30 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Cody Bellinger will win it somehow ...

“Somehow”? He had half the RBIs and had the game winning hit.

I thought Vargas would be a good option also with the only XBH and home run, but let’s not pretend Bellinger didn’t deserve it also.

Did I miss something or did Fox not announce that Peters (until his routine catch) or Muni came into the game defensively before their respective at bats? Ofc, they drooled all over PCA when he entered the game defensively, they wouldn't let us miss that.

16 minutes ago, Rounding_Third said:

Did I miss something or did Fox not announce that Peters (until his routine catch) or Muni came into the game defensively before their respective at bats? Ofc, they drooled all over PCA when he entered the game defensively, they wouldn't let us miss that.

They're practicing for when the Sox win the next 3 Series, and have 7 starters in the next 3 All-Star Games.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2026/07/14/white-sox-all-stars-munetaka-murakami-miguel-vargas-tristan-peters-mlb-philadelphia-citizens-bank-park

8 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2026/07/14/white-sox-all-stars-munetaka-murakami-miguel-vargas-tristan-peters-mlb-philadelphia-citizens-bank-park

that s%*# is awful. if that is what passes for "sports writing" let AI take over. Too many awful fleets of fancy sentence to sentence to even bother, it's just non sense dressed up as some deep s%*#.

9 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

that s%*# is awful. if that is what passes for "sports writing" let AI take over. Too many awful fleets of fancy sentence to sentence to even bother, it's just non sense dressed up as some deep s%*#.

Certainly a choice to talk about Miguel Vargas like he's just one of their (multiple and likeable) grindy role players rather than a guy whose Savant page is more lit up than a Christmas tree:

Pluggers and grinders...more suitable for Peters Antonacci and Meidroth.

Would hardly describe Vargas in that fashion.

4 hours ago, chitownsportsfan said:

that s%*# is awful. if that is what passes for "sports writing" let AI take over. Too many awful fleets of fancy sentence to sentence to even bother, it's just non sense dressed up as some deep s%*#.

You ever actually try to read a Passan article, not just some tweet about a player being traded? That guy is functionally illiterate. So-called journalists nowadays read and write at an eighth grade level. Don't even get me started on editors (they don't exist, there's nothing to get started on).

"After graduating from Solon High School in suburban Cleveland, Passan attended the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, where he wrote for The Daily Orange and graduated in 2002 with a degree in journalism."

Joe Posnanski was one of the last great baseball writers. He wrote for the Augusta Chronicle in the mid 90s before moving to the KC Star.

Passan's at least in the top 25%, and has some of the best sources in the game...

The call on that Vargas home run was great.

Not the call, but the reaction from the color guy as the ball came off the bat:

https://www.mlb.com/video/justin-wrobleski-in-play-run-s-to-miguel-vargas?partnerId=web_video-playback-page_video-share

6 minutes ago, JoeC said:

The call on that Vargas home run was great.

Not the call, but the reaction from the color guy as the ball came off the bat:

https://www.mlb.com/video/justin-wrobleski-in-play-run-s-to-miguel-vargas?partnerId=web_video-playback-page_video-share

I think the “oh gosh” part was PCA. They were doing an in-game interview with him while he was in centerfield.

9 hours ago, SoxBlanco said:

“Somehow”? He had half the RBIs and had the game winning hit.

I thought Vargas would be a good option also with the only XBH and home run, but let’s not pretend Bellinger didn’t deserve it also.

Not a hill I’m willing to die on by any means, BUT…they clearly made this all star game even more of a wacky spectacle than years past.

And in the spirit of that, a bomb of a home run is way more fun than a two run first inning single.

13 minutes ago, Snopek said:

Not a hill I’m willing to die on by any means, BUT…they clearly made this all star game even more of a wacky spectacle than years past.

And in the spirit of that, a bomb of a home run is way more fun than a two run first inning single.

