MLB

Our MLB All-Star Game full-breakdown and things you might have missed

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And you thought the MLB All-Star Break was indeed a break…

By: Jonathan Goad

If you weren’t glued to your TV the past two nights, then you better have a good excuse. The Major League Baseball All-Star Break did not disappoint.

The Home Run Derby surprisingly got things started in a big way on Monday night. With the lack of star power, it was easy to overlook what could have been a mediocre (at best) night of BP.

No, Mike Trout. No, Aaron Judge. No, Giancarlo Stanton. No, Manny Machado…No, Mookie Betts…No, interest from this fan.

The one superstar? Bryce Harper and his .214 batting average.

It’s safe to say no one was rushing home to turn on the tube to catch this one, unlike year’s past.

If you happened to tune it, you noticed that Harper did have a lovely Captain America look though and does it get any more ‘Merica than that?

 

 

 

 

He could have added an American Flag as a cape, but we all know what The Incredibles says about capes…

Back to the MLB All-Star Game Home Run Derby…

Chances are that you haven’t heard of some of these sluggers. No one would blame you for that as again, there wasn’t much star power to this event.

Like a lot of you, I felt obligated to at least have the Derby on as background noise. I’m sure glad that I tuned in. I think it’s safe to say that we’ll know these names now.

The bracket consisted of 3 timed rounds of head-to-head action.

Round 1 matchups (season HRs):

By now, you know that “hometown” boy, Bryce Harper took home the title.

This contest had everything, excitement…drama…even controversy. But only Cubs fans care that the embodiment of the Steiner Brothers.

AKA Wooly Willy.

AKA Bald Billy Mays.

https://twitter.com/gcowieson21/status/1019304065019404290

AKA Bryce Harper’s husband?

AKA Ron, Bryce’s Dad, might have jumped the gun a bit. We don’t care about the rules of an exhibition. All we want is to be entertained — and we were!

Seriously though, this dude is jacked! #DadBodGoals am I right fellas?

Back to the Derby Part II…

Six of the seven matchups were decided by one home run. A few of the rounds had round-winning buzzer beaters. Apparently, that’s a thing in baseball now, and I’m all for it.

In the final round, Darth Harper trailed Kyle Schwarber by nine homers with about 90 seconds left. Captain America (I’m calling Harper that now because…well just look…)

Cap showed off his superhero-like strength and stamina by tying Schwarber as time ran out. But wait…Cap still had 30 more seconds because he belted one over the 440 feet mark. It was all but over. After Harp…I mean Cap won the Home Run Derby with his 19th of the round, he invented the two-handed bat flip.

Bryce Harper is out here looking like Kent Murphy:

Does anyone else think Bryce Harper could make anything cool? Like even socks with sandals. Or a fanny pack?

So congratulations to Bryce Harper and the Washington Nationals for an excellent event. Wait…there’s a game also? Well, I guess I’ll watch that too.

Spoiler alert! The MLB All-Star game was just as good as the MLB Home Run Derby.

What a perfect scene. Our Nation’s Capital and the flyover in the sky. Several choirs from the D.C. area singing our National Anthem in an American Flag formation. Lastly, a 29 Medal of Honor recipients getting much love — well-done MLB!

This was probably the best moment of the entire All-Star Break. Both teams shook the hands of the Medal of Honor recipients. If you didn’t feel something during the introduction of these heroes, check your pulse.

Now to the game…

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge got the scoring started with a home run in the top of the 2nd inning off of Max Scherzer. It was 1-0 AL after the 2nd inning.

This would have been fun to watch on Monday night. Superstar Mike Trout got in on the scoring action with a solo blast of his own in the 3rd inning.

Seriously, why weren’t these two dudes in the derby?

The NL finally got on the board with a home run from Willson Contreras. The next few innings featured some great pitching from both teams as the score stayed AL 2 – NL 1 until the bottom of the 7th when Trevor Story tied the game up with a bomb.

The very next half inning Jean Segura did this…

For Segura to go yard, this had to happen. A tough play, but seeing Joey Votto making a costly error will never get old.

Christian Yelich closed the gap with a solo shot in the bottom of the 8th to make it 5-3 AL.

At that point, the game is over. Most armchair managers would have summoned Craig Kimbrel from the bullpen to close it out. It’s a no-brainer. Instead, enter Edwin Diaz…okay still not a wrong choice, but you’ve got Craig Freakin’ Kimbrel!

What happens next you might ask? Scooter Gennett is what happens next.

Tie ballgame! Free baseball!

The Houston Astros aren’t happy about this at all. Teammates Alex Bregman and George Springer go back-to-back to give the AL the lead again.

The Houston Astros weren’t done. Far from it, actually.

Boom-Shaka-laka! A sac-fly tacks on another and the NL is in an 8-5 hole heading to the bottom of the 10th.

Joey Votto tried to mount a comeback with a solo shot in the 10th, but that was all the NL could muster. The AL wins their 6th straight All-Star game.

As you can see, the Home Run Derby continued into Night No.2 of the 2018 All-Star Break with a record-setting 10 homers combined. Most of which were late-inning blasts too which added some drama to the Midsummer Classic.

The quote of the game goes to Colorado Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon.

Poor guy. Serious question. Can we mic up players during every game?

Hearing these players be interviewed during a game was pretty impressive. There’s no time for scripted answers. It’s raw, off the cuff comments. And best of all it’s entertaining.

As if the All-Star break needed more controversy, Josh Hader, who gave up three runs, had a tweet resurface from his younger days. You know what? Let’s let the four-letter network talk about that since they’re so good at it. He said some stupid stuff as a kid. We all have. Get over it.

I’m a big enough man to admit when I’m wrong. Well, I was wrong about the All-Star break. I expected a lackluster Home Run Derby and was treated to a thrilling event.

That was followed up by a fantastic All-Star game with late-inning heroics, especially from All-Star Game MVP Alex Bregman. The dude won a car!

Now, I would have probably chosen the truck and kept it to myself, but you can’t be mad at a guy for giving his mom a Camaro.

Next Post: Josh Hader’s terrible MLB All-Star Game performance is least of his worries

I don’t know how big of a baseball fan you are, but I for one am excited for the second half of the season. That’s all thanks to the MLB All-Star Break.

Now I need a real break…

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