The 91st All Star Game
The Americans and Nationals lock horns tonight at 7 at Coors Field in Denver for what could be a hitting extravaganza at the almost mile high Coors Field in the 91st Major League All Star Game.
Coors Field seats 50,144 fans and sits at 5,200 feet. Five thousand two hundred eighty feet is a mile, so there will be balls traveling in this stadium. This is the best All Star Game. It’s patriotic and fun. I don’t really watch the Pro Bowl anymore and don’t watch the NBA All Star game. It’s out of control lack of defense with scores like 155-150. Pretty much a joke of a game.
But this is fun and entertaining. Pete Alonso of the Mets winning the home run derby the Orioles Trey Mancini, was superb. Mancini has just come back from colon cancer. It’s an amazing story. He’s an All Star a year after his treatment for cancer. Quite a moving story.
Fox will televise tonight with Joe, Smoltzie, Tom Verducci and Ken Rosenthal providing the coverage. I’m expecting several long balls, though the arms are excellent on both sides. The velo will be mid to high 90’s much of the night if not all of it, so the hitters will have to catch up with guys like Gerrit Cole (Yankees), Arolidis Chapman (Yankees), Walker Buehler (Dodgers) and Josh Hader (Brewers). Another amazing story is this phenom Japanese outfielder/pitcher for the American League, Shohei Ohtani of the LA Angels. Ohtani is hitting .279 and leads the major leagues in homers with 33 and has 70 Ribbies. He’s third in RBIs behing only Vlad Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays (73) and Rafeal Devers of the BOSox (72). He’s also 4-1 with a 3.21 ERA. This guy’s a phenom.
Prediction
I’ll take the senior circuit to break a 7 game losing streak against the juniors. The National League gets it done in an electric hitting spectacle.
NL 8, AL 7
MVP
I’ll take my man from the Pittsburgh Pirates by way of Vanderbilt University who is starting in centerfield for the National League and hitting 8th. He’s a hitter’s hitter. He hits .302 with 16 homers and 51 Ribeyes and is an excellent defensive outfielder. I’ll take my man….