2023 All-Star Starters
For anyone who’s not interested in the irony of celebrating the “independence” of a country that currently has the highest number of incarcerated people in the history of the world… you’re in luck! The onset of summer is also the time when baseball’s top players come together for the All-Star Game, which this year is taking place in Seattle on July 11. The starters were announced last Thursday, with the full rosters being added just two days ago. So as always, here’s an astrological look at the players who will be representing MLB in the Midsummer Classic.
Looking at just the starting lineups, you can see that Leo is the best-represented signs, with five starters across the two leagues: three in the National and two in the American. Tops among them is NL Rookie of the Year frontrunner Corbin Carroll, who very nearly already has a 20-20 season, while playing all three outfield spots for the D-Backs. However, Leo is also the sign of the lowest-fantasy-scoring position player among all All-Stars, shortstop Orlando Arcia, who may or may not have been the recipient of ballot stuffing by Braves fans. The other three Lions consist of two legacy types (10-time All-Star Mike Trout and five-timer J.D. Martinez) and one breakout (corner infielder Yandy Diaz).
In second place after Leo, we have a five signs with two players each. But the crazy part is that only one of those five signs (Virgo) has two representatives from different leagues: Freddie Freeman (LAD, NL) and Marcus Semien (TEX, AL). And what’s even wilder is that the remaining four signs are split between the positive and negative polarities. The American League has a pair from an Earth Sign (Corey Seager and Aaron Judge, Taurus) and a Water Sign (Shohei Ohtani and Jonah Heim, Cancer). Meanwhile, the National League has a Fire Sign (Nolan Arenado and Luis Arraez, Aries) and an Air Sign (Mookie Betts and Sean Murphy, Libra).
Only three starting All-Stars were the sole representatives of their signs. However one of them also happens to be Sagittarius icon Ronald Acuna Jr., the highest-scoring position player in all of fantasy baseball. Up to this point in 2023, Acuna has been both the game’s hardest hitter (leading the MLB in OPS) and the most prolific runner (leading the league in steals and caught stealings). The others are from the AL: the charismatic Pisces Randy Arozarena and Aquarian rookie Josh Jung.
So for a final tally, of the 18 2023 starting All-Star position players, 12 were born under Positive signs. Of the six Negative players, only one plays for a National League team. Next time, I’ll look at the pitchers, and then on the day of the All-Star Game, I’ll finish up with the reserves.