by Julian Spivey
Last month I made my selections for the MLB All Star starters before the ballots were released on MLB.com. Then I used an array of statistical categories to make my choices.

​Now that the All Star ballot is available for voting on MLB.com I’ve made my second selections, this time using merely the four statistical categories offered on the online ballot (average, home runs, RBI and OPS).

MLB All Star balloting is done in two sections. All eligible candidates are on the ballot from June 5-27. The top two players from that first round then square off for the All Star starting job from June 30-July 3.

Here are my current selections for National League starters:

*any stats used in this article are as of June 21. 

Catcher
There are a few catchers in the National League worthy of making the All Star Game this summer: Patrick Bailey (San Francisco Giants) and Will Smith (Los Angeles Dodgers). How is Smith not currently in the top 2 in voting, by the way? But the guy who has been the runaway best catcher all season has been William Contreras of the Milwaukee Brewers. Contreras is hitting .298 with nine home runs, 49 RBI and a .809 OPS.

First Base
The Philadelphia Phillies have been the best team in the National League virtually all season and a big reason for that is their star first baseman Bryce Harper. Harper’s transition from the outfield to first base in hopes of cutting down injuries has been a smooth one. He’s hitting .285 this season with 17 homers, 48 RBI and a .928 OPS. He should be the easy choice to start at first for the N.L. All Star team.

Second Base
There haven’t been as many changes to my National League All Star starters in the month since I did this last as there were with my previously published American League lineup. My second baseman is still Arizona Diamondbacks two-bagger Ketel Marte, who surprisingly has only been an All Star once before. Marte is hitting .280 with 15 homers, 42 RBI and a .848 OPS. Martel is currently second in the voting to Luis Arraez of the San Diego Padres despite having much better numbers in three of the four categories on the online ballot.

Third Base
The 27-year-old Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm is looking to make his first All Star Game and should be the starter for the N.L. Bohm is hitting .301 this season with seven homers, 60 RBI and a .829 OPS. He’s the current vote-getter over some guys with bigger name recognition like Manny Machado.

Shortstop
Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts was my choice last month and would’ve still been my choice this month had he not fractured his hand due to a hit by pitch this past week. He’s going to miss the All Star Game due to the injury so I figured I’d give my vote to a guy with a chance to play. That pick goes to Trea Turner of the Philadelphia Phillies. Turner is hitting .344 with three home runs, 12 RBI and a .859 OPS. This may be controversial because he’s only played in about half of the games thus far this season due to injury but there just wasn’t a clear favorite after Betts. Some of the other contenders (Elly De La Cruz, Oneil Cruz, Willy Adames) are hitting too low to get my vote at the moment.

Outfield
The National League outfield doesn’t look nearly as scary as the American League one led by New York Yankees duo Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. A couple of my choices from last month have been retained in San Diego Padres outfielder Jurickson Profar, who’s potentially been the biggest surprise in baseball this season hitting .320, currently second in the N.L., with 10 home runs, 48 RBI and an .898 OPS. Teoscar Hernandez of the Los Angeles Dodgers is back on my ballot with a .258 average, 18 homers, 58 RBI and an .823 OPS. Chicago Cubs outfielder Cody Bellinger who made my cut in May has been replaced by former N.L. M.V.P. and inner-division rival Christian Yelich of the Milwaukee Brewers. Yelich is hitting .324 with seven home runs, 34 RBI and a .902 OPS.

Designated Hitter
The best fight for All Star Game starting positions in the National League all season has been at designated hitter between Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani and Atlanta Braves DH Marcell Ozuna. If the season ended right now they’d potentially be 1-2 in the M.V.P. voting. Their offensive numbers are nearly identical this season. Ohtani is hitting .322 with a league-leading 22 home runs, 55 RBI and a 1.026 OPS. Ozuna is hitting .311 with 20 homers, 63 RBI and a .977 OPS. If I had written this article last week when Ozuna was briefly leading the N.L. in all three Triple Crown categories he would’ve been my choice. Currently, Ohtani is leading in three of the four online ballot categories and thus has my vote. Let’s face it, Ohtani will win the popular vote no matter what. Ozuna will have to settle for making the midsummer classic as a reserve.  

by Julian Spivey
 
Last month I made my selections for the MLB All Star starters before the ballots were released on MLB.com. Then I used an array of statistical categories to make my choices.

