Tiny Baseball Lessons: What Even Is All-Star Week?

Hey babes!

Chances are, you have heard of the All-Star Week for baseball. When I first started watching games and I first heard announcers talk about All-Star Week, I had no idea what they were talking about but I was so hype for it! 

In this installment of Tiny Baseball Lessons, I’m breaking down everything that will happen during MLB All-Star Week this year, including:

• How All-Star voting works
• The HBCU Swingman Classic
• The MLB Draft
• The Futures Game
• The Home Run Derby
• The All-Star Red Carpet Show
• The All-Star Game itself
• And the brand-new MLBX 3-on-3 event that honestly has me very intrigued

We’ll also talk about why the All-Star Break serves as baseball’s unofficial halfway point, why players simultaneously want to be selected and want a vacation, and why the weeks immediately following the break are some of the most important of the season.

Whether you’re brand new to baseball or just need a refresher before All-Star Week arrives in Philadelphia this July, this episode is your quick-and-cozy guide to one of baseball’s biggest annual traditions.

Don’t forget to vote for your favorite players for the All Star Game!!

Thanks for joining me in the softest corner of sports media!

Follow me on Instagram!

Subscribe to my Substack!

Get my Baseball Score Log on Amazon!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey babe, welcome to Baseball for Girls, where baseball meets soft girl energy. I'm Shaunessy, and here we do baseball with heart, humanity, and a little humor. So, whether you're brand new to the game or deep in your baseball era, you're in the right place. So grab something cozy, settle in, and let's get into today's episode. Let's play ball. Hey babes! Welcome back to another episode of Baseball for Girls. And today I'll be talking about the All-Star Break, which is also the All-Star Week. It's an entire week of events that leads up to the All-Star Break. But I'll get into more of those details right now. So when I first started watching baseball, it was mid-May, and they would like talk about the all-star break occasionally, but it doesn't occur until July, like the second or third week of July. And basically, most of the players get to take a break, honestly. They get to go home, spend time with their families. But the players that get chosen to play during the all-star break have to go out and they still have to work. It's kind of like when you're really good at your job, and so instead of giving you a raise, they give you more work. Yeah, no, that's exactly that's literally exactly what happens. So for the all-star break, basically, I think it's around the end of June or like mid-June, they'll start saying, like, oh, like go vote for your favorite player so that he can play in the all-star break. And they like post this link that you click on, or like you know, a QR code, and you go to the website and you vote for your favorite players for like every position. So you vote for your favorite shortstop, your favorite pitcher, your favorite catcher, like all the positions you vote for your favorite one, then whoever wins gets to go to the all-star break. And so the all-star break is really like a time marker for the season. So, like I've mentioned, the season is 162 games, so it's pretty long. And even though July is actually a little bit further than halfway through the season, we still consider the all-star break as halfway through the season. So time in baseball is measured kind of like before the all-star break and after the all-star break. And so during the all-star break, there is the specific all-star game. So sometimes you'll hear it called all-star break or the all-star week. And so when you hear of the all-star week, they really are talking about the different events that are gonna go on during the week. And there are a couple of key events that happen every single year, and I'll just walk through the schedule for this year really quick. So the first event is always the HBCU Classic. So the historically black colleges and universities, the HBCU has student athletes from Division I programs, and it's called the HBCU Swingman Classic, and it's presented by USA Baseball. This year it's held on July 10th. So basically, it's a philanthropic and educational All-Star Week event that always kicks off All-Star Week. Also, I forgot to mention the All-Star Break is held at a different location every single year. This year it'll be held in Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park, which is where the Philadelphia Phillies play baseball. That's their home stadium. The reason it's in Philly this year is to mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in the United States. So, yeah, so the Division I programs at these HBCUs are going to be playing at Citizens Bank Park on July 10th at 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. But you can also watch it live on MLB Network. And then on Saturday, July 11th begins the MLB draft. So that Saturday is usually the first day or like the opening rounds of the draft. They begin this year, they begin at 1 30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Grand Hall. This is actually a free event and it's open to the public, which I did not know. I'm like reading it right now. Did not know that was free. I I mean I have watched it pretty much every year since I started watching baseball. It's not that exciting. They literally are just calling people's names for hours and hours and hours. I think that there's oof, don't get me to lie, and I think it's like 30-something rounds of them just calling people's names. But I feel like it's way more than that. Like each round has 30 because each team goes in the round. Wait, never mind. Let me stop trying to explain that because I'm actually not sure. I'll have to look that up separately. I'll make a separate episode about the MLB draft. But anyway, also starting on Saturday is the All-Star Village. So from Saturday, July 11th through Tuesday, July 14th, it's kind of a fan experience where there's a bunch of different festivities like contests and video games and prizes and meet and greets, um, and just like hanging out at the ballpark. But then on Sunday is All-Star Sunday, which is July 12th. And this will include the All-Star Futures game. So basically, that is the game that happens every year where baseball's rising stars face off, and they'll be facing off at Citizens Bank Park this year for the futures game. So this will include minor league baseball talent and some entertainment, and it'll just be like a fun game to show off like the next generation of MLB, and it's just a really fun game to watch. Also happening on Sunday, July 12th, will be the All-Star 3 on 3, which is a brand new event. I've never even heard of this until I just looked up All-Star Week Schedule 2026, and I've never heard of this, so I'm not even sure if I'm gonna be explaining it correctly. But it's called MLB X, All-Star 3 on Three, a fast-paced 3-on-3 format built around power hitting, athletic catching, and co-ed teamwork, featuring MLB legends and special guests all taking the stage in a box office, fun to watch, experience like no other. Interesting. So guys and gals. I'm I'm intrigued. I have no idea what this is gonna be. But anyway, on Monday, July 13th is the home run derby. Ugh, it's gonna be on Netflix. Oh my goodness, they showed the this is a tangent, but the very first game of the season this year was on Netflix, and there's just like a lot of controversy about how Netflix handled it. I I mean it was okay. Would I have preferred that? No. If anything, let Peacock do it. Peacock's been fine, but anyway, so Netflix is hosting the home run derby. At least it's not a real game. So basically every year, the home run derby, um, well, actually, last year they kind of changed it up a little. So now it's eight hitters, three rounds, and basically each hitter is just gonna try to hit as many home runs as they possibly can within a certain time period. I feel like it's three minutes or something like that, and so it's really fun to watch. Last year, Cal Raleigh almost won, but no, Kyle Schwarber won. And I feel like he won because they were trying to break the tie or something. But anyway, it's really fun, it's a really fun game to watch. And then on Tuesday, July 14th is the All-Star Red Carpet Show. So that's a really cute little thing to watch. Usually I just watch like clips of it afterwards because it's at two o'clock in the day and I'm usually at work. But basically, all the stars that are gonna be in the all-star game that evening get all dressed up, they look all cute, and they like walk on the red carpet with their families, and like they get interviewed, and like people take pictures, they like sign autographs, it's like a whole thing, and it's so cute. I love it, and like they they like actually get dressed up. I think that they hire stylists and everything. Like, I remember one year Shoe Otani came in with a custom suit, and on the inside it was lined with photos of his puppy. Oh, what's his puppy's name? I forget now, but it's it's actually so cute. It's like these little pictures of his like little dog's head just like all over the inside of his coat jacket. So, yeah, sometimes I do funny things like that. And that is gonna be July 14th at 2 p.m. And it'll be at Independence Mall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. But you can also watch it live on MLB Network. And then what we've all been waiting for is the All-Star Game that'll happen on July 14th at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. That will be on Fox, not MLB TV, and the coverage begins at 7 p.m. So basically, the all-star game is just the American League versus the National League. So whenever you go and vote, you vote for your favorite players from any team on the American League, and then any of your favorite players in the National League, and then whoever wins from for each position then gets chosen to go play in the all-star game. And typically, honestly, the American League wins. They lost last year, but that was like the first time in like several years that they had lost. Because if we remember, I'm an Orioles fan, and the Orioles are in the American League East. So I'm in the American League. The Mariners are also in the American League, American League West. And then when we're thinking of like the National League, if you've been listening to my weekly recaps, you know that the National League Central has been absolutely dominating baseball this entire 2026 season. So we're talking the Pirates, the Reds, the Brewers, like those teams, the Cardinals. Uh there's one more, I can't think of it right now. Um, oh, my Cubs. So yeah, so those teams are like the National League Central, and just for other teams that are in the National League, we're thinking of like the Dodgers, they're the National League, and the Padres, um, the Braves are in the National League. So, you know, there's some pretty good teams in the National League. So whenever you go and you vote, you know, you think of like your favorite team, what league are they in, and then you go and you find your favorite players, but then it gives you a chance to like honestly admit who else are your favorite players from other teams, you know? And so, yeah, that's basically the all-star week in a nutshell, starting with the HBCU Swingman Classic, the MLB draft, the home run derby, the red carpet events, oh, the futures game. So there's a bunch of different things that happen within a couple of days. So it's July 10th through July 14th, so it's only like five days, just enough time to like let the players kind of reset and get ready for the next half of the season. Most of the players are just gonna be hanging out with their families. Sometimes players come back and they're like, Oh yeah, I just went and fished every single day. A lot of players fish or play golf in their free time. Um, so they'll be like, Oh yeah, I caught some great fish. Like, I'm glad. I am glad that you were able to do that. And they come back and hopefully are refreshed. And then a lot of the times they'll say, like, oh, he's doing so much better after the all-star all-star break, or like, oh, he was in the all-star game and now he's doing terrible. Like, that happens a lot, unfortunately. So be careful when you're voting for your favorite player because sometimes it can cause them to be in a slump because everybody else got to take a break, but they had to keep working, so do keep that in mind. And then right after the all-star break is time for trade season. So at the end of July, typically is the trade deadline. So, right after the all-star break is when they start really talking about trading and like seeing which teams are gonna be buyers and which ones are gonna be sellers. So, I'll make a cool little episode about that as well. But anyway, so yeah, I hope that you enjoyed this episode. I hope that it was helpful. Send this to your friend who didn't know what the all-star break was. This is a quick and dirty rundown of what the all-star break is, what all-star week is, why people talk about it so much, why it's significant. So, yeah, I hope you can tune in. If you live in Philly, go check out the draft because it's free. The all-star game will probably is not that's not free. So it's actually thousands of dollars. I did try to go one year, it's quite expensive. That's why they like have the raffle where you can like sign up to win tickets because it's expensive, it's so expensive, and that's not even to like be there, like you then you have to still pay for your hotel and food and like all this. So it's not cheap, but you could go to the draft for free, so like why not? Anyways, I hope you guys have a good rest of your day, good rest of your week, and yeah, thanks for tuning in. See you guys next time. Bye.