DENVER -- Now that Shohei Ohtani is back on the mound, some have wondered whether there's a chance he would pitch in this year's All-Star Game.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who will also be at the helm of the National League All-Stars, did not even entertain the idea earlier this week: "No."
While Ohtani won't be in the pitching plans in the Midsummer Classic, he was officially named the NL's starting designated hitter after leading his league with 3,967,668 votes after Phase 1 of All-Star voting, it was announced on MLB Network on Thursday.
This marks the fifth consecutive year that the three-time MVP has received an All-Star nod.
"The fans love him. He’s the best player," Roberts said earlier this week. "It’s going to be exciting for the fans to watch him in Atlanta for the All-Star Game."
Since 2022, the leading vote-getters in each league have received an automatic spot in their respective team's starting lineup. The Yankees' Aaron Judge was named to the AL All-Star team and became the first to repeat as the overall leading vote-getter since Alex Rodriguez in 2007-08. Judge received 4,012,983 votes. Somewhat surprisingly, Ohtani has never led the Majors in All-Star votes.
Ohtani will join Hall of Famer David Ortiz as the only players with five starts at DH in the history of the All-Star Game.
In all likelihood, Ohtani will not be the Dodgers' only representative in the NL's starting nine on July 15 in Atlanta. L.A. has a finalist in every position group after Phase 1 of All-Star voting, which concluded Thursday morning: Will Smith at catcher, Freddie Freeman at first base, Tommy Edman at second base, Mookie Betts at shortstop, Max Muncy at third base and Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages in the outfield.
Phase 2 voting will be open at 9 a.m. PT on Monday. The complete starting lineups will be announced on Wednesday at 4 p.m. PT on ESPN, and the pitchers and reserves will be revealed on July 6.
Ohtani has not only been the top DH in the NL, but also one of the best overall hitters in the Majors once again. He hit his NL-leading 28th home run of the season in the Dodgers' 3-1 series-finale win in Denver on Thursday, and his 1.025 OPS also ranks tops in the league. He leads the Majors with 80 runs scored, and entering Thursday, his 183 OPS+ was the best in the NL.
All throughout his big first half, Ohtani was also working to return to the mound. He made his Dodgers pitching debut last week and is slated for his third start on Saturday in Kansas City. While he'll strictly be a hitter in this year's All-Star Game, Ohtani's return to two-way status has generated even more excitement around the Dodgers superstar.
Based on the Phase 1 totals, Smith and Freeman are likely favorites to join Ohtani in the NL's starting lineup. Smith bested Cubs backstop Carson Kelly by more than two million votes, and Freeman was ahead of Mets first baseman Pete Alonso by more than one million in Phase 1. However, the voting does reset for Phase 2.
The outfield could be an interesting race. The Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong and Hernández were safely the top two NL outfielders in Phase 1, but less than 400,000 votes separated the Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. (1,888,867) in third place and the Mets' Juan Soto (1,490,489) in sixth place. Pages, who arguably has a stronger case to start the Midsummer Classic than Hernández, finished with the fifth-most votes.
Edman, Muncy and Betts could have an uphill trek against the D-backs' Ketel Marte, the Padres' Manny Machado and the Mets' Francisco Lindor, respectively.