2026 MLB All-Star Sunday (Philadelphia, PA)

To be fully honest with you all...I'm not sure how to start this post.

I don't know if I should get into the full "nitty gritty" of the history of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, but it is the oldest ASG amongst North American sports leagues (with the first game being held in 1933), and is generally viewed as the highlight of the baseball (and American sporting) summer¹.

As you may expect, however, getting in isn't cheap. When I looked at tickets while scanning SeatGeek one day, the "get in price" (i.e. the least expensive tickets) for the All-Star Game and/or the Home Run Derby (a batting exhibition held the night before the game) was several hundred dollars. These are the "main" components of the All-Star festivities, but there's also a third day of events during the All-Star festivities - and this is what I'm going to discuss today (as the get in price was WAY lower).

Some of you out there are probably wondering: "Wait, how the hell did you get this ticket?" Well, you're not COMPLETELY wrong: originally, my understanding from MLB's website was that individual tickets for the three days were NOT going to be available. Instead, you would have to buy a "ticket strip" which covers all three events (which I can only assume goes for close to 1,000 dollars at its cheapest based on the SeatGeek data). This is, of course, because there's millions of baseball fans across the country and only 42,901 seats available (according to Wikipedia), so much like the Savannah Bananas/Cosmic Baseball, it's lottery/raffle based.

However, a few weeks after I bought my ticket, I saw that individual tickets for Sunday had become available on MLB's website...but I won't say more than that as, again, I got this on SeatGeek.

There are TWO events that happened during this visit - first:

The All-Star Futures Game

The future of Major League Baseball (assuming it survives the inevitable lockout of 2027)

The All-Star Futures Game is, in essence, a showcase of some of baseball's top prospects from all across Minor League Baseball. I don't know if I should go in depth on the idea of a "Top Prospects List" (as it SHOULD be self-explanatory), but the game was first played at the 1999 All-Star Game at Fenway Park in Boston² (a game known for being Ted Williams' final public appearance before he died in 2002). Originally, the teams were based on where the player was born (U.S. vs the World), but since 2019, the teams have been based on which league their MLB club is part of (American League vs. National League).

One BIG difference between the Futures Game and a "standard" baseball game: game length and extra innings. Unlike a regular baseball game, the Futures Game is only seven innings, and if tied after seven, only one extra inning is played; if the game is tied after this extra inning, it ends in a tie (y'know, just like the 2002 All-Star Game).

Players are drawn from all 30 MLB clubs and are selected by a consortium of writers and other people from around MLB. Each organization gets at least one representative (much like the "actual" All-Star Game), and from what I could glean on Wikipedia, none of the players at the Futures Game have MLB experience: if a player is selected to the game and then called up to their MLB club before the game, they're replaced.

This year, the American League won for only the second time in the AL vs. NL format (their other win was in 2022). I must say, however, that the atmosphere for this game was SORELY lacking: it seemed that most people were using it as a way to get into the stadium for cheap (again, the other events are WAY more expensive).

After the game, there was a break while the second event was set up:

MLBx

Baseball to the XTREME

In previous years, the All-Star festivities included a softball game played by formmer MLB players and celebrities of varying fame. I remember hearing about it and seeing bits of it growing up, but I don't think I ever watched the full thing because it was usually broadcast on a tape delay after the Home Run Derby (i.e. at like 11 PM on a Monday night). This year, however...the softball game has been replaced by something completely new: MLBx.

Borrowing a page from the Australian Football League (and obviously hoping for WAY better results), MLBx is a "variant" of baseball designed to speed up the game and increase the "action"...or at least that's what my initial thought was (when I bought this ticket). However, as details were unveiled closer to the event, it turned out that it wasn't really "baseball": it was more of a glorified Home Run Derby variant which, to my surprise, has been around since 2022.

The way it works is that each team has three players, and each player has one "inning" to themselves...sorta: they have a two minute time limit to try and hit as many home runs as they can (and can also "tag in" a teammate to finish their inning if they so choose). The other team plays in the outfield (designated with a cricket-style rope) during this time, and can also earn points by catching the ball. After each player has had an at bat, whichever team has more points wins. There's a few other quirks such as a "target zone" where home runs count double, but I honestly don't know how important. What is important, however, is that the players bat on an elevated stage which was set up right "behind" the pitchers mound (toward the outfield), and the field was narrower than the "standard" field.