Oh, I’m with you. I wasn’t arguing who should win it. I was simply saying that writing “somehow” for Bellinger was a bit ridiculous, as if all he did was catch a fly ball or something.

The sweep, the draft, the All-Star game, let the good times roll.

51 minutes ago, SoxBlanco said:

Oh, I’m with you. I wasn’t arguing who should win it. I was simply saying that writing “somehow” for Bellinger was a bit ridiculous, as if all he did was catch a fly ball or something.

I am willing to die on that hill. Bellinger slaps a single against the only total s%*# pitcher of the entire night, but “somehow” wins MVP.

Vargas has the two hardest hit balls of the night, the only XBH, but doesn’t win it.

Actually, no somehow about it, the reason Bellinger won MVP is because it said “Yankees” on his shirt. If that game had been played west of Pennsylvania, without all the east coast sportswriters voting, Vargas would have won MVP.

17 minutes ago, vilehoopster said:

I am willing to die on that hill. Bellinger slaps a single against the only total s%*# pitcher of the entire night, but “somehow” wins MVP.

Vargas has the two hardest hit balls of the night, the only XBH, but doesn’t win it.

Actually, no somehow about it, the reason Bellinger won MVP is because it said “Yankees” on his shirt. If that game had been played west of Pennsylvania, without all the east coast sportswriters voting, Vargas would have won MVP.

The classic 101 mph slapped single.

Enjoy your hill death I guess.

32 minutes ago, Snopek said:

The classic 101 mph slapped single.

Enjoy your hill death I guess.

Honest question, be honest.

If that game had been hosted in a city west of the Mississippi, do you still think Bellinger would have been voted MVP over Vargas?

9 minutes ago, vilehoopster said:

Honest question, be honest.

If that game had been hosted in a city west of the Mississippi, do you still think Bellinger would have been voted MVP over Vargas?

Sure. Or not. I have no idea.

I already said I thought Vargas would’ve been a better pick because the all star game is about fun and a homer is more fun than a single.

But I also just really don’t care.

33 minutes ago, vilehoopster said:

Honest question, be honest.

If that game had been hosted in a city west of the Mississippi, do you still think Bellinger would have been voted MVP over Vargas?

You think a New York Yankee won the MVP because he was in Philadelphia? WTAF?

Hard hit or not - the hit the changed the game was the earlier hit so I'm not surprised at all. If Vargas first hit was a double, I still don't think he wins the MVP. Now if the situation was reversed and Vargas was a starter and he hit the HR early in the game to give the Sox a 1-0 lead and then Belly knocked it open later on, than I think it could be a more interesting debate.

15 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

Hard hit or not - the hit the changed the game was the earlier hit so I'm not surprised at all. If Vargas first hit was a double, I still don't think he wins the MVP. Now if the situation was reversed and Vargas was a starter and he hit the HR early in the game to give the Sox a 1-0 lead and then Belly knocked it open later on, than I think it could be a more interesting debate.

This is exactly right. If Vargas gave them a 1-0 lead and had the only extra base hit (as a homer), he wins MVP for sure.

From a “fun” standpoint, the Vargas hit was better. But from a pure baseball standpoint, Bellinger had the most important hit of the game.

3 hours ago, vilehoopster said:

Honest question, be honest.

If that game had been hosted in a city west of the Mississippi, do you still think Bellinger would have been voted MVP over Vargas?

The same writers show up to the All-Star game, regardless of where it's played, right?

15 hours ago, Rounding_Third said:

Did I miss something or did Fox not announce that Peters (until his routine catch) or Muni came into the game defensively before their respective at bats? Ofc, they drooled all over PCA when he entered the game defensively, they wouldn't let us miss that.

I turned on the game right before the Vargas HR and had opened up Gameday to see if Mune and Peters had had any AB's and saw they were both in the game but no AB's yet. So from seeing who I wanted to see standpoint I turned on the game at just the right time.

If the sportwriters had the only voice in the MVP decision, why were they promoting the fan vote?