Major League Baseball's 87th Midsummer Classic will assemble the best players from the 2016 season's first four months.
On Tuesday, July 12, this year's edition will be from Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres. The city of San Diego had also hosted the All-Star Game in 1992 from Jack Murphy Stadium and in 1978 from San Diego Stadium.
Last Tuesday night, the league announced both the American and National League rosters, which can be seen below:
Pitching Breakdown
The pitching in this year's All-Star Game might leave something to be desired due to the absence of some big names.
San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner and the undefeated Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals will not be able to pitch due to recording starts too close to Tuesday's festivities.
On top of that, New York Mets fireballer Noah Syndergaard and Los Angeles Dodgers virtuoso Clayton Kershaw have sustained injuries.
Those four arms alone have combined for a 41-10 record with an average ERA of 2.27. Luckily for the National League, they still have an embarrassment of riches on the hill, but these major absences have closed the gap between the pitching staffs of both rosters:
With the designated hitter in effect even though the game is being taken place at an NL ballpark, this will be a whole new challenge for some of these National League aces, as there will be an onslaught of talented bats coming to the plate. It's something that American League pitchers are more used to even if the talent isn't as elite.
When it comes down to short, concise outings that occur during All-Star Games, a stress on relievers to shut things down toward the middle and end of games will be crucial. The NL collected a number of closers, headlined by the Mets' Jeurys Familia, who leads the majors with 31 saves.
The AL, on the other hand, went with a series of setup men where six of them have an ERA south of 2.00.
If these rotations suggest anything, it will at least be a closely contested game as the arms to be featured in San Diego have been dominating all season.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.
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