All-Star Futures Game

All-Star Futures Game
All-Star Futures Game
Frequency	Annual
Location(s)	Varies (see prose)
Inaugurated	July 11, 1999, Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
Most recent	July 8, 2023, T-Mobile Park, Seattle, Washington
Previous event	July 16, 2022, Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California
Next event	July 13, 2024, Globe Life Field, Arlington, Texas
Participants	Minor League Baseball players
Organized by	Major League Baseball
Website	Official website

The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League-affiliated prospects. From the inaugural 1999 event through 2018, teams of prospects from the United States faced off against teams of prospects from other countries.

Origins

The Futures Game was conceived by Jimmie Lee Solomon, an Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations for Major League Baseball, looking for an event to showcase the minor leagues and round out the All-Star week festivities.^[1] Early versions of the game created marginal interest in the baseball community, but the event has attracted more attention in later years.

Format

Rosters are selected by a joint committee consisting of people from Major League Baseball, MLB.com, and Baseball America magazine.^[2] All 30 MLB organizations are represented, with up to two players from any organisation and 25 players per team. One team is made up of prospects from American League organizations and the other of National League prospects. From 1999 to 2018, teams were divided into U.S. and World teams based on place of birth. Any player selected to the All-Star Futures Game but promoted to the majors prior to the game is replaced.

Players born in Puerto Rico were part of the World team despite being U.S. citizens by birth, because that territory has its own national baseball federation and national team.

The game is played by the same rules listed in the Official Baseball Rules published by Major League Baseball. Exceptions are game duration and the handling of tie games. From 2008 through 2018, games lasted 9 innings. From 1999 to 2007 and since 2019, games last seven innings. Through 2018, up to two extra innings were available to settle a tie after playing all regulation innings. In 2019 and since 2021, one extra inning may be played, with each half-inning starting with a runner at second base, the last player put out. The home team wins if they take the lead in the 7th or 8th inning; the visitors win if they hang on in either inning; the game is over if it is tied after eight.

Changes in 2008

Two major changes took place in the 2008 game:

For the first time, the United States team was drawn from the pool of players selected by USA Baseball for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.^[3]
The game lasted nine innings in regulation, rather than seven.

Changes in 2019

Two major changes took place in the 2019 game:^[4]

The teams are now called the National League and American League. Players for each are drawn from affiliates of MLB teams in the corresponding MLB leagues.
The regulation game is now seven innings. If the game is tied after seven, one additional inning is played, with each batting team starting its half with a runner on second base. The 2019 game was tied at two after seven innings of regulation, no runs were scored in the eighth inning, and that was how the game ended.

Larry Doby Award

Note: For the award winners, see the "MVP" column in the "Results" section (below).

Each year, an award is presented to the game's most valuable player. Multiple award winners have gone on to become MLB All-Stars, denoted in the below table of game results. In 2003, the award name was changed from Futures Game Most Valuable Player Award to the Larry Doby Award, named after National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Larry Doby (1923–2003).^[5] Note that the similarly named Larry Doby Legacy Award is an unrelated award presented by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

Results

Key
MVP	Most valuable player
†	MLB All-Star on a future occasion

Results
Year	Winner	Score	Ballpark	MVP	MVP organization	Ref.
1999	World	7–0	Fenway Park	Alfonso Soriano^†	New York Yankees	^[6]
2000	U.S.	3–2	Turner Field	Sean Burroughs	San Diego Padres	^[7]
2001	U.S.	5–1	Safeco Field	Toby Hall	Tampa Bay Devil Rays	^[8]
2002	World	5–1	Miller Park	José Reyes^†	New York Mets	^[9]
2003	U.S.	3–2	U.S. Cellular Field	Grady Sizemore^†	Cleveland Indians	^[10]
2004	U.S.	4–3	Minute Maid Park	Aaron Hill^†	Toronto Blue Jays	^[11]
2005	World	4–0	Comerica Park	Justin Huber	Kansas City Royals	^[12]
2006	U.S.	8–5	PNC Park	Billy Butler^†	Kansas City Royals	^[13]
2007	World	7–2	AT&T Park	Chin-lung Hu	Los Angeles Dodgers	^[14]
2008	World	3–0	Yankee Stadium	Che-hsuan Lin	Boston Red Sox	^[15]
2009	World	7–5^[a]	Busch Stadium	Rene Tosoni	Minnesota Twins	^[16]
2010	U.S.	9–1	Angel Stadium of Anaheim	Hank Conger	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	^[17]
2011	U.S.	6–4	Chase Field	Grant Green	Oakland Athletics	^[18]
2012	U.S.	17–5	Kauffman Stadium	Nick Castellanos^†	Detroit Tigers	^[19]
2013	U.S.	4–2	Citi Field	Matt Davidson	Arizona Diamondbacks	^[20]
2014	U.S.	3–2	Target Field	Joey Gallo^†	Texas Rangers	^[21]
2015	U.S.	10–1	Great American Ball Park	Kyle Schwarber^†	Chicago Cubs	^[22]
2016	World	11–3	Petco Park	Yoan Moncada	Boston Red Sox	^[23]
2017	U.S.	7–6	Marlins Park	Brent Honeywell^[b]	Tampa Bay Rays	^[24]
2018	U.S.	10–6	Nationals Park	Taylor Trammell	Cincinnati Reds	^[25]
2019	Tie	2–2^[c]	Progressive Field	Sam Huff	Texas Rangers	^[26]
2020	—	—^[d]	Dodger Stadium	—	—	^[27]
2021	National	8–3	Coors Field	Brennen Davis	Chicago Cubs	^[28]^[29]
2022	American	6–4	Dodger Stadium	Shea Langeliers	Oakland Athletics	^[30]
2023	National	5–0	T-Mobile Park	Nasim Nuñez	Miami Marlins	^[31]
2024			Globe Life Field

Summary, 1999–2018
U.S.	World
13 wins	7 wins

Summary, 2019–present
American League	tie	National League
1 win	1 game	2 wins

Notes

^ Game shortened to seven innings after a four-hour rain delay in the first inning.
^ First and only pitcher to win the Larry Doby Award.
^ Game lasted the maximum of eight innings.
^ Game cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Media coverage

From 1999 to 2013, ESPN2 held the rights to the Futures Game. From 2014 to 2021, MLB Network held the rights. Beginning with the 2022 season, the game streams on Peacock.

References

External links

Official website

[16] Game shortened to seven innings after a four-hour rain delay in the first inning.

[25] First and only pitcher to win the Larry Doby Award.

[28] Game lasted the maximum of eight innings.

[30] Game cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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