(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
    Xander Bogaerts starting short stop in Major League All Star Game
Nederlands
  NEW YORK, New York / DENVER, Colorado (USA) -
Xander Bogaerts (Boston Red Sox) will be in the starting line-up of this years Major League All Star Game, which will be played on Tuesday, July 13 at Coors Field, the home of Colorado Rockies.
Last year, the All Star Game plus all surrounding activities, such as the Futures Game, Home Run Derby and All Star Celebrity Softball Game were cancelled due to measures against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
All these events then would be held at Dodger Stadium, the home of Los Angeles Dodgers.
Instead, Los Angeles now will be the host next year.
...Xander Bogaerts playing for the Netherlands...
...in the 2017 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
On Thursday-evening (July 1), the starting players for the All Star Teams from the American League and National League were announced, as chosen by the fans.
The pitchers and non-starters will be announced coming Sunday.
In the voting process, three finalists for each position were chosen in the first phase (June 3-24).
The second phase (June 28-July 1) ended on Thursday to determine the starters for each position.
Xander Bogaerts will play in his third All Star Game as the starting short stop for the American League.
The Aruban-born infielder was also chosen for the American League Team in 2016 and 2019.
He was also a starter in 2016.
Ozzie Albies was one of the three finalists for second base in the National League.
He finished in second place in the second phase.
With that, he almost surely will be one of the non-starters, who will be announced on Sunday.
Kevin Nash (Tampa Bay Rays) and Dave Roberts (Los Angeles Dodgers) will be the Manager of respectively the American League and National League.
Last year, the two faced each other in the World Series, which was won by Los Angeles Dodgers.
Traditionally, the Managers of the two World Series-teams will lead the All Star-squads in the following year.
The 91st All Star Game was originally to be played at Truist Park, the home of Atlanta Braves, but on April 2, it was reported that Major League Baseball moved the game to Colorado in protest of the Georgia State Legislature's passage of the Election Integrity Act of 2021.
It was the third time that a major sporting event in the USA has been moved to another location for political reasons.
In 2016, the Super Bowl (American Football) was relocated from Tempe (Arizona) and in 2017, the NBA All Star Game (basketball) was moved from Charlotte (North Carolina).
It will mark the second time that the All Star Game will be played at Coors Field in Denver.
The first time was in 1998.
The starters for the American League are:
C-Salvador Perez (Kansas City Royals), 1B-Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays), 2B-Marcus Semien (Toronto Blue Jays), 3B-Rafael Devers (Boston Red Sox), SS-Xander Bogaerts (Boston Red Sox), OF-Mike Trout (Los Angeles Angels), Aaron Judge (New York Yankees), Teoscar Hernández (Toronto Blue Jays), DH-Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Angels).
The starters for the National League are:
C-Buster Posey (San Francisco Giants), 1B-Freddie Freeman (Atlanta Braves), 2B-Adam Frazier (Pittsburgh Pirates), 3B-Nolan Arenado (St. Louis Cardinals), SS-Fernando Tatis, Jr. (San Diego Padres), OF-Ronald Acuña, Jr. (Atlanta Braves), Nick Castellanos (Cincinnati Reds), Jesse Winker (Cincinnati Reds).
(July 1)
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