Levi Rothermund
A city built on baseball history hosts its first All-Star Game since Citizens Bank Park opened in 2004 — and six hometown Phillies are ready to headline the show
Philadelphia has waited two decades for this moment. The 96th MLB All-Star Game arrives at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, marking the first time the ballpark has hosted the Midsummer Classic since it opened in 2004, and just the fifth time the city has staged the event overall. The timing lines up with the Semiquincentennial — the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence — giving this year’s showcase a distinctly patriotic backdrop.
With first pitch set for 8 p.m. ET on FOX, streaming live from a ballpark built to hold nearly 42,901 fans, the National League will look to defend its crown after last year’s thrilling extra-innings swing-off in Atlanta. But the real story of this year’s Midsummer Classic might be how much of it runs directly through the host city itself.
A Week-Long Celebration Before First Pitch
All-Star Week in Philadelphia isn’t just one night — it’s nearly a week of baseball spilling across the city, kicking off Friday, July 10. Here’s how it breaks down:
| Date | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Fri, July 10 | HBCU Swingman Classic (7 p.m., MLB.com/MLB Network) | Citizens Bank Park |
| Sat, July 11 | 2026 MLB Draft, Rounds 1+ (1 p.m., NBC/Peacock) | PA Convention Center |
| Sat, July 11 – Tue, July 14 | Capital One All-Star Village | PA Convention Center |
| Sun, July 12 | All-Star Futures Game & MLBx 3-on-3 (noon start) | Citizens Bank Park |
| Mon, July 13 | Home Run Derby (8 p.m., Netflix) | Citizens Bank Park |
| Tue, July 14 | 96th MLB All-Star Game (Red carpet 2 p.m., first pitch 8 p.m., FOX) | Citizens Bank Park |
The Home Run Derby’s move to Netflix marks a first for the event, and this year’s format reverts to the old swing-based clock-free rules that let sluggers work at their own pace rather than racing a timer.
The Starting Lineups for Tuesday Night
Both managers will finalize their batting order Monday, but the starting nines are set. This year’s rosters lean young — 11 players under the age of 25 feature across both squads — while Trout’s presence gives the AL its most experienced hand in the lineup.
American League (manager John Schneider, Blue Jays)
- C: Shea Langeliers (ATH)
- 1B: TBA
- 2B: Ernie Clement (TOR)
- 3B: Junior Caminero (TB)
- SS: Bobby Witt Jr. (KC)
- OF: Mike Trout (LAA)
- OF: Riley Greene (DET)
- OF: Cody Bellinger (NYY)
- DH: Yordan Alvarez (HOU)
National League (manager Dave Roberts, Dodgers)
- C: Drake Baldwin (ATL)
- 1B: Freddie Freeman (LAD)
- 2B: Ozzie Albies (ATL)
- 3B: Max Muncy (LAD)
- SS: CJ Abrams (WSH)
- OF: Brandon Marsh (PHI)
- OF: Juan Soto (NYM)
- OF: Andy Pages (LAD)
- DH: TBA
Both lineups carry a notable gap. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was voted in as the AL’s starting first baseman but won’t play, and his would-be replacement, Nick Kurtz, is also out with a thumb strain, leaving that spot TBA. Aaron Judge and Byron Buxton were elected as AL starting outfielders but are both sidelined by injury, which opened the door for Trout, Greene and Bellinger to man the outfield instead. On the NL side, the DH spot sits open as well, with Shohei Ohtani — voted in as the starter — unable to play.
Six Phillies, One Hometown Stage
No team will feel more at home this week than the Phillies, who lead all 30 clubs with six All-Star representatives — a franchise showcase happening on their own diamond.
Brandon Marsh has been the breakout story of the group. After hitting just .095 across 16 games in an injury-plagued April last season, Marsh rebuilt himself into an everyday force, batting .304/.350/.489 across his last 198 games and hitting .305 this season, sixth-best in the NL. He earned enough fan votes to start in the outfield for his first career All-Star nod.
Jhoan Duran anchors the Phillies bullpen with a 1.47 ERA and 22 saves, including 16 straight to open the year — the kind of electrifying closer entrance MLB will be eager to showcase to a national audience.
