Poised to set a record for player popularity and elite production, the Dodgers had eight finalists for the National League starting lineup in the 2025 All-Star Game as voted by fans.
Voters had 48 hours to choose between the two players at each position who had accumulated the most votes over the last month in what MLB called Phase 1. Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani already was in the starting lineup because he led NL players in Phase 1 votes.
Who in Blue would join him after Phase 2?
MLB announced the winners Wednesday afternoon, and Dodgers catcher Will Smith and first baseman Freddie Freeman will start along with Ohtani. The other five Dodgers finalists — second baseman Tommy Edman, shortstop Mookie Betts, third baseman Max Muncy and outfielders Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages — were outvoted and won’t start.
The record of five starting players held by the 1976 Cincinnati Reds, the 1956 and 1957 Cincinnati Redlegs, and the 1939 New York Yankees still stands. The Dodgers fell short, despite the bevy of finalists.
It is the ninth All-Star berth for Freeman, who is batting .308 with 21 doubles, and the third for Smith, who leads the NL with a .320 batting average and .419 on-base percentage. Both players have 10 home runs.
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Eleven-time All-Star Mike Trout was the only Angels player among the American League finalists, and he did not finish among the top three outfielders in Phase 2. Thousand Oaks High product and Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson was voted the AL starter at shortstop, beating out Bobby Witt Jr.
Finalists not voted as starters have no guarantee of making the All-Star Game as a reserve. Pitchers and reserves for the 32-man rosters will be determined by a vote of MLB players and the commissioner’s office.
Complete rosters of 20 position players and 12 pitchers will be announced at 2 p.m. PDT Sunday on ESPN. The All-Star Game will take place July 15 at Truist Park in Atlanta. Managers Dave Roberts of the Dodgers and Aaron Boone of the Yankees have no say in the selections.
The teams that boasted five starters included Hall of Famers and also lesser-known players.
The ’39 Yankees had All-Star starters Joe DiMaggio, George Selkirk, Bill Dickey, Red Rolfe and Joe Gordon. Red Ruffing was named the starting pitcher by manager Joe McCarthy, making the ’39 Yankees the only team with six starting players.
The most recent team to land five All-Star starters was the ’76 Cincinnati Reds, known as the Big Red Machine, led by future Hall of Famers Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan. Pete Rose, Dave Concepción and George Foster also started.
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The Reds were called the Redlegs from 1953 to 1959 because of a period of intense anti-communism in the U.S. To distance themselves from the Red Scare, the Reds temporarily changed their name.
Cincinnati fans loved their team by any name, casting a deluge of last-minute votes two years in a row that eventually required intervention from MLB commissioner Ford Frick and caused MLB to eliminate fan voting for more than a decade.
Frick stood by the voting in ’56 despite complaints that five Redlegs were voted in, saying, “Everybody had a chance to vote, so there should be no squawks.”
A year later he changed his tune when last-minute voting — remember, all votes were handwritten and manually tabulated — resulted in an all-Redlegs lineup. Frick swiftly stepped in and replaced three Redlegs with future Hall of Famers Stan Musial, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.
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Redlegs fans were incensed, some making an effigy of the commissioner and driving it through Cincinnati tied to a truck. The reaction from players was more muted, with Redlegs center fielder Gus Bell saying, “I’m not exactly burned up about being replaced by Willie.”
Dodgers who finished second likely will have little quarrel with the results. Players who edged them out in voting are having excellent seasons: third baseman Manny Machado, shortstop Francisco Lindor, second baseman Ketel Marte and outfielders Ronald Acuña Jr., Kyle Tucker and Harvard-Westlake High product Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-6, 2.51 earned-run average) of the Dodgers is a strong candidate to make the NL pitching staff. At least one Angels player must be chosen as a reserve or pitcher, and the nod could go to Trout, who has 13 home runs but is batting .230.
Other possibilities for the resurgent Angels are catcher Logan O’Hoppe (17 home runs), shortstop Zach Neto (12 home runs, team-high 2.7 WAR), outfielder Jo Adell (18 homers, 44 runs batted in) and starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi (2.79 ERA in 96.2 innings).
MLB All-Star Starting Lineups
National League
C: Will Smith, Dodgers
1B: Freddie Freeman, Dodgers
2B: Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks
SS: Francisco Lindor, Mets
3B: Manny Machado, Padres
OF: Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs
OF: Kyle Tucker, Cubs
OF: Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta Braves
DH: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
American League
C: Cal Raleigh, Mariners
1B: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays
2B: Gleyber Torres, Tigers
SS: Jacob Wilson, Athletics
3B: Jose Ramirez, Guardians
OF: Aaron Judge, Yankees
OF: Riley Greene, Tigers
OF: Javier Baez, Tigers
DH: Ryan O’Hearn, Orioles
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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