem with the All-Star selections. Contrary to popular belief, it is not the fan-vote.
While the fan-vote is often criticized, every player to make the starting lineups this season, even if not the absolute pinnacle of their position statistically this season, are carrying All-Star numbers. The biggest question mark of validity among this years starters is Ronald Acuna Jr. due to his limited time on the field as he recovers from his ACL tear. However, only a few years removed from a season where he took home NL MVP honors for the Braves smashing 40 homers, swiping 70 bags, and sporting a .337 average, Acuna will enter the break with an average over .330, 12 homers, and a 2.3 WAR across 45 games. While it’s still only half of the first half, it’s not a particularly egregious selection for perhaps the most popular player in baseball. Yet, in an internet world where the game is less regional and statistics are at the fingertips of everybody, the fan-vote has massively improved year-over-year, while the league office is facing scrutiny.
Every pitcher and roster reserve is either selected by player vote or by the office of the Commissioner. The selection of Mariners’ Julio Rodriguez raised eyebrows as the players voted for a player whose bat has been as league-average as it gets before players such as Jo Adell or Rodriguez’s teammate Randy Arozarena. Rodriguez does add ample value with his excellent centerfield defense and baserunning prowess, at least posting sabermetric numbers that fall in line value-wise compared to other All-Stars. While Julio doesn’t feel like an All-Star, the players sending the message that Julio Rodriguez is one of the best in the game isn’t quite as alarming as the selections that Major League Baseball themselves are sending.
For example, as all thirty teams require an active MLB All-Star, the Angels find themselves without one two days before the game. Angels second baseman Zach Neto started the day as a 3-WAR player, with an OPS+ of 121, grading out 21% better than the league-average second baseman thanks in part to his .277 average pairing with his 15 homers from a rather light-hitting position. Adell, an outfielder for the Angels, entered the day with an .800 OPS and 19 homers, and while he wouldn’t be the best player on the team by any means, he also wouldn’t be the worst. On a day where the league had to replace Angels starting pitcher and lone representative Yusei Kikuchi, the league also had to name a replacement for Rodriguez, and Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe. This opened up a spot for two snubs from a market who needed their lone All-Star selection replaced, and both players were once again snubbed as Arozarena and Tigers’ Zach McKinstry landed All-Star nods. That isn’t to say that those players are undeserving, but it is to say that among multiple deserving Angels candidates, that fanbase has no vested interest in watching the All-Star game, and an oversight from the league could potentially trigger an investigation from the MLB Players Association just a year and a half ahead of collective-bargaining.
While Kenley Jansen doesn’t have All-Star numbers, the legendary closer is currently on the Angels. The rosters for Tuesday’s exhibition matchup are currently uneven, seeing as Jansen’s former Dodger teammate Clayton Kershaw scored an All-Star selection through the ‘legends rule’ that allows Commissioner Rob Manfred to unilaterally add an additional roster spot to celebrate a legend who may not have posted All-Star numbers. Manfred did not make a call to add a roster spot to the American League under the same rule, but at least adding Jansen would give the Angels a representative while also making sure that the game isn’t played with uneven rosters.
If this were the biggest flaw in the game this year, it could be written off as a wacky occurrence. The operative word in that sentence, unfortunately, is the word ‘if,’ as Phillies’ starting pitcher Cristopher Sanchez, a 4.1 WAR pitcher with a 2.59 ERA and 116 strikeouts across 108 innings in 2025, was passed up despite the league having ample opportunities to add him to the roster. In his place will be Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski, a player with fewer MLB starts than Sanchez has 2025 winning decisions. Misiorowski will be making his first All-Star game only one month into his MLB career having played in only five Major League games. Misiorowski’s 2.81 ERA is higher than Sanchez’s despite Sanchez’s inning total being over four times higher and pitching in a more-hitter friendly environment. Misiorowski looks like the real deal, but buying into recency hype instead of rewarding the players grinding every day over a 162 is not only a bad look, but Misiorowski’s numbers aren’t even that dominant compared to superior relievers with comparable innings, much less talent such as Sanchez delivering for his team on the bump every fifth day. The league did something similar last year with Pirate Paul Skenes, but Skenes had more than twice as many starts and a sub-2 ERA heading into the break, so while the league wants to create a new phenom to generate revenue for one of their smaller markets, Skenes had still been delivering All-Star quality output for a significant portion of the MLB season to the point.
