The Orioles’ representative, Ryan O’Hearn, is starting at DH and batting sixth.
It’s All-Star Game time. And it’s understandable if you’re feeling a little less jazzed about the Midsummer Classic than you did, say, last year.
In 2024, the Orioles entered the break as a first-place team, holding the third-best record in the majors, and sent an impressive contingent of five players to the AL All-Star team. Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, and Corbin Burnes were All-Star starters. Jordan Westburg and Anthony Santander were reserves. It seemed as if it’d be part of a yearly tradition of a winning Orioles club having several All-Star representatives.
Just one year later, look where we are now. The Orioles are a last-place team that has just one player on the All-Star squad. The core of young Orioles who were expected to be perennial All-Stars — including Henderson, Rutschman, and Westburg — are nowhere to be found, due to injuries, ineffectiveness, or both. That’s not to say they won’t be back on the All-Star team someday. But in this cursed 2025 season, it’s not happening.
OK, that’s enough negativity. Let’s focus on the good news. The Orioles’ representative, Ryan O’Hearn, is a plenty worthy All-Star. In his third season with the Birds, the 31-year-old is having his best performance yet, leading all qualified Orioles in average (.286), OBP (.382), and SLG (.458). With Rafael Devers traded to the National League, O’Hearn is unquestionably the best designated hitter in the AL this year, and fans rightly voted him in as the starting DH. He’s the oldest first-time All-Star on the AL roster.
It’s a remarkable turnaround for a player whose baseball career was once on life support when the Royals DFA’d him after four straight substandard seasons. The Orioles took a chance on O’Hearn on a minor league deal, gave him a big league opportunity early in 2023, and he basically hasn’t stopped hitting since.
While O’Hearn may be the only O’s representative, baseball fans can find plenty more excitement in this game. Tarik Skubal pitching to Shohei Ohtani? Paul Skenes facing Aaron Judge? We’ll see both those matchups in the first inning.
There’s quite a few new faces in the All-Star starting lineups. Judge and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. are the only holdovers from last year’s AL lineup, and Ohtani, Skenes, and Ketel Marte the lone repeats from the 2024 NL starters.
American League lineup
2B Gleyber Torres (DET)
LF Riley Greene (DET)
RF Aaron Judge (NYY)
C Cal Raleigh (SEA)
1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (TOR)
DH Ryan O’Hearn (BAL)
3B Junior Caminero (TB)
CF Javier Báez (DET)
SS Jacob Wilson (ATH)
LHP Tarik Skubal (DET)
National League lineup
DH Shohei Ohtani (LAD)
LF Ronald Acuña Jr. (ATL)
2B Ketel Marte (ARI)
1B Freddie Freeman (LAD)
3B Manny Machado (SD)
C Will Smith (LAD)
RF Kyle Tucker (CHC)
SS Francisco Lindor (NYM)
CF Pete Crow-Armstrong (CHC)
RHP Paul Skenes (PIT)