MLB officially cancels 2020 All-Star Game and awards 2022 ASG to Dodgers

With the scheduled date of the 2020 All-Star Game, scheduled for Dodger Stadium, now just 11 days away and a 60-game season now planned for later this month, it was clear that the ASG wasn’t going to be played this year.

Friday, MLB officially cancelled the event and awarded the 2022 ASG to the Dodgers. The 2021 ASG will remain in Atlanta’s Truist Park.

“Once it became clear we were unable to hold this year’s All-Star festivities, we wanted to award the Dodgers with the next available All-Star Game, which is 2022,” said Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred in a statement. “I want to thank the Dodgers organization and the City of Los Angeles for being collaborative partners in the early stages of All-Star preparation and for being patient and understanding in navigating the uncertainty created by the pandemic. The 2022 All-Star celebration promises to be a memorable one with events throughout the city and at picturesque Dodger Stadium.”

Dodger President & CEO Stan Kasten said in a statement, “As excited as we were to host this year’s All-Star Game, we know that it will be worth the wait and that Dodger Stadium and Los Angeles will host a world-class event in 2022. We’d like to thank Commissioner Rob Manfred for re-awarding All-Star Week to Los Angeles so quickly, as well as Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilmember Gil Cedillo for their continued support of this premier sporting event, which will have lasting benefits for our community.”

How this could affect the Cubs down the road: It had been thought for some time that the Cubs might put in a bid to hold the 2022 All-Star Game at Wrigley Field. That won’t be possible now, so the earliest possible ASG at Wrigley will now be in 2023. Since the ASG no longer alternates between leagues, but goes to the city putting together a winning “bid,” having the 2022 ASG at Dodger Stadium will make six out of seven All-Star contests at N.L. parks (the exception, 2019 in Cleveland). Thus, if the Cubs wanted to put together a bid for 2023, their “league” status would not stand in the way. (Yet another indication we no longer have two “leagues,” rather we have one league — Major League Baseball — with two NFL-style conferences which simply happen to be called “leagues” by historical accident.)

As always, we await developments.