The Midsummer Classic is here, and the Chicago Cubs will have something like 2.5 players involved, which is pretty cool. Starlin Castro was an original selection, and Anthony Rizzo made the cut by way of the fan-driven Final Vote. And then there’s Jeff Samardzija, who made the team on the strength of what he did with the Cubs, it’s just, well, he’s no longer with the Cubs.
Hopefully both Castro and Rizzo get a chance to make an appearance tonight at Target Field. I still enjoy the game for being the All-Star Game and everything, but mostly I want to see those two guys take the field. Twenty-four. They’re twenty-four-years-old.
To get you energized:
Game Info
National League at American League, 7:00 CT on FOX (though you can expect the actual first pitch to come much later).
Game Thread and Series Preview
Game threads now live here in the comments – and with Disqus, they should be even more enjoyable.
There is no Series Preview for this game. Because that would be kind of weird. But do-able, I guess.
Starting Pitchers
Adam Wainwright (Statistics that are great, but not even close to Clayton Kershaw’s)
versus
Felix Hernandez (2.12 ERA, 2.04 FIP, 2.43 xFIP; 6.16 K/BB) (Also, he already has a 5.2 WAR – that’s insane.)
American League Starting Lineup
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Mike Trout, LF
3. Robinson Cano, 2B
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Jose Bautista, RF
6. Nelson Cruz, DH
7. Adam Jones, CF
8. Josh Donaldson, 3B
9. Salvador Perez, C
National League Starting Lineup
1. Andrew McCutchen, CF
2. Yasiel Puig, RF
3. Troy Tulowitzki, SS
4. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
5. Giancarlo Stanton, DH
6. Aramis Ramirez, 3B
7. Chase Utley, 2B
8. Jonathan Lucroy, C
9. Carlos Gomez, LF