MLB All-Star Game 2022: Sights, sounds from Media Day

MLB All-Star Week festivities continue ahead of the highly anticipated 2022 Home Run Derby, which will be held at Dodger Stadium later Monday.

All these events are in preparation for Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game (8 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app). The schedule kicked off this weekend when baseball’s top prospects dazzled in Saturday’s MLB All-Star Futures Game, followed by the start of the 2022 MLB Draft on Sunday.

Related: MLB Draft 2022: What to know about every first-round pick

Here are the highlights from Monday’s Media Day:

Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw will start for the National League on Tuesday night in the first All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium since 1980, baseball officials announced. Kershaw, 34, is a three-time Cy Young Award winner and is 7-2 with a 2.14 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 71 2/3 innings. He was instrumental in helping L.A. win its 2020 World Series title, the Dodgers’ first since 1988.

Kershaw will be the third Dodgers pitcher to start in the past seven All-Star Games, following Zack Greinke in 2015 at Cincinnati and Hyun Jin Ryu in 2019 at Cleveland. He will also be the 13th pitcher to start in his home ballpark, the first since former teammate Max Scherzer in 2018 at Washington.

On the other side, Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan will be on the mound for the American League. McClanahan, a first-time All-Star, is 10-3 with a major league-leading 1.71 ERA and 147 strikeouts in 110 2/3 innings and will be the second Rays pitcher to start an All-Star game after David Price in 2010 at Anaheim.

Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani will lead off for the AL as the designated hitter. Last year, he was the starting pitcher and led off as the DH in the AL’s 5-2 win at Denver. This year he’s not going to pitch, however.

Ohtani is followed in the AL batting order by Aaron Judge (New York Yankees), Rafael Devers (Boston Red Sox), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays), Giancarlo Stanton (Yankees), Byron Buxton (Minnesota Twins), Tim Anderson (Chicago White Sox), Andrés Giménez (Cleveland Guardians) and Alejandro Kirk (Blue Jays).

Atlanta Braves right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. will lead off for the NL and be followed by Mookie Betts (Dodgers), Manny Machado (San Diego Padres), Paul Goldschmidt (St. Louis Cardinals), Trea Turner (Dodgers), Willson Contreras (Chicago Cubs), William Contreras (Braves), Joc Pederson (San Francisco Giants) and Jeff McNeil (New York Mets).

The Contreras siblings are the first set of brothers to make the All-Star rosters in the same season since Aaron and Bret Boone (2003) and just the fifth pair of brothers in MLB history to start together in the All-Star Game.

The 2022 Home Run Derby, which will take place Monday night, is shaping up to be magnificent once again. As the two-time defending champion, Mets slugger Pete Alonso is seeking to be the event’s first-ever back-to-back-to-back winner.

Stay tuned for more updates.