MLB Unveils Full AL, NL All-Star Game Lineups: Which Team Has the Edge?

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MLB has unveiled the full American and National League All-Star Game lineups. See every starter and who enters Tuesday's game with the edge.

Yordan Alvarez and Bobby Witt Jr. headline an American League lineup built to punish mistakes, and Major League Baseball made it official, releasing the full starting nines for the National League as well as AL before Tuesday’s All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Shohei Ohtani, the National League’s leading vote-getter and reigning MVP, won’t play. A lingering left knee issue kept him home in Los Angeles, and Phillies slugger CBS Sports Kyle Schwarber steps into the designated hitter spot in front of his own fans.

Dylan Cease, Cristopher Sánchez Set For Starts

Blue Jays right-hander Dylan Cease gets the ball for the American League, a first All-Star nod for a pitcher who has twice finished in the top four of Cy Young voting without ever cracking the roster before this year. He’ll work opposite Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sánchez, who takes the mound in the same ballpark where he pitches for his home fans.

Since the start of last season, Sánchez has gone 24-9 with a 2.54 ERA and 356 strikeouts across 52 outings, a stretch behind only Zack Wheeler and Tarik Skubal in FanGraphs wins above replacement among pitchers, according to MLB.com. He’s also the first Phillies pitcher to start the Midsummer Classic since Roy Halladay in 2011. Halladay, fittingly, made his final All-Star start for Toronto two years earlier, in 2009. That was the last time before this year that a Blue Jay took the ball to start the Midsummer Classic.

Toronto committed seven years and $210 million to Cease over the offseason, betting on stuff that had long outpaced results. Blue Jays manager John Schneider, doubling as AL skipper this week, gets to hand his own ace the ball on the sport’s biggest stage.

Yordan Alvarez, Bobby Witt Jr. Lead Loaded AL Lineup

Alvarez enters the break batting .318 with a league-leading 31 home runs and a 1.059 OPS that ranks first among all AL hitters, numbers that earned the Astros designated hitter his fourth All-Star selection. He’ll hit in the middle of an order that also features three-time AL MVP Mike Trout patrolling the outfield.

Witt Jr. brings a different kind of pressure. The Royals star has already stolen 30 bases, tops in the American League, to go with a .286 average as he starts his third straight All-Star Game. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Ernie Clement give Toronto two infield starters, while Junior Caminero mans third base for Tampa Bay.

The National League counters with Freddie Freeman at first base and Juan Soto in right field, joined by Atlanta’s Drake Baldwin and Ozzie Albies, Los Angeles’ Max Muncy, Washington’s CJ Abrams and Philadelphia’s Brandon Marsh. Andy Pages rounds out the Dodgers‘ outfield representation alongside Freeman and Muncy, giving Los Angeles three starters in the National League lineup.

Schwarber’s promotion wasn’t a surprise pick by Roberts so much as a formality. He outpolled Ohtani among players themselves in the DH balloting, 554 votes to 536, well before the Ohtani knee injury entered the picture.

Tuesday’s game airs on FOX at 8 p.m. EDT from Citizens Bank Park, according to MLB.com’s official release. Roberts manages the National League against Schneider’s American League squad.

Ohtani’s absence looms largest. He’d started each of the last five All-Star Games. Whether Schwarber makes the most of his shot in front of a Philadelphia crowd that has already adopted him is at least an entertaining subplot heading into first pitch on July 14.

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