Now that the All Star ballot is available for voting on MLB.com I’ve made my second selections, this time using merely the four statistical categories offered on the online ballot (average, home runs, RBI and OPS).

MLB All Star balloting is done in two sections. All eligible candidates are on the ballot from June 5-27. The top two players from that first round then square off for the All Star starting job from June 30-July 3.

Here are my current selections for American League starters:

*any stats used in this article are as of June 21. 

Catcher
When I made my selections last month it was Kansas City Royals veteran backstop Salvador Perez that made my cut at catcher. Perez’s numbers are still All Star Game worthy but he’s since been surpassed by the young Baltimore Orioles star Adley Rutschman, who’s hitting .305, with 14 home runs, 53 RBI and a .837 OPS. Rutschman will likely be for Baltimore over the next decade what Perez has been the Kansas City over the past.

First Baseman
Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is the current vote leader for the position in the A.L. and I understand it. I almost picked him myself and he has higher name recognition than my selection. But for the second time I’m going with Josh Naylor of the Cleveland Guardians. I don’t like that Naylor’s batting average is 40 points lower than Guerrero’s, but Naylor has Vlad Jr. beat by a good margin in the other three categories listed on the online ballot. The only problem for Naylor is that he’s not currently in the top 2 in the voting and likely won’t have a shot at being the starter.

Second Baseman
My selection at second base last month was Marcus Semien of the reigning champion Texas Rangers. He’s struggled since then and has been surpassed on my ballot by his instate rival Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros, no stranger to All Star games. Altuve is hitting .301 with 11 homers, 32 RBI and a .811 OPS.

Third Baseman
You would think that Rafael Devers by putting up consistently good numbers and playing for such a big fan base as the Boston Red Sox would have more support in the All Star ballot but he’s not one of the top-2 vote getters right now at the position, despite most of his numbers being similar to the No. 1 vote-getter Jose Ramirez of the Cleveland Guardians. Still, the one statistical category where Ramirez has nearly doubled Devers is RBI where Ramirez has 65 to Dever’s 38, which makes his selection easier. My pick last month was Isaac Paredes of the Rays, who’s still putting up big numbers and also not in the top 2.

Shortstop
The Baltimore Orioles seem primed to have at least two All Star Game starters with Gunnar Henderson looking like the obvious choice to start at shortstop and join teammate Adley Rutschman in the midsummer classic lineup. Henderson is second in the American League with 24 home runs, tied with Rutschman for fifth with RBI and third in the league with a .991 OPS.

Outfield
Aaron Judge is the likeliest contender for American League Most Valuable Player nearing the midway point of the 2024 MLB season. His closest competition may be his own outfield teammate Juan Soto. Both those guys should be locks to start in the A.L. outfield at the midsummer classic. Judge leads baseball with a 1.113 OPS, leads baseball with 27 homers and leads baseball with 67 RBI. He’s also hitting .301 and on pace for one of the greatest offensive seasons in baseball history something he’s done before.

Soto is keeping pace with Judge in most offensive categories. He’s hitting .304 with 18 homers, 56 RBI and an OPS of .995. No 1-2 duo in baseball should put fear into opposing pitchers as Soto and Judge, so good luck to whoever the National League starting pitcher at the All Star Game will be.

My third A.L. outfield selection could go to several folks and my selection might be slightly controversial because he doesn’t have enough at-bats to yet qualify for the batting title but I’m going to go with Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan, who is hitting .387 in 47 games. He’s added five home runs, 21 RBI and .993 OPS to go with that stellar average.

Designated Hitter
My choice for designated hitter in the American League this month is Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez. Alvarez is hitting .293 with 15 homers, 39 RBI and a .882 OPS. He’s currently the leading vote-getter on the ballot. My pick last month was Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who’s No. 2 on the ballot. 

​Congratulations to the Boston Celtics on winning the 2023-2024 NBA championship. The team dominated its way through the entire 2024 NBA playoffs after a season in which it was obviously the most dominant team in the league – winning the Eastern Conference by a ridiculous 14 games over the second-place New York Knicks. The Celtics weren’t just the most dominant team of the NBA season but one of the most dominant in the history of the game when it comes to outscoring opponents. Only the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks and 2017 Golden State Warriors had a higher point differential during their championship seasons than the 2024 Celtics, who averaged 10.7 points per game more than their opponents during the season.

The championship was something the Celtics had been building upon for a few seasons now with their dynamic All-Star duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, whose 107 playoff games together were the most of any duo before winning a title.

