MLB: All-Star Predictions Using MLB The Show
By Jason Reed
The MLB All-Star Game is arguably the most revered out of all of the big four American sports. With league bragging rights at stake, it is important that the right players make the team.
Like we have with our playoff predictions, we are going to use the popular video game franchise MLB The Show to predict next season’s All-Stars. The rosters being used are completely up to date, even with recent signings of Chase Utley and company. Therefore, the rosters and ratings for every team should be completely accurate. It should be noted too that players do receive downgrades or upgrades based on performance, so these aren’t the stats before the season. So, let’s use MLB The Show in order to predict who will travel to Miami for this year’s All-Star Game.
All-Star Reserves
Both the American League and National League had some interesting players that made the All-Star reserves. Some because they aren’t All-Stars in real life, and others because they would likely be starting. The National League reserves are: Travis d’Arnaud, Chris Iannetta, Paul Goldschmidt, Wil Myers, Cesar Hernandez, Nolan Arenado, Eugenio Suarez, Dansby Swanson, Yoenis Cespedes, Jon Jay, Dexter Fowler and Andrew McCutchen.
Notable players in the National League are Chris Iannetta and Eugenio Suarez, both not exactly shouting “All-Star.” In the simulation Iannetta batted .303 with six home runs and 31 runs batted in at the break, while Suarez hit .232 with eight home runs and 24 runs batted in. I am not quite sure how Suarez qualifies.
Nice inclusions for the reserves are youngsters Cesar Hernandez and Dansby Swanson, marking the first appearance for both men.
As for the American League, the reserves are as following: Welington Castillo, Russell Martin, C.J. Cron, Eric Hosmer, Brian Dozier, Brad Miller, Todd Frazier, Francisco Lindor, Adam Jones, George Springer, Mookie Betts and Jose Bautista. Surprises here for me are definitely Cron and Miller, as they don’t shout All-Star. However, Cron batted .352 with 19 home runs and Miller batted .264 with 10 home runs, so I can see it. A bigger surprise here for me was Mookie Betts, as he is arguably the second best player in baseball, yet here a back-up to a questionable selection.