AL All-Stars @ NL All-Stars July 17, 2018: There’s stars in DC and possibly a Machado in LA

(Via)

The 89th installment of MLB’s Midsummer Classic is upon us. Thankfully it doesn’t count for anything, but it looks to be a lot of fun. Matt Kemp, Kenley Jansen and Ross Stripling are the Dodgers’ three representatives at Nationals Park in Washington DC. Dave Roberts is the NL manager, and he invited Dave Martinez and Bud Black to join his coaching staff. Roberts’ LA staff — including assistant hitting coach Brant Brown, bench coach Bob Geren, pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, first base coach George Lombard, assistant hitting coach Luis Ortiz, bullpen coach Mark Prior, hitting coach Turner Ward and third base coach Chris Woodward — will also coach the NL.

AL All-Stars
NL All-Stars
5 PM
D.C.
RF
Betts
2B
Baez
2B
Altuve
3B
Arenado
CF
Trout
DH
Goldschmidt
DH
Martinez
1B
Freeman
3B
Ramirez
LF
Kemp
LF
Judge
CF
Harper
SS
Machado RF Markakis
1B
Abreu
SS
Crawford
C
Perez
C
Contreras
P
Sale (L)
P
Scherzer (R)

Max Muncy hit 29 home runs in the HR Derby on Tuesday night at Nationals Park, making it to the second round before being defeated by future Dodger and HR Derby winner Bryce Harper. Just like MLB wrote it up. Nevertheless, it was impressive how cool and collected Muncy was as he cruised through the first round with Dodgers’ pitching coach Turner Ward throwing to him. Muncy didn’t come out on top, but eliminating Javier Baez was pretty sweet. Plus he didn’t pull a Yasiel Puig or Matt Kemp, thankfully.

The AL has won the All-Star Game five straight times, and the AL has a powerfully stacked lineup once again. Chris Sale will start for the AL, and hometown favorite Max Scherzer gets the honor to start for the NL for the second straight year. Kemp, the only Dodger in the starting lineup, starts in left field and bats fifth.

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It’s always nice to see the players enjoying the experience with their families.

Before the game, the players and their families walked the runway. Most looked stylish.

The guys who aren’t in D.C. get an opportunity to take some time off. Justin Turner isn’t just the captain of the Dodgers…

Caption this… ⚓ (My favorite caption gets mentioned in this post)

A post shared by Justin Turner (@redturn2) on

Stripling had to cancel his trip to Lake Tahoe, but I don’t think he’s too upset about it. Chicken Strip was asked about the Manny Machado trade rumors before the game.

The AL’s scary lineup includes Machado, who is starting at shortstop and batting eighth. In case you’ve been under a rock for the last couple of days, the Dodgers are closing in on acquiring the star infielder from the Baltimore Orioles.

The Dodgers should just announce the trade already and change Machado into a Dodger uniform during the All-Star Game. That’ll bring in the ratings, FOX.

More on that as it breaks.

The festivities begin at 4:30 PM PT. Rooting for some of these guys like Paul Goldschmidt and Javier Baez feels dirty, but it would be fun if the NL can somehow upset the AL.

About Stacie Wheeler

Stacie Wheeler, born and raised in So Cal, has been writing about the Dodgers since 2010. She wrote daily as the co-editor of Lasorda's Lair for five long years, and she has also written for Dodgers Nation, Dodger Blue 1958 and The Hardball Times. She currently contributes to True Blue LA. Stacie graduated from the University Of Southern California with a bachelor's degree in Cinema-Television. You can also watch her videos on her YouTube channel, DishingUpTheDodgers.