Cristopher Sánchez gets the biggest assignment of all: the start for the National League, on his own home mound. The lefty set the Major League record for the longest scoreless streak by a left-hander — 50.2 consecutive innings — back in May, and despite stumbling with a nine-run outing in Kansas City just before the break, NL manager Dave Roberts still handed him the ball, citing the weight of pitching in his home city.
Jesús Luzardo rounds out the Phillies’ rotation representation as a bit of a surprise addition, replacing Jacob Misiorowski on the roster. His 7-4 record and 3.75 ERA undersell the numbers underneath — a 2.9 fWAR that ranks third in the league and a 28.6% strikeout rate that ranks seventh.
Kyle Schwarber, the reigning All-Star Game MVP after his perfect 3-for-3 swing-off performance last year, returns for his fourth career selection and third as a Phillie, fresh off a five-year, $150 million extension. He currently leads all of MLB in home runs and is on pace for his second straight 50-homer season.
Bryce Harper joins as the commissioner’s “legend” pick, his ninth career All-Star nod and third as a Phillie. His .880 OPS ranks second among NL first basemen, alongside 20 home runs — numbers that made his case for inclusion on merit alone, legend selection or not.
Cease and Sánchez Get the Ball
The starting pitching matchup carries real weight this year. Dylan Cease gets the start for the American League after a dominant stretch — 15 consecutive scoreless innings across his last two outings, allowing just four hits and four walks while striking out 20. He edged out the Yankees’ Cam Schlittler, who actually leads AL starters in bWAR, ERA and WHIP, for the honor.
The NL decision was more complicated. Jacob Misiorowski would have been the obvious pick in the middle of a historic season — he leads all qualified MLB starters in ERA, strikeouts, WHIP and opponents’ batting average, with a 39.6% strikeout rate that only Shane Bieber’s 2020 season and Gerrit Cole’s 2019 campaign have ever topped. But Misiorowski is starting Sunday and unavailable. Roberts turned to Sánchez instead, leaning into the hometown factor over alternatives like Atlanta’s Chris Sale, Cincinnati’s Chase Burns and his own World Series star, Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
A Farewell Bow for Justin Verlander
All-Star Week doubles as a send-off for Justin Verlander, who will make his final Midsummer Classic appearance before retiring at season’s end. The résumé speaks for itself: a 10-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young winner, two-time World Series champion and 2011 AL MVP, Verlander currently leads all active pitchers in strikeouts (3,554), wins (266), complete games (26), games started (556) and innings pitched (3,571.1). Whatever tribute MLB has planned in Philadelphia, it will close the book on one of the sport’s defining pitching careers.
Harper vs. Schwarber: A Derby Rematch, Eight Years Later
The Home Run Derby brings its own hometown subplot. Back in 2018, Harper beat Schwarber in the finals to win the whole thing at Nationals Park. Now teammates in Philadelphia, they’ll face off again — the first time since that same 2018 event that two teammates have squared off in the Derby.
Harper has tabbed Dodgers third-base coach Dino Ebel, one of his Team USA World Baseball Classic coaches, to pitch to him. Ebel also threw to Schwarber during last year’s All-Star swing-off, helping him launch three homers on three pitches for MVP honors — so both Phillies sluggers know exactly what he can deliver.
Beyond the Phillies pair, five other Derby participants are confirmed: Junior Caminero (Rays), Ben Rice (Yankees), Willson Contreras (Red Sox), Jac Caglianone (Royals) and Jordan Walker (Cardinals). Caminero, who fell just short last year of becoming the youngest-ever Derby champion, enters red-hot with 12 homers in his last 16 games — and at just 23, a Derby win paired with an All-Star MVP wouldn’t shock anyone who’s watched his ascent this season.
Could Another Swing-Off Decide It?
Last year’s All-Star Game ended in a 6-6 tie after nine innings, triggering MLB’s swing-off tiebreaker for the first time — three hitters per side, three swings apiece, most total home runs wins. Schwarber’s perfect performance sealed a 7-6 NL win in Atlanta.
With another loaded pitching matchup and lineups deep enough on both sides to make every run feel scarce, the format remains very much in play again this year. There’s no predicting a tie, but the ingredients — elite starters, stacked benches, a format built for tight, low-scoring finishes — are all sitting right there.