It wasn’t that long ago that people speculated the Celtics would need to break up the Tatum/Brown duo for the franchise to succeed but the chemistry between the two stars continued to build, the team made some huge front-office moves to acquire important pieces like Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday and now the team is the best in the league.

The Celtics were an easy choice for this week’s sports hero of the week. 

​It happens a few times every year. An athlete will start celebrating too soon and then boom they’ve turned themselves into a laughingstock, in addition to being a loser. The most recent example of celebrating too soon biting an athlete in the ass is Laura Garcia-Caro, a Spanish racewalker who lost out on the bronze medal at the European Athletics Championships in Rome on Friday, June 8. Coming to the end of her 20-kilometer event, the 29-year-old grabbed her home country’s flag, draped it across her should, pumped her fists in the air and, not paying any attention to the event whatsoever, was promptly passed by Ukrainian competitor Lyudmila Olyanovsk in the final two meters of the race. It’s bad enough seeing a football player miss out on a touchdown because they showboated a few yards too soon but I can’t imagine anything more embarrassing than losing a racewalking event as the result of doing so. Luckily for Garcia-Caro she still qualified for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. She might want to focus on actually crossing the finish line before any celebrating when she competes on the world’s biggest stage.  

The 2023-2024 National Hockey League season is coming toward an end. Two teams have emerged from their respective conferences and will now compete for hockey's ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup. For the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers, the road to this year's Stanley Cup Final has been extremely different. The Oilers had to climb from the bottom of the rankings and fight as the underdog for most of their playoff run. The Panthers have been one of the NHL's top teams for much of the season and had to beat three rivals in the Eastern Conference to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the second consecutive year. 
​
The Oilers are making their ninth appearance in the Stanley Cup Final and their first since 2006. They are looking to become the first Canadian NHL team to win the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993. Much like their championship teams in the 1980s, the Oilers have a dynamic one-two punch that gives goaltenders nightmares along with a strong supporting cast. To the casual fan, comparing current Oilers stars Connor McDavid (32 goals and 100 assists = 132 points in the regular season, 5 goals and 26 assists = 31 points in the playoffs) and Leon Draisaitl (41 goals and 65 assists = 106 points in the regular season, 10 goals and 18 assists = 28 points in the playoffs) to the likes of Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier wouldn't be fair. However, McDavid and Draisaitl have been the premiere scoring duo in the league. They have also been two of Edmonton's successful draft picks over the last 10-plus years. The Oilers have also done well when it comes to acquiring talent in recent years such as Evander Kane and Zach Hyman. Hyman scored a career-high 54 goals in the regular season. Edmonton also has two defensemen that have played extremely well this season. Mattias Ekholm (11 goals and 34 assists = 45 points in the regular season 4 goals and 3 assists = 7 points in the playoffs), who came from the Nashville Predators via a trade last season has provided veteran leadership in the backline. Young Evan Bouchard, who averaged just over a point per game in the regular season (18 goals and 64 assists for 82 points in 81 games), has provided high-scoring offense from the defensive position. That trend has continued in the playoffs. Goaltender Stuart Skinner, who won 36 games in the regular season, has had an up-and-down playoffs but came up big in the closing games of all three rounds to help the Oilers reach the Stanley Cup Final.

Edmonton's season got off to a rocky start and they were in the bottom of the standings in November with a 2-9-1 record. They fired head coach Jay Woodcroft and plucked a coach from the American Hockey League in Kris Knoblauch. From there, the Oilers were one of the best teams in the NHL propelled by a team-record 16-game winning streak, the longest winning streak by a Canadian team in NHL history. In the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they beat the Los Angeles Kings for the third year in a row in five games. In the second round, they beat an improved Vancouver Canucks team who finished first in the Pacific Division and were second overall in the West in seven hard-fought games. In the Western Conference Final, Edmonton defeated the Dallas Stars, who finished first overall in the West, in six games.

