2025 MLB All-Star Game: American League vs. National League, Tarik Skubal vs. Paul Skenes

The National League has only won the All-Star Game once since 2012, and just four times since 1996. Will that change tonight?

There’s numerous ways to illustrate the American League’s slippage from prior dominance, but perhaps the most jarring is to look at the starting lineups for tonight’s All-Star game in Atlanta.

While the National league is stacked with stars at every position, the American League is (how can I put this nicely?), less so.

However, the National League stacking stars on their side of the fence in an arms race to catch the Dodgers hasn’t resulted in much success in recent All-Star games. Their only victory in the event in the last twelve years was in Seattle back in 2023.

But to be fair, the major reason for this is the All-Star game has largely turned into a contest of which great pitcher brought in for relief doesn’t have it that night. For the most part, the great pitching shuts down the great hitting until one or two great pitchers randomly aren’t so great, and that team loses the game. Last year, those pitchers were Logan Webb and Hunter Greene for the NL.

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On a completely different but related note, that starting lineup for the American League is another good sign for the Red Sox in a month that’s been full of them! On a night where Boston is barely represented in the Midsummer Classic thanks to a combination of young players dominating their roster, the Alex Bregman injury, and Garrett Crochet being more focused on October than July, their liveliness is quietly lurking in the background. The weakness atop the AL is yet another signal the 2025 Red Sox have a real shot to emerge from it once we resume the games that count.

So enjoy the evening, marvel at Skubal vs. Skenes while they’re on the mound, rest your nerves for the second half, hang out here at Over The Monster, and smile at the fact this is probably the least Red Sox centric All-Star game we’re going to see for quite some time.

Gametime: 8:00pm

Network: Fox

Location: Atlanta, Georgia