This was a four team tournament: three of the teams were led by mid-2000s Phillies legends Shane Victorino (who's been working with the Loco Beach Coconuts), Ryan Howard (who's also with Banana Ball - more on that later), and Jimmy Rollins. However, it seems that there were no other Phillies legends available (y'know, guys like Chase Utley, Pat Burrell, and Bobby Abreu), so the fourth team was led by...Andruw Jones³. Each team also featured a softball player from Athletes Unlimited Softball League (a professional softball league which has ZERO stops near me), and the third player for each team was...interesting: two of the teams had Philadelphia Eagles (including Rollins teaming with...Terrell Owens), while the other two teams featured celebrities I can't say I've heard of.

The first round saw Howard's team take on Rollins' team in the first game, and then Victorino's team took on "Team Braves". Howard beat Rollins to get to the final, but if you felt that the first game was a bit boring and felt that Things Can Only Get Better for the final⁴, I am saddened to report that THIS was the scoreline for the second game, and - more importantly - Andruw Jones was the first to bat (upper left score):

I had to leave about a third of the way into the final round (it was almost 5 PM at this point), but Victorino handily beat Howard to claim the tournament crown. I did get to see his softball player absolutely RAKE in the final, however (she didn't get much time in the semi as she immediately hit a walk-off). Also, if the Futures Game suffered from a lack of atmosphere, then a ton of fans leaving before this started did not help things any further...

One thing about MLBx I found VERY strange: Rollins and Victorino both used a "fourth" player (the same guy for both teams). I don't know who he is nor do I remember his name, but he was seemingly there as a "plant" to keep things interesting, as he was BAD...especially while playing for Victorino.

With all that in mind, there's actually one other thing that goes on during All Star Weekend:

All-Star VIllage @ Pennsylvania Convention Center

All-Star Village is something I had never heard about it until the build up for this year, but in short: it's basically a convention-esque event featuring a lot of activities, meet and greet/autograph opportunities, and a few vendors. I can't say that most of it really appealed to me (partially due to long lines - especially for certain autographs), but I did manage to catch part of a Q and A with Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins (which was definitely a highlight).

Tickets are available for about 30 dollars, but MLB has a deal with Capital One wherein certain Capital One cardholders get free tickets, and guess what's in my wallet?
(see what I did there)

My access also included a thing where I got to enter early, but with the Futures Game at noon, Philly about an hour and a half away, and the All-Star Village quite a ways away from CBP, I wasn't able to make it.

I also want to talk about

All-Star Merch

In the past, players typically wore their regular "game" jerseys (i.e. home for the league hosting the game and away for the other league) for the All-Star Game, but had special "league" jerseys for other events (such as the Home Run Derby). I've managed to find a few of these special jerseys at various vintage stores/events over the past few years (including finding both leagues' jerseys at a Marshalls once).

This year, however, MLB bucked that a bit by having players wear special versions of their "normal" jerseys for the derby: each player had their regular jersey, but with special flag designs on the numbers (these were also worn for July 4th). On some level, this is rather disappointing, as the league jerseys are typically a highlight of the event, but at least for me, it did mean one less thing to think about when perusing merchandise at the ballpark and All-Star Village (the Futures Game did feature these "league uniforms", but I didn't see them for sale anywhere). One thing that I maybe should have thought about before leaving for the game so late: the team store was CRAZY during the game (I missed quite a bit of the Futures Game waiting to pay for things).

Aside from that, each team has its own special hat for the game (this has been going on for a while). I will admit, however, that I'm not really into these kinds of things, as I feel like they're a bit more "fashion-y" than what I'd prefer to wear (not to mention they're pricey and there's 30 of them)⁵.

Also, at All-Star Village, a few of MLB's partners were selling items - most notably Rawlings (the company behind the league's official baseballs). Not only were they selling baseballs connected to the 2026 All-Star events, but also historical All-Star Games and World Series (including 1994) - I do suspect that these historical baseballs are reproductions however.

Finally, I did try to track how many of MLB's 30 teams were represented in the crowd, and I managed to count all but two: the Arizona Diamondbacks and Cleveland Guardians (though I did see custom jerseys for both teams had been bought at the team store, which had all 30 teams at this game).

ON DECK

It's been a while since I've done this, but also...I legitimately have NO IDEA what I'm doing next. It might be a baseball game, it may involve soccer somehow, or it may be the first "post 26 in 26" trip I make.