The best players in the National League and American League will go head to head at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota, when they meet at the 2014 Major League Baseball All Star game, on Tuesday, July 15 at 8:00 PM. ET.
Yankee great, and future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter will be starting in his final All Star game, after announcing his plans to retire after the season, so there will be a lot of fans in the stand trying to catch a final glimpse of the Yankee captain. This will be his 14th All Star appearance in 20 seasons, and his teammates will love to send him off on a winning note.
The annual exhibition game had been losing its luster for some time, but after a 7-7 tie in 2002 that left a lot of fans upset, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, decided to make the game more interesting by awarding home field advantage in the World Series to the team from the league that wins the All Star game, which has succeeded in making the game more competitive.
Pitching Matchup
The starters for this game won’t be announced until Monday, but both team managers can’t go wrong with any pitcher they give the start to. In the NL, there are two pitchers with ERAs lower than two, Adam Wainwright and Clayton Kershaw. These two aces are expected to be the front runners to earn the start in the All Star game, but Zach Grienke could also be named as the starter, because he is 11-4 with a 2.66 ERA.
In the AL, there are four starters with 10 wins so far this season Max Scherzer, Scott Kazmir, Mark Beuhrle, and Felix Hernandez. Manager John Farrell has a tough call to make when deciding who deserves to start, but Felix Hernandez has the best stats of all the AL starters, and should be the man to start for the American League.
Both teams will be without the services of their starting catchers, the American League has replaced Matt Weiters with Salvadore Perez, and the National League has replaced Yadier Molina with Jonathan Lucroy, due to injuries to both players.
The American League ended a three game losing streak to the National League with a 3-0 victory last year, and will be going for their second straight win, while the national league will be trying to continue their recent dominance of their AL counterparts, and win their fourth All Star game in five years.
Personal Pick: The American League will win the All Star game, and give Derek Jeter a proper send off, like they did for Mariano Rivera last year.
After spoiling baseball fans with five straight competitive All Star games from 2005-2009, the last four All Star games have been one sided, and it would be fun to watch a more competitive match this year.