Toronto slugger Jose Bautista drew a record 7.45 million votes to lead the list of MLB All Stars announced on Sunday and will help usher in a new era of elite players at the Summer Classic.
Bautista, a reserve last year, is one of seven new starters for the game on July 12 at Chase Field that will give the winning league home-field advantage for the World Series.
Among those missing from the starters lists are last year’s top AL vote-getter Joe Mauer, who has missed most of the season with injury. Nine-time National League All Star Albert Pujols also misses out with injury, while Ichiro Suzuki, Vladimir Guerrero and Ryan Howard also made way for new faces.
Bautista will join American League starters Alex Avila (Detroit), Adrian Gonzalez (Boston), Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson (all NY Yankees) and Josh Hamilton (Texas). Boston’s David Ortiz is the designated-hitter.
Brian McCann (Atlanta), Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, Ryan Braun (all Milwaukee), Jose Reyes (NY Mets), Placido Polanco (Philadelphia), Lance Berkman (St Louis) and Matt Kemp (LA Dodgers) will start for the National League.
AL manager Ron Washington and NL manager Bruce Bochy must each name a starting pitcher, with Washington choosing from a group that includes Josh Beckett (Boston), Felix Hernandez (Seattle), David Price (Tampa Bay), Justin Verlander (Detroit) and Jered Weaver (LA Angels).
In the NL, Bochy will have Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee (all Philadelphia), Clayton Kershaw (LA Dodgers) and Tim Lincecum (San Francisco) to choose from.
One final player will be named to each team on Thursday.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite