The Cubs are definitely in the running for the 2022 All-Star Game

The 2020 All-Star Game will take place at Dodger Stadium. It will be the first time the Dodgers will host the Midsummer Classic in 40 years — the last one there was in 1980. Just to give you an idea of how ancient that seems, here’s the entire 1980 game:

Dodger Stadium doesn’t look all that much different now, but the TV broadcast sure seems like it’s from another time.

2021 has already been assigned to Truist Park in Atlanta. (Yes. You’re right. The new corporate name for the Braves park is weird.)

And now, thanks to this Denver Post article, we learn that the Cubs are indeed a candidate to host the game in 2022:

Officials from Major League Baseball have visited Denver multiple times, including on Monday. MLB is scheduled to announce its decision this summer. The other contenders to host the Midsummer Classic are the Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs, but Boston, Houston and Toronto are also being considered.

The Rangers are opening a new ballpark this year, Globe Life Field. Generally MLB likes to wait a while before awarding an All-Star Game to a new stadium, to make sure they’ve worked out any bugs associated with its opening. Besides, the Rangers have hosted an ASG more recently than the Cubs, in 1995.

The Cubs last hosted the ASG in 1990, a dull affair in which the N.L. had only two hits and the A.L. won 2-0 in a game that also featured a long rain delay. Also, that year’s Home Run Derby was a bust because of strong winds blowing in at Wrigley Field. Only five home runs were hit — total! — and Ryne Sandberg won with three.

So I think it’s time that MLB comes back to the newly-restored Wrigley Field for the 2022 All-Star Game. The Rockies hosted at Coors Field in 1998 and the other three cities mentioned have all hosted the ASG more recently than the Cubs (Toronto, 1991; Boston, 1999; and Houston, 2004).

The Cubs are hoping to put together a bid in conjunction with the city of Chicago, since MLB puts on events (FanFest, for one) outside of the game itself. One thing in the Cubs’ favor is certainly Wrigley Field, a place TV networks love to show off. Cubs spokesman Julian Green told me recently that the Cubs are optimistic that the league will award the Cubs an All-Star Game soon.

Let’s hope it’s in 2022. (And then let’s hope there is a 2022 season.)