Trout Comes Home
For Mike Trout, this is personal. His hometown of Millville, New Jersey, sits less than 50 miles from Citizens Bank Park, and the Angels superstar had circled this possibility since before the season began. Having battled back from a hamstring strain to make it to Philadelphia in time, Trout will start in the outfield for an AL side that could use his power with Aaron Judge sidelined. It’s his 12th All-Star Game — the most of any player in this year’s field.
Rookies, International Stars and a Record Debut Class
This year’s rosters lean heavily on new blood. A record 29 players will make their All-Star debuts, headlined locally by Luzardo and Marsh, alongside Cease, Ben Rice, Cam Schlittler and Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker.
The American League rookie class is especially deep: Munetaka Murakami returned from a hamstring injury just in time after launching 20 homers in his first 57 big-league games, Kevin McGonigle is already one of the game’s most valuable shortstops at 21, and Cleveland has two Rookie of the Year contenders on the roster in Travis Bazzana and Parker Messick.
International representation continues to define the event as well. 22 internationally born players — nearly 34% of both rosters — will take part, drawing from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Canada, Japan, Australia and Curaçao. Bazzana, a native of Hornsby, Australia, becomes just the fourth Australian-born All-Star ever, joining Grant Balfour, Liam Hendriks and Dave Nilsson.
The Stars Who Won’t Be There
Several marquee names will be missing from the festivities. Shohei Ohtani (left knee irritation), Aaron Judge (stress fracture, right rib) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (elected not to play) headline the absences, while Jacob Misiorowski and Paul Skenes are both unavailable due to Sunday starts. Byron Buxton (right hip impingement) and Nick Kurtz (right thumb sprain) round out the injury list.
The gaps open real opportunity for replacements like Willson Contreras and Murakami to make an impression on a national stage — and for the Phillies’ own reserves, including Schwarber, Harper and Duran, to be more central to how the game actually plays out than a simple bench role might suggest.
What Philadelphia Gets Out of Draft Weekend
The 2026 MLB Draft runs alongside the festivities at the PA Convention Center, though the Phillies won’t pick until 36th overall after a 10-pick penalty for exceeding the second Competitive Balance Tax threshold. Baseball America ranks Philadelphia’s farm system 29th overall, with Gage Wood (69th) and the injured Aidan Miller (80th) as their only Top 100 prospects — a thin cupboard that makes this draft class, and the trade deadline that follows, especially important for restocking the pipeline.
Wood, the Phillies’ first-round pick in 2025 out of Arkansas, will also represent the organization at Sunday’s Futures Game, alongside fellow prospect Wen-Hui Pan, a right-handed reliever signed out of Taiwan who’s rebuilt his career after 2025 Tommy John surgery. Phillies legends Shane Victorino and Larry Bowa will manage in that game, while Don Mattingly joins Dave Roberts’ NL coaching staff as an honorary coach — his third such appearance at the Midsummer Classic.
How to Watch
The 2026 MLB All-Star Game airs Tuesday, July 14, at 8 p.m. ET on FOX, live from Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, with streaming available on FOX One.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the 2026 MLB All-Star Game?
Tuesday, July 14, 2026, with first pitch at 8 p.m. ET, broadcast on FOX from Citizens Bank Park.
Who is starting at pitcher?
Dylan Cease starts for the American League; Cristopher Sánchez starts for the National League on his home mound.
Who is in the Home Run Derby?
Confirmed participants include Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Junior Caminero, Ben Rice, Willson Contreras, Jac Caglianone and Jordan Walker.
Why is this year’s game significant for Philadelphia?
It’s the first All-Star Game hosted at Citizens Bank Park since it opened in 2004, and the city’s fifth time hosting overall.
A Fitting Stage for the Season’s Second Half
Between a Verlander farewell, a Derby rematch between Philadelphia teammates, and a pitching matchup between two of the league’s most dominant arms, this year’s Midsummer Classic has no shortage of storylines heading into Tuesday night. Add in a franchise sending six players onto its own field and a record rookie class ready to introduce itself to the sport, and Philadelphia has built the kind of stage that could shape how the rest of this season — and this era of baseball — gets remembered.