Overview

• Kyle Schwarber hit three home runs in the swing-off to deliver a 4-3 National League victory and claimed MVP honors.
• The All-Star Game telecast averaged 7.2 million viewers on FOX, peaking at 8.1 million and making it the network’s most-watched All-Star broadcast.
• American League manager Aaron Boone’s swing-off roster—Brent Rooker, Randy Arozarena and Jonathan Aranda—drew scrutiny as stars Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani were no-shows.
• Commentators such as Tony Kornheiser and Ken Rosenthal urged that the swing-off remain an All-Star Game novelty and warned against its use in regular-season play.
• The home-run tiebreaker, added under the 2022 collective bargaining agreement, joins the pitch clock and ghost-runner rule among MLB’s recent efforts to speed up play and boost fan engagement.