RESOLVING THE LEDGER
This is one outlet's own report from Yahoo Sports — the article as it was filed. Other outlets are covering the same event; open the full story to compare every source side by side.
See the full story · 1 sourcesSAN FRANCISCO - JULY 10: Players stand attended during the National Anthem before the 78th Major League Baseball All-Star Game at AT&T Park on July 10, 2007 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Greg Trott/Getty Images) | Getty Images
On Friday , we got confirmation that San Francisco would be the host city for Major League Baseball’s 2028 All-Star Game. It’s very cool news and it gives us all something to look forward to as we wait for the Giants’ next competitive window to open in 2030. And, of course, it’s more than just the game itself . There’s the Home Run Derby, the Futures Game, celebrity interactions, the draft, and an All-Star village. So, I figured this would be a good place to gather everything we know about the event so far. I promise I’m not riffing through the entire article, but it’s a lot of riffing.
It will happen in July
No exact date yet, but it’s almost certainly the week of July 12th, which is when the Baseball portion of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles will kickoff. That tournament runs July 13-19 at Dodger Stadium .
It will be a factor in the upcoming lockout
Last month, Bruce Meyer, who’s leading the negotiations on behalf of the MLB Players Association, indicated that he knew San Francisco had already been chosen as the site of the 2028 All-Star Game to which Rob Manfred responded , “With all due respect, Bruce does not pick the All-Star Games. He’s not necessarily correct.”
It would be funny if the situation wasn’t so dire. Commissioner Manfred has been a terrible ambassador of the sport, a true antagonist to players and fans , a bad businessman , and now he’s going to carry water for the owners who want to try to bleed the sport for more profit.
The reason why Oracle Park was chosen as the 2028 site had less to do with the city or the stadium or even that it had been a long time since the game had been hosted there and more to do with proximity to the Olympics. Being an hour away by plane really takes some of the pressure off for making sure as many great players can participate. The sticking point is that the league is trying to negotiate a new CBA along with the details of Olympics participation. If the negotiations drag on, it’s not wild to imagine the owners blaming the players for there being no MLB representation in the summer games or whatever.
It might not be called Oracle Park in 2028
Back in 2019 , the Giants made a naming rights agreement with Larry Ellison’s Oracle. It’s a “20-year corporate partnership,” but Larry Ellison ( who recently dropped from the 2nd to 8th on the Richest Man in the World List ) is highly leveraged right now. Oracle’s AI investments have setup the company for an implosion should the AI be revealed as a bubble that then bursts. On top of that, he’s backstopping his son David Ellison’s $111 billion deal to buy Warner Bros. to merge with Paramount Pictures (“[he] has agreed to provide an irrevocable guarantee of $40.4 billion of the equity financing for the offer and any damages claims against Paramount”). Maybe Oracle just doesn’t exist two years from now? We’ll call the stadium at 3rd & King It’s-It Park?
The feds have gained more leverage
A couple of months ago, the United States Department of Justice announced that they had opened a civil rights investigation into whether or not the Giants had violated the rights of the bigots on the roster by allowing dissent and criticism over their bigotry to be communicated in their general direction. As of this writing, this investigation remains open, and it’s entirely possible that it won’t be closed for some time because why should it be closed? As an open case, the Justice Department and the White House can extract concessions or fines from the team to avoid federal intervention of whatever feels right.
Don’t want ICE agents deployed throughout China Basin for All-Star week? Better not think about cutting Sam Hentges, Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker, or Ryan Walker. Yes, even in 2028.
And who knows where we’ll be by then in terms of federal overreach. I’m sure some very dutiful bootlicker is already cobbling together some sort of order relating to securing America’s Pastime against non-traditional values that are expressed or advertised throughout San Francisco. As paranoid as this might sound, there’s already precedent. ABC has filed a First Amendment suit against the FCC for matters pertaining to broadcast licensing and similar civil rights investigations into the company’s “ DEI policies .” Plus, with the commissioner pitching it as being Olympics-adjacent, “security” or “public safety” can be invoked to do all sorts of wacky things. With the government always willing to threaten the sport’s antitrust exemption and Manfred having already demonstrated that he’ll throw the Giants under the bus at the first opportunity, it’s a recipe for more headaches, possible injustice, and disrupted entertainment.
The Giants will have at least one All-Star
By rule, each team must have a representative. Bryce Eldridge is confident that he’ll be able to participate in the Home Run Derby, but we’ll see. He’s going to sit an awful lot if the lockout drags on as long as the owners want it to, and that could impact his development. I’m sure most fans have penciled in Logan Webb already, but this year already showed a marked decline for the former ace. As I mentioned back in May , it’s possible that his best days are already behind him. Lincecum, Cain, and Bumgarner were all basically done by 30. Webb turns 30 in November.
I wonder if Webb and Eldridge will have a better opportunity to represent the United States on the Olympic Team rather than as All-Stars representing the Giants.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be hounded to participate in the Home Run Derby
My one memory of the 2007 ASG in San Francisco is of Vladimir Guerrero Sr. winning the derby. He waws my white whale for many years and after the infamous Brian Sabean quote that killed the idea, I took my moments of...
AIPROPX is an independent multi-source news index — we track, compare, and connect coverage from across the web into one place you won't find anywhere else.