A closer look at how the 2025 midsummer classic rosters were selected, who got support from players and who didn’t, plus why Andy Pages couldn’t yet reel in an All-Star nod
LOS ANGELES — We know that five Dodgers are on the National League All-Star roster, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Clayton Kershaw on Sunday joining fan-elected starters Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Will Smith. Here’s some more info about how the rosters were selected.
First was fan voting, picking the nine position-player starters for each league. For the National League, that meant:
C: Will Smith (Dodgers)
1B: Freddie Freeman (Dodgers)
2B: Ketel Marte (D-backs)
3B: Manny Machado (Padres)
SS: Francisco Lindor (Mets)
OF: Ronald Acuña Jr. (Braves)
OF: Pete Crow-Armstrong (Cubs)
OF: Kyle Tucker (Cubs)
DH: Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers)
Six of the 15 NL teams are represented in the lineup.
Here’s how the player voting went with the position players. If the top player selection was already elected by the fans, the next-highest player vote total gets the spot at each particular position.
- Catcher: Smith got 541 votes; next-highest was Hunter Goodman (Rockies) at 245
- First base: Freeman got 61 percent of the fan voting against Pete Alonso (Mets), but the players had Alonso first at the position with 528 votes, with Freeman second at 362.
- Second base: Marte 653 votes, Brendan Donovan (Cardinals) 288
- Third base: Machado 534 votes, Eugenio Suárez (D-backs) 389
- Shortstop: Lindor 329 votes, Elly De La Cruz (Reds) 307
- Outfield: Crow-Armstrong 636, Tucker 471, James Wood (Nationals) 451, Corbin Carroll (D-backs) 418, Acuña 404, Fernando Tatis Jr. (Padres) 311
- Designated hitter: Ohtani 564 votes, Kyle Schwarber (Phillies) 260
MLB does not release player vote totals for players who did not make the team in some fashion, so we don’t know how close, say, Max Muncy was at third base or Mookie Betts was at shortstop.
Players also voted for five starting pitchers and three relievers.
- Starting pitchers: Paul Skenes (Pirates) 289 votes, Zack Wheeler (Phillies) 233, Chris Sale (Braves) 206, Logan Webb (Giants) 185, MacKenzie Gore (Nationals) 164
- Relievers: Randy Rodríguez (Giants) 143 votes, Edwin Díaz (Mets) 102, Jason Adam (Padres) 90
That’s 26 NL roster spots accounted for, with the league office choosing the final six slots, including two position players. Fan and player voting represented 13 of 15 NL teams, which meant MLB had to select at least one Brewer and one Marlin. Pitcher Freddy Peralta got the call for the former, and will coincidentally face fellow-MLB-selection Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the series opener in Milwaukee on Monday.
The Marlins pick was Kyle Stowers, who was mentioned last week among the potential outfielders who could pose an All-Star roster spot for Andy Pages of the Dodgers. With seven outfielders already on the roster, Pages is an odd man out, at least for now.
The other MLB selections were Matthew Boyd of the Cubs, Robbie Ray of the Giants, and Matt Olson of the Braves. Kershaw was selected as a “Legend Pick” by the commissioner, an extra roster spot that was last used in 2022 for both Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols.