It was supposed to be the perfect ending to baseball’s grand mid-season celebration. The 2025 MLB All-Star Game had already delivered big on the entertainment, but when the ninth inning ended with a tie, fans were treated to something they had never seen before—a home run swing-off to decide the winner.
The crowd buzzed with excitement; this was the equivalent of a penalty in soccer after all. And everyone braced for a fireworks finale featuring the biggest and brightest names in the game. But really, they were the ones missing, as Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, and Cal Raleigh were not even there.
Instead of them, fans saw Jonathan Aranda. Now, no disrespect to him, but this was not the star student climax fans were promised. It wasn’t just fans asking what’s going on; even Michael Kay, a seasoned voice and baseball insider, let his disbelief spill out on air.
ICYMI on The Michael Kay Show on @880ESPNNewYork:@RealMichaelKay gives his thoughts on last night’s conclusion to MLB’s All-Star Game with the new Home Run Swing-Off. pic.twitter.com/sTEpNCdRL6
— ESPN New York (@ESPNNewYork) July 16, 2025
Broadcaster Michael Kay didn’t hold back, “So you know there can be a homerun swing off. And Aaron Judge is not there, Ohtani is not there, Cal Raleigh is there, but not in uniform. What’s going on? How is that possible? How is that allowed? ” Well, it turns out that both Judge and Ohtani had left the ballpark! It’s like an MLB All-Star tradition for veterans who exit early and head off for the remainder of their break.
Cal Raleigh, meanwhile, was at the park sitting in the dugout but had no uniform. He had been out of the game since the sixth inning and had cooled down for over 90 minutes, so his return seemed risky. But Kay pointed out the oddness of the entire thing: “Cal Raleigh is sitting there, and he is not taking part in the swing-off. And instead, you have Jonathan Aranda to decide if the AL wins or loses. It’s all very strange to me, and it seems to me it’s all being accepted that these players were not available.”
Even Tarik Skubal, a pitcher, had changed into his casual shirt and returned to the field as a spectator. Sure, pitchers would not be expected to bat. But the sluggers? The whole point of swinging off was to give fans a great finale, but this felt anticlimactic at most. While the National League celebrated its win with Alonso, taking center stage, the AL League collapsed, and that left a bitter taste. And well, Boone was under fire, yet again!
Aaron Boone’s MLB All-Star Game decision left fans scratching their heads
In the entire ordeal, there was one person who was in the spotlight—it was none other than Yankee manager Aaron Boone. He had gotten his managerial seat thanks to the New York Yankees’ 2024 World Series appearance. But it’s safe to say that Boone didn’t win over the fans with his picks for the finale. Infact, fans were so enraged, they would rather have a former Yankee manager take Boone’s seat. So each league had to choose three hitters in advance, and Boone went with Brent Rooker, Randy Arozarena, and Jonathan Aranda?
Now, Rooker does make sense, and Arozarena was defensible. But Aranda? The Tampa Bay Rays infielder with just 11 home runs on the season! That one had people raising their brows even before he went 0 for 3 and handed the win to the NL. Later on, though, Boone, after the backlash, decided to justify the decision. “We had to pick our guys yesterday. Wanted to make sure I picked guys I knew would be in the game there and still hot. That was my choice.” Fair enough. But here is the kicker—Bobby Witt Jr. was ready and wanted to participate.
The same Witt Jr. who finished runner-up in the Home Run Derby just the day before. The same person with 14 home runs and a .504 slugging percentage this season. He also told the reporters afterward that he wished he had been asked. Ouch. Now, if you want to give Boone the benefit of the doubt, you could argue that Aranda’s advanced stats, like the hard hit rate, edged out Witt. But even then, it’s a coin flip at best.
Witt had the bigger name and also, more importantly, more power production this year. So at the end, sure, the decision won’t cost anyone anything much because there is no impact on the MLB playoffs. But in a time when Boone’s everything from defending Volpe to more is under the microscope, this is just another weird spot in his resume.
What do you think of Boone’s defense? Let us know in the comments.
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