The Florida Panthers were the opposite of the Oilers in the regular season. Fresh off making the Stanley Cup Final last year, Florida is looking to redeem themselves in pursuit of winning their first Stanley Cup. In doing so, they would be just the third team ever to win the Stanley Cup after losing the final the previous year (1984 Edmonton Oilers and 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins). After being the surprise team to make the final last year, Florida will come into this year's final as the slight favorite. The Panthers won 52 games in the regular season under head coach Paul Maurice, who is coaching in his third Stanley Cup Final (2023 and 2002 with the Carolina Hurricanes). Offensively, Florida is led by Sam Reinhart, who had career highs in goals and points (57 goals and 37 assists = 94 points in 82 regular season games). They are also led by Matthew Tkachuk (26 goals and 62 assists = 88 points in 80 regular season games), Carter Verhaeghe (34 goals and 38 assists = 72 points in 76 regular season games) and team captain Aleksander Barkov (23 goals and 57 assists = 80 points in 73 regular season games). It is not a surprise that Reinhart (12 points), Tkachuk (19 points), Verhaeghe (17 points) and Barkov (17 points) are the leading scorers for the Panthers in the playoffs. Defensively for Florida, veteran Gustav Forsling is having a career year. He had the best plus-minus in all of the NHL (+56) and is also leading the Panthers in the playoffs in plus-minus rating (+11). Veteran goaltender and two-time Vezina winner Sergei Bobrovsky is looking to add Stanley Cup champion to his resume. Bobrovsky also won 36 games in the regular season and has been the backbone of Florida's consecutive Stanley Cup Playoff runs.

After winning a franchise-record 52 games in the regular season, Florida had to go through three of its toughest rivals to reach the final. First, they beat their in-state rival Tampa Bay Lightning in five games (Note: This will be the fifth straight year the Lightning or the Panthers have participated in the Stanley Cup Final). In the second round, Florida defeated the Boston Bruins for the second straight season in six games. (Florida defeated Boston in the first round in 2023.) In the Eastern Conference Final, the Panthers would square off against the New York Rangers. Florida went down two games to one after a game-three loss but would bounce back to win the next three games to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

This is not an easy series to pick a winner. I love the offense of the Oilers led by McDavid and Draisaitl. However, the Panthers can provide a tough defense in which they can win a 2-1 or 3-2 game. Can Stuart Skinner outperform Sergei Bobrovsky in the goaltending department? Will the Stanley Cup stay on American soil or will it make its long-awaited return to Canada after three decades? In a bit of a surprise, I have the underdogs, the Edmonton Oilers winning in six games because I would love for the Stanley Cup to return to Canada and have the people (well all of the Oilers fans) celebrate something they love all over again. 

JS: The 2024 NBA Finals begin on ABC on Thursday, June 6 between the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics and the Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks. The Celtics dominated the East all season long finishing 14 games ahead of the second-place New York Knicks in the conference with a 64-18 season record. The Celtics trip throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs has been something of a cakewalk for the team, as well, having no real issues with any of its competition and taking advantage of some key injuries to its competition in what many have called the easiest route to the NBA Finals in league history. The Mavericks entered the postseason 50-32 as the fifth seed in the Western Conference with a slightly less easy route to the NBA Finals having to beat three teams better seeded than them along the way: Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves. Eric, do you think it's true that the Celtics have had an easy trip to the NBA Finals?

EF: I think that the Celtics have had an easy trip to this year's NBA Finals, but let's keep in mind that Miami, Cleveland, Indiana, and to a certain extent, the Knicks and the Bucks all had injuries to key players and had any of the teams not have had these injuries, Boston's road to the Finals would have been a lot tougher. It doesn't mean the games leading up to the Finals were not easy for the Celtics, but if everyone was healthy, I am not sure if Boston represents the East.

JS: The Celtics are the odds-on favorites to win the NBA Finals. They'd have to be with what we've seen this season and being the one-seed in the East against the West's five-seed. But there's a bit of a theory going around that since the Celtics haven't really had a hard-fought series and the Mavericks have had nothing but hard-fought series that Boston could be in for a rude awakening. Do you think there's something to that line of thinking?

EF: A little bit, but this is the Celtics' second time in the Finals in the last three years and I believe this year's team is better than two years ago. Dallas will not be an easy challenge for the Celtics but having that recent experience will help Boston.

JS: So, a lot of times when you see predictions and comparisons for championship series you’ll see them broken down position by position. But Boston/Dallas is unique in that each team clearly has a “Big 2” playing for them - Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for Boston and Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving for Dallas. Let’s start with each team’s best player - Tatum and Doncic. Which of these guys do you see having the best series and why?

EF: I have seen both Tatum and Doncic play great games and series and then I have seen both have not so many great games. It is about who will rise to the occasion. Both are great players, but the run Doncic is on lately has me thinking he will be and is the better of the two right now. So, I have Luka having the best series of the two.

