Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who was selected for the All-Star Game, will not be attending

Last night, Major League Baseball announced the players who will be in the All-Star Game, which will take place in just over a week in Philadelphia.

Here's the starting lineup.

In fact, there's already one notable change to the American League's starting lineup… and it involves the Blue Jays.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (who's having a rough season but was selected as a starter via fan vote) has decided not to participate. This was announced following yesterday's 11-0 loss in Seattle.

I don't know if, deep down, he was embarrassed to show up there given how his regular season has gone.

But the official reason is that the Blue Jays' first baseman has been dealing with back pain for the past month and wants to use the break to rest.

In any case, we can all agree that this is a valid reason. It shows maturity on the part of the young man, who must put the Blue Jays' interests first.

He says he's still grateful that people voted for him. And he says it was a difficult decision to make.

The Blue Jays will therefore have three players attending the festivities: Louis Varland, Dylan Cease, and Ernie Clement, who will start at second base.

Nick Kurtz (A's) will replace Vladdy as the starting first baseman.

Note that we don't yet know who the starting pitchers will be in either league. That will likely be decided over the next week, depending on the workload of the candidates in both leagues… and several pitchers will likely withdraw. That's how it goes every year.

Here are the reserves and pitchers for the National League.

Quebec native Otto Lopez, unsurprisingly, was selected to be on the bench for the National League. It's a well-deserved honor.

After all, he's dominating in 2026. He deserves his spot.

• Ben Rice open to participating in the Home Run Derby.

• Eight straight losses in San Diego.

• Yoshinobu Yamamoto was dominant yesterday.

• Jordan Romano recalled to Colorado.

• Another home run for Junior Caminero.

Created by humans, assisted by AI.