NEW YORK — New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge and Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani were the first players picked for this year’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game, with the reigning league MVPs selected as starters by fans whose votes were announced Thursday night.
The Midsummer Classic is set for July 15 at Atlanta’s Truist Park.
Judge, who last year won the American League MVP honor for the second time in three years, led all of MLB with 4,012,983 votes in the first round of fan balloting.
The 33-year-old outfielder, who made his big league debut in August 2016, was picked this year for his seventh start in eight MLB All-Star Games, though he missed the 2023 exhibition because of a sprained right big toe. Judge also was the leading vote recipient during the first phase in 2022 and last season.
Ohtani topped the National League and was second in the majors with 3,967,668 votes, becoming the first designated hitter to start in five straight MLB All-Star Games. The 30-year-old from Japan was the NL MVP last season, his first with the Dodgers, after twice being AL MVP (2021, 2023) over his first six MLB seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, shining both at the plate and on the mound for that franchise.
He did not pitch last year for the Dodgers while recovering from elbow surgery but returned to the mound earlier this month for the reigning World Series champions and could make his third start of the season this weekend.
Judge and Ohtani were selected under rules that began in 2022 and give starting spots to the top vote recipient in each league in the first phase of online voting, which began June 4 and ended at noon Eastern on Thursday. Two finalists at every other position advanced to the second phase, which runs from noon Monday to noon on July 2. Votes from the first phase do not carry over.
An individual can vote once per 24-hour period.
The remaining starters will be announced on July 2, while pitchers and reserve players will be revealed on July 6.
Seven players from the Dodgers advanced to the second phase, along with three each from the NL’s Chicago Cubs and New York Mets and AL’s Detroit Tigers, along with two apiece from the AL’s Cleveland Guardians, New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays.
AL finalists
Catcher: Alejandro Kirk (Blue Jays), Cal Raleigh (Seattle Mariners); first baseman: Paul Goldschmidt (Yankees), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays); second baseman: Jackson Holliday (Baltimore Orioles), Gleyber Torres (Tigers); third baseman: Alex Bregman (Boston Red Sox), José Ramírez (Guardians); shortstop: Jacob Wilson (Athletics), Bobby Witt Jr. (Kansas City Royals); outfielders: Javier Báez (Tigers), Riley Greene (Tigers), Steven Kwan (Guardians), Mike Trout (Angels); designated hitter: Ryan O’Hearn (Orioles), Ben Rice (Yankees).
NL finalists
Catcher: Carson Kelly (Cubs), Will Smith (Dodgers); first baseman: Pete Alonso (Mets), Freddie Freeman (Dodgers); second baseman: Tommy Edman (Dodgers), Ketel Marte (Arizona Diamondbacks); third baseman: Manny Machado (San Diego Padres), Max Muncy (Dodgers); shortstop: Mookie Betts (Dodgers), Francisco Lindor (Mets); outfielders: Ronald Acuña Jr. (Atlanta Braves), Pete Crow-Armstrong (Cubs), Teoscar Hernández (Dodgers), Andy Pages (Dodgers), Juan Soto (Mets), Kyle Tucker (Cubs).