Los Angeles — The All-Star Break was slower than usual this summer and deep enough to see off October in the distance.After the American League, when the top players of the game were scattered in their home city late Tuesday night 3-2 victory In the National League, the best teams in the majors were able to guess where the road would lead.
At 64-28, the Yankees have the best record for a major. The next best thing is to belong to the Dodgers, 60-30. After the first All-Star game at Dodger Stadium since 1980, this year could finally be the year of another relic of the early 80’s, the Yankees-Dodgers World Series.
“Have I ever thought about it? Absolutely,” said Yankees Giancarlo Stanton, who hit a two-run, 457-foot home run from the Dodgers Tony Gonsolin to win the game’s most valuable player award. I got it.
“Sure, it’s been on paper that way for years, so now both sides have to take care of the business and get it done. It’s cool what it will be in the end. But if so. , You don’t just come here just to enjoy playing here. Strive to win. “
Stanton did both on Tuesday and won the stadium just 12 miles from his alma mater, Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks. His home run was deep in the bleachers in the center left field, scoring four innings, and Minnesota Twins Byron Buxton shot a go-a-head shot into the corner of the left field.
After that, no one scored, and 10 AL pitchers at a time kept NL to one hit. Emanuel Klaas, close to the Cleveland Guardians, finished his power parade by striking out all cutters moving at 97-100 mph three times at 10 pitches.
“I don’t think I’ve seen it before,” said AL manager Houston’s Dusty Baker. “We put gas in the bullpen and came out of it, and they came out of it with gas. You thought the game would hit a home run. With these guys It ’s an equally big showman. ”
For Stanton, 32, the show personally had a deep response. Growing up, he went to 15 or so Dodgers games each year, fascinated by stars like Raul Mondesí, Mike Piazza and Hideo Nomo. When the league’s top sluggers, such as Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, came to town, Stanton felt drawn to Chavez Ravin.
“Even with two at bats, drive here, get a ticket from the street and see what they can do,” he said.
When he gets there in time for batting practice, Stanton and his father, Mike, put themselves in one corner of the left fielder bleacher to maximize the coverage of the incoming treasure. prize. His all-star teammates were able to see how it meant for Stanton to start with a left fielder on Tuesday.
“He just talked a bit about it and he was like,’I was sitting a few rows from that place,'” said Baxton, who started at the center. “That was one of the things you couldn’t be happy with, and you could only do what he did.”
Aaron Judge of the Yankees, who started with a right fielder, said Stanton had told him he would go deeper on Tuesday on a flight to Los Angeles. The two former Home Run Derby champions performed a friendly duel here in batting practice, with Stanton winning.
“It’s a lot of fun,” said the judge. “That’s why he was pointing at the bargain and laughing a little.”
The judge attacked the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw and Joe Musgrove in San Diego Padres twice on Tuesday. The 34-year-old Carshaw finally launched the All-Star game after three Cy Young Awards, an MVP and 192 career wins. He joked about protecting the “old man’s back” and looked around his park from the mound before the opening ceremony, but said he would never do so.
He said the car show was more impressive than expected. He missed a month due to an injury and was a little shy to get off to a start, but he’s entering another Sterling season.
“Sandy had a great first half, and he deserves it,” Kershaw said, referring to Miami Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara, who defeated Stanton and Buxton in the second inning. “I’m glad he pitched and he did a great job. Everyone knows he’s the best pitcher on the planet right now.”
The car show, along with Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, is the best of his generation, and two years ago he won his first championship ring. He may have had it earlier, but the Dodgers lost the 2017 World Series to the Astros. The Astros were later found to have stolen the enemy’s signature illegally.
Fans here haven’t forgotten, and some Astros All-Stars avoided their anger: second baseman José Altuve declined the invitation, and so did George Springer, a former Houston outfielder in Toronto. (He said he was slightly injured because neither attended.) Even Orbit, a green prankster running around the Astros stadium, was at home. All other teams with mascots sent the character to the All-Star game.
He didn’t control the 2017 Astros and was actually a Dodgers two-time All-Star, but fans still booed Baker. His first All-Star appearance in Los Angeles was in 1981. This is the year the Dodgers defeated the Yankees in the six-game World Series, the 11th match between teams.
The Dodgers and Yankees met in the World Series at least once every ten years from the 1940s to the 1980s. Sharing the stage in October added a special dignity to the event. Since then, older rivals have reached the playoffs 11 times in the same season, but never reconnected at the end.
The Dodgers-Yankees World Series is a dream for Fox, even without a live mic on the pitcher, like Tuesday when the Yankees Nester Courtes spoke directly to the booth at work and broadcast live. was.
(The Blue Jays’ Alexandra also, with the advice of analyst John Smoltz, tried a hindfoot sinker against the Mets’ Jeff McNeil. Hit McNeil’s shoes.. “It was a forefoot slider,” Manoa said. “My bad.”)
Of course, other members of the league have no reason to worry about the jackpot of potential ratings for the network. Many great teams have been defeated by postseason randomness, and they may have to overcome much more familiar rivals before the Yankees consider a trip back here.
The Astros, who have eliminated the Yankees from the three playoffs since 2015, have the third best record in baseball at 59-32. They will defeat the Yankees in three of the five games of the season and will face them again shortly after the All-Star Break.
If Stanton hits a home run, it would be against Baker’s team.
“His look, how to make it, he should have been there for a very long time,” Baker said. “I’m sorry I have to play him with a doubleheader on Thursday.”
James Wagner Report that contributed.
