The MLB All-Star Game took place in Seattle on Tuesday at T-Mobile Park, where a sellout crowd was treated to a sun-soaked evening and playing host to baseball's best talent. The National League defeated the American League, 3-2.
Here are five things you shouldn't have missed from the Midsummer Classic.
You didn't think the Mariners would throw a Midsummer Classic party without inviting some of Seattle's favorite guests, did you? Members of the 2001 team — also the last year Seattle hosted the MLB All-Star Game — such as Freddy Garcia, Bret Boone, John Olerud, Jay Buhner, Kazuhiro Sasaki and others were recognized before the game.
Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez both threw out the first pitch to Dan Wilson and Jay Buhner. It was predictable recognition from the Mariners, but well deserved nonetheless, and the crowd ate it up. Sometimes the simplest recognition is the best recognition.
Fans got their money's worth early on in the game. Two pitches into the top of the first, Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. sent a sharp liner toward the wall in right, but Rangers outfielder Adolis Garcia snagged the fly ball at the wall to save extra bases. Five pitches later, Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena made leaping catch at the fence in left on a long fly from Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman drawing roars from the crowd.
Seattle fans really, really want Shohei Ohtani in a Mariners uniform. They made that clear each of the two times Ohtani came to the plate, chanting "Come to Seattle" to the L.A. Angels megastar, who's set to hit free agency for the first time in the off-season.
Ohtani is dominating baseball in a way that hasn't been seen, at least in the modern era. The 29-year-old from Japan has been both one of the best pitchers and hitters in baseball since coming to the U.S. in 2018, when he won the American League Rookie of the Year award.
Of all the All-Stars in attendance in Seattle the past week, none drew as big a following from media and fans than Ohtani, who lives on a different level of stardom, one reserved for generational talents who incite spirited G.O.A.T. debates on television networks and in newspaper columns.
He had nothing but good things to say about his time in Seattle during the All-Star Week festivities, complimenting the fans and saying how much he enjoyed the city.
Loudest cheers: Mariners' three All-Star selections Julio Rodriguez, George Kirby and Luis Castillo. The loudest roar came perhaps when the trio introduced pregame on the red carpet extended from the outfield wall to the edge of the infield dirt. Mariners fans were ready to erupt when Rodriguez came to the plate in the seventh inning, but a strikeout left fans disappointed.
"That was an unbelievable feeling," Rodriguez said of the electric crowd. "We've had playoff games (at T-Mobile Park), but there was just something different about having an event-based crowd, to say it like that. ... Seattle definitely showed out."
Loudest boos: Anyone and everyone associated with the Houston Astros. Seriously, even the Houston mascot was booed loudly during the prior day's Home Run Derby. Over the weekend, fans drowned MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in boos at the podium when he announced Houston's first-round pick. And every time a Houston player was introduced or came to the plate during Tuesday's All-Star Game, Seattle fans let them hear it, passionately. Clearly, fans haven't forgiven the Astros for their cheating scandal years ago.
Yandy Diaz opened the game's scoring for the American League with a solo home run in the second inning. It looked like the American League might be able to hang on to a 2-1 lead, but Colorado's Elias Diaz had different ideas. He gave the NL team its first lead of the game an inning later in the eighth, entering as a pinch hitter and crushing a two-run home run to left off Baltimore's Felix Bautista to make it 3-2. Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos, who walked to lead off the frame, also scored.
Diaz was already the first Rockies catcher in team history to make an All-Star game, and now, he's the first All-Star Game MVP in the history of the franchise. His game-winning, two-run homer in the eighth earned him the honor named after Ted Williams, one of the game's most illustrious hitters.
Braves infielder Orlando Arcia predicted Diaz's blast from the dugout before Colorado's backstop appeared in the game.
"(Orlando) told me, 'Hey, you're going to go up to bat, you're going to hit a home run, and you're going to win the MVP," Arcia told Diaz.
Diaz added: "It's incredible," he said through a translator. "Obviously, I've worked really hard to get where I am. But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I'd be in this position."
