All-Star Break recap featuring Adam Ottavino
15-year MLB vet Adam Ottavino, along with our own David Korn and Henry Neiman react to some of the biggest storylines from the past few days in Atlanta.
Hi everyone–David Korn here. This is the first of what we hope to be a recurring piece here on Substack where members of the Mayday! team and special guests give their opinions on the biggest stories across baseball.
This week, 15-year MLB veteran, former teammate of Trevor May and close friend of the program Adam Ottavino joined to help us break down the All-Star festivities.
Biggest takeaway from the All-Star break?
Adam Ottavino:
ABS Challenge System. Huge momentum now for this to come to the regular season as soon as 2026.
David Korn:
The MLB All-Star Game is the best All-Star game in sports. The NHL caught up this past season by debuting the “4 Nations Face-Off,” a tournament featuring teams representing the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland, but that was not a true All-Star event, it was an international tournament. The NBA All-Star Game and the NFL’s Pro Bowl are tough because of the lack of effort. But in baseball, it is difficult to play the sport halfway.
Talking to people and looking around online there was a lot of excitement. Whether it was Cal Raleigh participating in the Home Run Derby, Jacob Misiorowski’s controversial inclusion to the National League team or Clayton Kershaw being a Legend Pick, there were countless compelling storylines over the last few days in Atlanta.
Henry Neiman:
The American League might not be as far behind the National League as I thought. Going into the night I expected the NL to lay the smackdown on the AL, and they were for the first couple of innings. But that ending really came out of nowhere, an expected win turned into an instant classic.
Thoughts on Jacob Misiorowski making the NL team?
Adam:
I don’t love it, but I understand it and this certainly isn’t his fault. I think the All-Star Game frankly should be impossible to earn off of five starts. I’ve always believed it was an honor that had to be earned. From a league and entertainment perspective, it makes sense but I struggle with it never the less.
David:
I get why other players are upset, but it was clear that the league had to go pretty far down to get to Jacob Misiorowski. On the NL side, Zack Wheeler, Matthew Boyd, Robbie Ray, Freddy Peralta and Yoshinobu Yamamoto all could not pitch in the game, opening up a lot of opportunities for other players to earn All-Star consideration.
Ken Rosenthal wrote at length about this in the Athletic, most notably about how the league considered Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sancehz for spots, but Sanchez was unavailable after pitching on Sunday and Suarez declined to pitch in the game. I know when Misiorowski came in in the eighth, I made sure to lock in and pay attention. For more casual fans, the 6’7” rookie phenom who throws 102 mph is a lot more exciting than a veteran middle reliever like Tyler Rogers (no offense Trevor and Adam).
Henry:
He’s clearly extremely talented and is going to be a big star, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that someone with only five starts is making the All-Star Game over someone like Christopher Sanchez, who has been great all year. The Miz is great but he shouldn’t have gotten in this year.
Do you like the current Home Run Derby format?
Adam:
It’s fine but still not perfect in my opinion. I would like to see some sort of pitch limit or out limit. Right now it’s a bit fast paced to digest.
David:
I feel like watching the current format in the stadium would be awesome, but it is just too fast for the cameras. The fans at home watching on TV end up missing a lot of the real action, the home run distances come in too late and it just feels rushed. Not sure if this is a production issue or a flaw in the competition, but something needs to be done to improve the broadcast.
Henry:
I think it gets closer every year to something good, maybe if they took the time limit away and kept the 40-pitch limit it would be perfect, let hitters pace themselves and allow the cameras to actually show the home runs. The fast-paced swinging is making it really rough for the broadcast to keep up.
Was the HR Derby swing-off the best All-Star Game moment in American sports?
Adam:
I don’t think ever but probably top five.
David:
The only moment that comes close in my opinion is in 1999 when Pedro Martinez struck out Barry Larkin, Larry Walker, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Jeff Bagwell in front of a home crowd at Fenway Park. Nothing in the Pro Bowl comes close. There are some cool moments in the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest, but that competition has really fallen off the past few years with stars not participating in it anymore. This year’s 4 Nations Face-Off was electric, but like I mentioned earlier in this piece, not really a traditional All-Star Game. For now, call it recency bias if you want, but the swing-off, and especially Kyle Schwarber’s performance, was the best All-Star moment for me.
Henry:
Ever? I don’t think so. But in recent memory I can’t think of a better game and better ending than last night’s swing-off. The players were super into it, having everyone file out of the dugout to crowd around the hitter was awesome, it felt like kids in the backyard and everyone was having a lot of fun. It was a great moment for baseball.
Was the use of ABS during the All-Star Game a success?
Adam:
Yes, major success. Coming full time to MLB shortly in my opinion.
David:
100% yes. It was fast, added a new element of strategy and most importantly, was used to get correct calls at crucial points in the game. Edwin Diaz successfully challenged what ended up being a strike in an 0-2 count to end the ninth inning and strike out Randy Arozarena. Also in the ninth, Alejandro Kirk successfully challenged a pitch from Aroldis Chapman that was initially called a ball, but was later ruled a strike. Not a great night for the people who are against ABS.
Henry:
It was incredibly successful. The players like it, the fans like it, everybody likes it. We’re hopefully going to start seeing a lot less complaining on Twitter about umps once this gets implemented.
Should the All-Star Game decide home field in the World Series?
Adam:
No way. It’s not a serious competition so it should not have downstream implications.
David:
No. That was always very silly. The MLB All-Star Game is still compelling without that. Use a gimmick like that to juice up some of the other leagues’ All-Star games (cough cough NBA and NFL).
Henry:
Never ever again. The All-Star Game should always be an exhibition without stakes, that’s what makes it so fun.
If you could add one new event to the All-Star festivities, what would it be?
Adam:
I would love a skills challenge based around defense. Defense is such an underappreciated part of the game. It would be nice to see it showcased.
David:
The Korean Baseball Organization holds a “bunt derby,” where participants try to land bunts on a target in the infield. With small ball slowly going away in MLB, this could be a great way to still give players who excel at this facet of the game a chance to show off.
Henry:
Some sort of skills challenge would be great, let the pitchers have their moment to shine like the hitters do in the derby. Maybe an accuracy contest or something. Or watch Elly De La Cruz race Bobby Witt Jr and Corbin Carroll.