There's obviously a lot that goes into the MLB All-Star Game when it comes to which players are selected, how the fan voting works, and what it all means to determine the starters. Of course, as we eye the upcoming 2025 MLB All-Star Game in Atlanta, the best way to figure out the best candidates to start the All-Star Game is to simply look at the numbers and see who the most valuable players in baseball have been.
Selections for the MLB All-Star Game, starters in particular, rarely are based on pure performance. The majority of fans aren't going to sort by WAR and then voting in that capacity. Instead, things like popularity, narratives of the season and other subjective measures are all factors in determining how the All-Star Game looks.
If we remove that subjectivity, though, where would we end up? Would teams like the Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers dominate as much as they likely would? We've gotten to the bottom of that with a look at who the MLB All-Star Game starters would be if they were put into that spot based solely on their accumulated WAR (Wins Above Replacement) to this point in the season.
Note: All WAR decisions are made according to FanGraphs and fWAR entering play on June 5.
American League MLB All-Star Game starters based on WAR
SP: Tarik Skubal (Detroit Tigers) - 3.0 fWAR
To the surprise of precisely no one, Tarik Skubal remains top of the class among starting pitchers. While Garrett Crochet has been an ace for Boston and Kris Bubic has been a Kansas City revelation, the Tigers' reigning Cy Young winner has been perhaps even more dominant. His ERA sits at a pristine 2.26 with a microscopic 0.793 WHIP and the highest strikout rate (11.8 per 9) of his career. It'd take an act of an higher power to keep Skubal out of this spot.
C: Cal Raleigh (Seattle Mariners) - 3.8 fWAR
If that Aaron Judge guy wasn't in the Bronx, Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh would probably be the leading American League MVP candidate. With an MLB-high 23 home runs, he's on pace to break the record for most home runs in a season by a catcher while also posting a ridiculous 1.003 OPS and still being a plus defensive catcher. Perhaps the best indication of how ridiculous he's become at the plate is that Seattle can't even give him full off days, using him often as a DH to lift the defensive load but still get his switch-hitting bat in the lineup.
RF: Aaron Judge (New York Yankees) - 5.1 fWAR
I know, complete and total shock that Aaron Judge made the cut. It's not like he has 3.4 more fWAR accrued already this season than the next-closest right fielder in the American League (shouts to Zach McKinstry at 1.7). He leads all of baseball in average (.389), on-base percentage (.485), slugging (.752), obviously OPS too (1.237) and has 21 homers, 15 doubles, two triples and 50 RBI for the year. No one else in the AL is even making a weak argument to compete for Judge for this spot.
CF: Julio Rodriguez (Seattle Mariners) - 2.1 fWAR
Center field is probably much weaker of a position group in the AL than fans might realize and Rodriguez getting the nod is a good indication of that. J-Rod is a phenomenally fun player but, let's be real, he's hitting .248 with only a .732 OPS on the season. It's not like he's beating down the door with his bat, though he remains one of the best defensive players at the position. Byron Buxton with the Twins is hot on his heels but, for now, the Mariners star barely edges him out.
LF: Steven Kwan (Cleveland Guardians) - 1.9 fWAR
Especially given the prominence of this year's Tigers, it might be a bit of a surprise that rival Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan gets the nod over someone like Riley Greene. Kwan, of course, is having a phenomenal season in his own right, hitting a career-best .312 with an .805 OPS and being easily a plus defender out in the grass for Cleveland. However, if we were basing this solely on offensive metrics, Greene would probably get the edge.
1B: Jonathan Aranda (Tampa Bay Rays) - 1.8 fWAR
Jonathan Aranda might be having the best season that almost no one is talking about. To be fair, few could've seen it coming after he posted a .692 OPS over his first three seasons, but the Rays first baseman has exploded for a .326 average and .923 OPS on the season. What's more impressive is that he's done so while starting just 48 games on the year thus far. That hurts his counting stats but, in an AL wherein first basemen have struggled to stand out, Aranda has done that without question.
2B: Daniel Schneemann (Cleveland Guardians) - 1.3 fWAR
You were probably expecting to see Gleyber Torres or Brandon Lowe here but second-year Guardians infielder Daniel Schneemann has the edge in terms of WAR. After a decidedly average debut last year, Schneemann has been stellar with an .800 OPS, seven home runs and only 37 strikeouts in 152 plate appearances. This is truly more about the lack of productivity at second base overall in the league as the National League has five players at the position higher than Schneemann, but that gets Cleveland an All-Star.
SS: Bobby Witt Jr. (Kansas City Royals) - 3.1 fWAR
Because the numbers might not be as eye-popping as they were a season ago, it shouldn't go overlooked that Bobby Witt Jr. is still a superstar in this league. He has a league-high 22 doubles to go with three triples, seven home runs and 20 stolen baseas to go with an .840 OPS on the year, which would be the second-highest of his career. Jeremy Pena is quietly right on Witt's heels but it's still feeling like the Royals star's spot to lose.
3B: Jose Ramirez (Cleveland Guardians) - 2.7 fWAR
Ho-hum, here comes another banger of a season for Jose Ramirez. Coming off four straight All-Star appearances already, the Guardians star has a .932 OPS this season, the first time in the past five years he's cleared the .900 mark, with 11 homers, 14 doubles and 16 stolen bases on the year. Ramirez, even with his fantastic year, was actually trending well behind Alex Bregman before the Red Sox star's injury and the former Astro, depending on when he returns, could still catch him. That'll be a fun WAR race to watch over the next month or so.
