It's MLB All-Star Week in Cleveland, and after Pete Alonso stole the spotlight from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to win the Home Run Derby on Monday, baseball's brightest stars prepare to battle for league bragging rights Tuesday night. We asked our experts on the scene in Ohio to weigh in with their Midsummer Classic predictions.
All-Star Game: Who will win and by what score?
Jeffrey Passan: AL, 4-3. In the past 30 games that didn't end with a tie, the AL is 24-6. This doesn't really matter, but guessing a score for an All-Star Game is entirely logic-free, too.
Joon Lee: The National League, 12-7, but I also could not tell you the score of literally any All-Star game ever played.
Dan Mullen: NL, 9-7. The NL simply has more star depth than the AL does right now. But the real question here is: Will the All-Star home run record set last year be broken? I say yes, with a dozen balls heading into the Cleveland night.
David Schoenfield: The AL extends its winning streak to seven games with a 6-4 victory.
Your All-Star Game MVP pick?
Passan: Joey Gallo. He's the likeliest player to arrive later in the game, when it's still close, and hit an important home run. The All-Star Game MVP formula.
Lee: Nolan Arenado, but who really knows?
Mullen: Cody Bellinger. This is the Year of Yeli and Belli, but since we don't know if Yelich will participate Tuesday night yet, let's go with Bellinger hitting a couple of bombs to win All-Star MVP.
Schoenfield: When in doubt, go with Mike Trout.
What's the one All-Star Game matchup you are most excited to see?
Passan: Justin Verlander vs. Cody Bellinger: In the 2017 World Series, Bellinger went 0-for-5 with five strikeouts -- all swinging -- against Verlander. Safe to say Bellinger 2.0 is looking for a different result this time.
Lee: Mike Trout vs. Hyun-Jin Ryu. Two of my favorite players to watch going head-to-head.
Mullen: Justin Verlander vs. the heart of the NL lineup. At-bats against Verlander tend to end with a long ball or a strikeout right now, and I can't wait to see which of those two results we get when the Astros' ace takes the mound to face Yelich, Bellinger, Javier Baez and Nolan Arenado on Tuesday night.
Schoenfield: Hyun-Jin Ryu, Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler against Alex Bregman, George Springer and Michael Brantley in some fashion -- aka a World Series preview.