This story was originally published by Dead Spin
It’s hard to believe that we’re already halfway through baseball season, and it was all commemorated with an entertaining yet forgettable Midsummer Classic.
The All-Star Game doesn’t mean much anymore, ever since the MLB changed the rules from the winning league getting home field advantage in the World Series.
While the American League beat the National League 5-3 and Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez won the Home Run Derby, there were many more winners and losers from this year’s event. Let’s take a look and start with the winners.
Winner: City of Arlington, Texas
By all accounts, the city of Arlington was a phenomenal host for the MLB All-Star festivities. The beautiful Globe Life Field got a ton of national airtime and exposure these last few days on ESPN and FOX. Texas Rangers legend Adrian Beltre threw out the first pitch of the Midsummer Classic, but that delightful moment was just a small feather in the cap of what the event meant to Arlington.
Restaurant cash registers were flooded, hotels were booked, and the event was expected to bring $90 million into the city. Not too shabby.
Winner: David Fry
May 18, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians left fielder David Fry (6) scores a run in the fifth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports Why not keep the Texas love going? Fry is a native of Colleyville, Texas, which is less than 30 minutes away from Globe Life Field.
Last season, he was a utility player for the Cleveland Guardians, and now he’s become so important that he just played in an All-Star Game in his home state. If that isn’t cool enough, Fry delivered a RBI single in his All-Star Game debut.
Tuesday night was quite the homecoming for the hometown kid.
Winner: All Six Philadelphia Phillies
Jul 15, 2024; Arlington, TX, USA; National League third baseman Alec Bohm of the Philadelphia Phillies (28) competes during the 2024 Home Run Derby at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports All six Phillies players in the MLB All-Star Game rose to the occasion. All three pitchers who were named All-Stars put up zeros. All three position players delivered a hit.
Trae Turner’s mic’d-up dive in the second inning was one of the highlights of the entire game.
Alec Bohm’s first-round performance in the Home Run Derby was nothing to sneeze at, either.
Loser: Gunnar Henderson
You can’t deliver the best Scooby Doo impression of this decade and then immediately fall flat in the derby, but that’s exactly what Henderson did.
Henderson’s Scooby Doo-themed bat was only able to poke out 11 homers, and the Baltimore Orioles star was an early exit on Monday despite being the betting favorite to win the entire contest. Tuesday did not get much better; he went 0/2 in the All-Star Game.
Loser: Ingrid Andress
As if delivering one of the worst national anthems isn’t bad enough, Andress took to social media on Tuesday afternoon and told the world that she was drunk during the performance and would be checking into rehab.
That’s a really bad All-Star showing, but hopefully she gets the help she needs.
Loser: MLB Trade Rumors
I mean, what the hell are we doing here? The deadline is just a few short weeks away, and we have absolutely nothing in terms of substantial trade rumors.
While we seem to know the active teams that would be interested in buying and selling, there’s nothing concrete in terms of a market for players like Garrett Crochet or Bo Bichette.
At an event where baseball media from across the country pours into one city and MLB general managers are all in that same zip code, you would have hoped that we would’ve gotten any sort of juicy trade news to snack on. Here’s to waiting.