JS: I’ve given Tatum a hard time over the last few years for being a guy who chokes in the playoffs. When the moments are at their biggest he seems to shrink. So, this series is a moment for him to prove himself. To throw that reputation out the window. It’ll be interesting to see if he can do that. But, yes, if I had to choose one player between Tatum and Doncic to take in this series it would be Doncic. He’s averaging nearly three points per game more this postseason and he leads the postseason in assists per game at 8.8/game.

JS: When it comes to each team’s No. 2 who do you see having the better series? Jaylen Brown or Kyrie Irving.

EF: I feel like Kyrie is having a great resurgence this year in Dallas. Knowing this might be his last real shot at getting a second ring, he has stepped up his play. However, I think at times, Jaylen Brown might be the best number two guy in the NBA. The thing is he might be the Celtics' MVP. If you take Brown out of Boston, does Tatum even become an MVP candidate or put up the numbers he does in some of the big games? I think a lot of Tatum's success is because of Brown. I will have to give the advantage to Brown.

JS: There’s nobody in the series with as much playoff and Finals experience as Kyrie Irving. That’s just a fact. And he’s done a lot to rehabilitate his image this postseason with Dallas. He’s averaged 22.8 points per game this postseason with 5.2 assists per game to go along with it. But again, I can’t disagree with anything you said about Jaylen Brown. I think at this point he has to be considered the best No. 2 player in the league and he’s honestly more 1B than no. 2. He’s averaged 25 points per game this postseason, which is only one point per game less than Tatum. Tatum is 15th this postseason in PPG and Brown is literally right behind him in 16th. Plus, I just love the energy and tenacity that Brown brings to the Celtics.

JS: So, let’s group the other three starters in the series together. Boston center Kristaps Porzingis, who hasn’t played for Boston since game four of the first round, is expected to return for game one of the series. And at the guard positions you have tenacious defender Jrue Holiday and sharpshooter Derek White. For the Mavericks you might not have as household names in the rest of the main rotation with Daniel Gafford at center and Derrick Jones Jr. and P.J. Washington at the forward spots. Is Boston clearly favored at 3-5 in the lineup or does Dallas have something for them?

EF: If Porzingis is healthy enough to play, I would give the Celtics the advantage. He has not played since round one, but the Celtics have played well without him. I do like the Mavericks front court. They have a well-rounded front court and have done well in the playoffs. I feel as though they will play well in the Finals. Having said that, I do love the veterans of Boston, especially Holiday. He brings that defensive mentality to the team and White has come on his own this season. I will have to go with the Celtics in this matchup.

JS: I think this is where Boston widens the gap between themselves and Dallas. I also like the Dallas front court but it’s hard to argue against the experience and veteran leadership of the other three Boston starters, especially Holiday.

JS: Which team has the advantage when it comes to the bench?

EF: The benches will be an interesting matchup because it feels as though both teams may only play seven or eight deep. I have to pick the Celtics because of Al Horford and Payton Pritchard and the impact they bring to Boston.

JS: Do you think one team has a coaching advantage against the other?

EF: Jason Kidd has been on the biggest stage as a player. Now he is the coach. Joe Mazzula is coaching his first NBA Finals. And some say he is still not the right coach in Boston. If the Celtics do win the Finals, then the questions should be laid to rest. But I will take Kidd in the coaching advantage because of the experience he had in the Finals as a player.

JS: Kidd certainly has the most experience - not only as a coach but having won a title as a player with the Mavericks in 2011. But there’s just something about Mazzula. Maybe it’s just that he inherited a good roster but he just seems to have what it takes. I don’t understand those questioning him as a coach, especially with the team being so much better than those behind them this season.

JS: So, what’s your prediction for the series?

EF: It’s a tough series to pick. I can't see Boston cruising in this series. Dallas has a huge chip on their shoulders. This will be a lot better than last year's NBA Finals [which the Denver Nuggets won easily over the Miami Heat]. I fully expect this to be high drama. I will go with the Celtics in a full seven-game series.

JS: Everything I’ve said thus far might lead one to believe that I think this will be an easy, quick series for the Celtics. But I’m going to give Dallas a couple of Ws. I think it’ll be tougher than it looks on paper - and who knows if some breaks go their way and the big game Jayson Tatum we’ve seen in the past shows up Dallas may pull the upset. But the Celtics in six games is my prediction.