At 6:30 tonight, the MLB All-Star game rosters are announced. I’m beginning to type this at 5:53 p.m. Yet, I want to see how close I can get to guessing the roster exactly. So, without further ado:
Each team is required to have one all-star. 34 players for each League. Here are the guaranteed team representatives in my mind:
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Boston: Dustin Pedroia (2B)
Baltimore: Chris Davis (1B)
Tampa Bay: Evan Longoria (3B)
New York: Robinson Cano (2B)
Toronto Blue Jays: Edwin Encarnacion (1B)
Detroit Tigers: Miguel Cabrera (3B)
Cleveland Indians: Jason Kipnis (2B)
Kansas City Royals: Greg Holland (RP)
Minnesota Twins: Joe Mauer (Catcher)
Chicago White Sox: Chris Sale (SP)
Oakland Athletics: Grant Balfour (RP)
Texas Rangers: Joe Nathan (RP)
Los Angeles Angels: Mike Trout (OF)
Seattle Mariners: Felix Hernandez (SP)
Houston Astros: Jason Castro (Catcher)
One Note: Castro might seem like a reach but he is the best all-around performer on the worst team and he plays a position that is fairly weak past Joe Mauer.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Atlanta Braves: Craig Kimbrel (RP)
Washington Nationals: Jordan Zimmermann (SP)
Philadelphia Phillies: Jonathan Papelbon (RP)
New York Mets: Matt Harvey (SP)
Miami Marlins: Jose Fernandez (SP)
St. Louis Cardinals: Yadier Molina (Catcher)
Pittsburgh Pirates: Jason Grilli (RP)
Cincinnati Reds: Joey Votto (1B)
Chicago Cubs: Anthony Rizzo (1B)
Milwaukee Brewers: Jean Segura
Arizona Diamondbacks: Paul Goldschmidt (1B)
Los Angeles Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw (SP)
San Francisco Giants: Buster Posey (Catcher)
Colorado Rockies: Carlos Gonzalez: (OF)
San Diego Padres: Everth Cabrera (SS)
One Note: While Travis Wood should be the Cubs’ representative, there are too many elite starting pitchers in the National League and not enough great first baseman.
I realized at 6:25 that I was never going to get this post totally completed. So lets just see how exact I am at picking each team’s representative.
And, as an aside, I expect Yasiel Puig and Bryce Harper to be in the final five voting in the National League.
Mid-Atlantic Bias 