ANALYSIS/OPINION:
The unofficial title of Tuesday night’s midsummer classic at Marlins Park might have been the Major League Baseball 2017 All-Star Game – starring the Washington Nationals.
Four All-Stars in Nationals uniforms – outfielder Bryce Harper, second baseman Daniel Murphy, first baseman Ryan Zimmerman and starting pitcher Max Scherzer – were part of the National League starting lineup, with a fifth All-Star, Stephen Strasburg, on the bench.
For Harper, the leading vote-getter on the National League squad with 4.6 million votes, it marks his fifth All-Star Game. That puts him ahead of Frank Howard’s four All-Star Game selections from the expansion Washington Senators.