DH: Rafael Devers (Boston Red Sox) - 2.0 fWAR
Rafael Devers, despite a truly horrific first week of the season, has settled into the DH role for the Red Sox better than anyone expected. He currently has a .914 OPS and the highest OPS+ (154) of his career while leading the MLB in RBI and walks to go with 12 homers and 17 doubles already. While Orioles standout Ryan O'Hearn has also accrued 2.0 fWAR, Devers has the edge in terms of bWAR, which is what I'll use as the tiebreaker — as well as Devers simply being a more popular option.
National League MLB All-Star Game starters based on WAR
SP: Logan Webb (San Francisco Giants) - 2.6 fWAR
You're reading this correctly; Paul Skenes isn't the starter for the National League. Giants ace Logan Webb gets the slight nod over the Pirates ace and it's not just because San Francisco is a playoff team and Pittsburgh is, well, owned by Bob Nutting. Webb has been dominant, posting a 2.55 ERA across 13 starts with an NL-best 2.14 FIP and a 1.168 WHIP, not to mention a career-best 10.1 strikeouts per 9 rate so far this season. Skenes could very well overtake him, but it still shouldn't overshadow how damn good Webb has been.
C: Will Smith (Los Angeles Dodgers) - 2.3 fWAR
While Will Smith might not be putting up the ridiculous numbers that Cal Raleigh is in the AL, the Dodgers backstop continues to establish himself as the class at the position in the NL. He leads the National League with a .433 on-base percentage to go with a .920 OPS bolstered by five homers and 11 doubles on the year in 49 games. Gabriel Moreno from the rival D'Backs is making a charge too, but Smith should maintain this edge and ultimately make his third straight All-Star Game appearance and a start this year.
RF: Corbin Carroll (Arizona Diamondbacks) - 3.0 fWAR
After a shocking fall-off last season for Corbin Carroll, he's not only back to being a star but is even better than he was in the hot start to his career. He has a career-high .908 OPS with 18 homers, 11 doubles and a league-high six triples, not to mention 10 stolen bases. To put the home run power into perspective, his previous season high was 25 in 2023, which he's already only seven shy of. Cubs star Kyle Tucker and Padres sensation Fernando Tatis Jr. make this one of the tightest races in terms of WAR at any position, but the Diamondbacks' young star gets the nod for now.
CF: Pete Crow-Armstrong (Chicago Cubs) - 3.6 fWAR
For several players on this list, the defensive metrics push them into the All-Star Game start based on total fWAR. In the case of Pete Crow-Armstrong, however, it's what takes him from leading center fielders in baseball by 1.2 down to about 0.2 — but no matter how you slice it, he's the best at the position. He's a stud defensively who also has an .866 OPS with 15 homers, 15 doubles, three triples and 21 stolen bases. While Tucker might've gotten hosed in right field, PCA earns the Cubs some representation among these starters.
LF: James Wood (Washington Nationals) - 2.6 fWAR
Baseball fans probably knew that James Wood was breaking out, but it's probably wild to consider that he leads every left fielder in the league in WAR by a good margin (0.7 to be exact). Put simply, he's tearing the cover off the ball in his first full season with a .940 OPS, 16 home runs, 16 doubles and even nine stolen bases. Perhaps the scariest part for the rest of the NL is that the 21-year-old still has a ton of room to grow and is already performing at a superstar level.
1B: Freddie Freeman (Los Angeles Dodgers) - 2.7 fWAR
Even with what Pete Alonso has been able to do in Queens this year, Freddie Freeman is still substantially ahead of him with the Dodgers first baseman earning 0.7 more WAR already on the year. There's been no slowing down for the 35-year-old Freeman with an NL-leading 1.044 OPS and .363 average on the year with nine homers, 19 doubles and even a triple mixed in. He's been the class of the league at the position for nearly a decade now and he's not ready to let go either.
2B: Brendan Donovan (St. Louis Cardinals) - 2.2 fWAR
If you never left the Brendan Donovan hive who kept believing that the Cardinals second baseman could be a star, you're looking quite smart right now. He has an .845 OPS so far this season, the best mark of his career by a sizable margin, while being tied for the NL lead in doubles with 19 and also racking up four home runs as well. Despite great starts from the likes of Ketel Marte and Brice Turang, Donovan stands above them.
SS: Francisco Lindor (New York Mets) - 2.7 fWAR
Francisco Lindor continues to be a superstar for a Mets team that, shockingly, has needed every bit of that despite the hopes that Juan Soto would alleviate some of that pressure. Lindor has an .843 OPS and has accrued his WAR across the board with high-end defense, 14 homers, 10 doubles and 11 stolen bases on the year. He continues to hit for power at a middle infield position where that becomes so much more valuable.
3B: Matt Chapman (San Francisco Giants) - 2.2 fWAR
Having someone like Matt Chapman in this spot over a player like Manny Machado really speaks to the WAR valuation of defense. The Giants' man at the hot corner is elite with the leather and has been good enough offensively, posting a .791 OPS with 24 extra-base hits, to then add to that. It's entirely likely that the actual starters don't weigh defense quite as heavily, which could screw Chapman and the Giants over, but if we're going off the total value, he has the edge over his division rival.
DH: Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Dodgers) - 3.2 fWAR
Though the role may be a bit unclear at this point, Shohei Ohtani should return to the mound at some point this season with the Dodgers. Of course, he doesn't need that to be a shoo-in for the NL's DH spot in the All-Star Game. All he's done is continue to hit the cover off the ball, posting a 1.038 OPS with an MLB-high 23 homers (tied with Raleigh) along with nine doubles, four triples and 11 steals. He's the best player in baseball, hands down, and he's not showing any signs of slowing down in that form.