At the end of the day, two things are true about the MLB All-Star Game: it’s an exhibition game for the fans to see their favorite players play against each other, and it’s not indicative of the best players over the course of a full season because it doesn’t assess the second half of the season when the games teams play mean the most. Superstar players such as Chipper Jones in 1999 and Bryce Harper in 2021 weren’t selected to an All-Star game in years they won the National League MVP award, in fact, Kirk Gibson had more MVP awards in his career than All-Star selections, just as Dodger ace Blake Snell has more Cy Young awards than All-Star appearances. If the fans want to see certain players, they have opportunities to see them. But not having an Angel due to a Commissioner oversight gives a marquee market no opportunity to see their players represented in the All-Star game, and on top of that, established MLB players are losing spots to players who most fans haven’t even had the opportunity to watch play.
The idea that it’s an exhibition game half way through the season to give players a break and fans to see the players they want to see is great, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have inherent value to the players that spend their whole life to get to the national stage, or the fans who want to see players that they spend 81 games to the point in the year watching. There are hundreds of instances in baseball and every other sport of All-Star selections that for one reason or another weren’t warranted, but the perception of being a Major League All-Star is that you’re the best of the best in any given year that you step onto a Major League Baseball field. You’re the flawless player that adds the clarity that makes the baseball diamond prestigious. These things that matter: players have incentives in their contracts for being an MLB All-Star because the accomplishment ordinarily means you’re adding more value to the team than the others players. At the end of your career, the more All-Star games you make tend to enhance your chances at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown because it shows that you were viewed among the absolute best players by the fans that pay to see you, the players that appreciate your talent, and the league that is trying to market you. While Jacob Misiorowski no doubt worked harder than anybody realizes to make it to Major League Baseball and to post high quality numbers in any stretch means he’s a Major Leaguer, five games should not and cannot make an All-Star if we’re going to judge and incentivize players with the All-Star selection.
Trea Turner, a 3x MLB All-Star, commented on Misiorowski’s selection saying that “it’s not the All-Star game in the sense that it’s the best players or who’s having the best season. It’s whoever’s been put on social media the most.” Turner, currently batting .291 with 11 homers and a 3 WAR at the shortstop position and isn’t a 2025 All-Star for Philadelphia, nails it. The idea that it’s the best season is how the public perception has always viewed it, but the biggest stars routinely get in even when they aren’t the best. That’s fine, the crux of the phrase All-Star is the word star. It’s for all of the stars of Major League Baseball, and that can be through name value or through being the best on the field. It’s an exhibition game for the fans to see who the fans think are the best players. But with MLB pushing Jacob Misiorowski’s first five games hard on social media and creating an artificial echo-chamber of his own hype that they themselves have bought into, it has fostered an environment where the league itself has lost sight of what the All-Star game is. Misiorowski has filthy stuff, and will almost-assuredly make many of these games in the future, but all this is going to do is hurt Misiorowski and his future marketability because you’ve already told fans that he doesn’t have to earn having the machine behind him. It puts a very young and very impressionable player in an unwinnable scenario five games into his MLB career, souring fans and potentially teammates on him alike.
The game promises to deliver this year. The starters range from established superstars such as Manny Machado to young phenoms like Junior Caminero. Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes meet as the Cy Young favorites continue to electrify opposing lineups. Freddie Freeman gets the start returning to Atlanta, and it’s likely that he’ll ironically be replaced at some point in the game by Matt Olson. Fans will get to see Acuna and Shohei Ohtani in the same lineup, likely batting back-to-back. There’s a lot to look forward to in the game this year, it’s just that the precedent being set goes down an unfortunate road for what the game means to so many.
You can watch the 2025 MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 15th, on FOX. Coverage begins at 7PM EST.
