MLB All-Star Game 2016: Rosters, AL, NL Lineups and Pitching Breakdown

Major League Baseball's 87th Midsummer Classic will assemble the best players from the 2016 season's first four months. 

On Tuesday, July 12, this year's edition will be from Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres. The city of San Diego had also hosted the All-Star Game in 1992 from Jack Murphy Stadium and in 1978 from San Diego Stadium. 

Last Tuesday night, the league announced both the American and National League rosters, which can be seen below:

Player	Position	Team
Salvador Perez*	C	Kansas City Royals
Eric Hosmer*	1B	Kansas City Royals
Jose Altuve*	2B	Houston Astros
Manny Machado*	3B	Baltimore Orioles
Xander Bogaerts*	SS	Boston Red Sox
Mookie Betts*	OF	Boston Red Sox
Jackie Bradley Jr.*	OF	Boston Red Sox
Mike Trout*	OF	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
David Ortiz*	DH	Boston Red Sox
Stephen Vogt	C	Oakland Athletics
Matt Wieters	C	Baltimore Orioles
Miguel Cabrera	1B	Detroit Tigers
Robinson Cano	2B	Seattle Mariners
Josh Donaldson	3B	Toronto Blue Jays
Francisco Lindor	SS	Cleveland Indians
Eduardo Nunez	SS	Minnesota Twins
Carlos Beltran	OF	New York Yankees
Ian Desmond	OF	Texas Rangers
Mark Trumbo	OF	Baltimore Orioles
Michael Saunders	OF	Toronto Blue Jays
Edwin Encarnacion	DH	Toronto Blue Jays
Dellin Betances	RHP	New York Yankees
Brad Brach	RHP	Baltimore Orioles
Zach Britton	LHP	Baltimore Orioles
Alex Colome	RHP	Tampa Bay Rays
Wade Davis (injured)	RHP	Kansas City Royals
Marco Estrada (injured)	RHP	Toronto Blue Jays
Cole Hamels	LHP	Texas Rangers
Will Harris	RHP	Houston Astros
Kelvin Herrera	RHP	Kansas City Royals
Craig Kimbrel (injured)	RHP	Boston Red Sox
Andrew Miller	LHP	New York Yankees
Danny Salazar	RHP	Cleveland Indians
Chris Sale	LHP	Chicago White Sox
Steven Wright	RHP	Boston Red Sox
Corey Kluber (replaces Estrada)	RHP	Cleveland Indians
Aaron Sanchez (replaces Kimbrel)	RHP	Toronto Blue Jays

Player	Position	Team
Buster Posey*	C	San Francisco Giants
Anthony Rizzo*	1B	Chicago Cubs
Ben Zobrist*	2B	Chicago Cubs
Kris Bryant*	3B	Chicago Cubs
Addison Russell*	SS	Chicago Cubs
Carlos Gonzalez* (starts for Yoenis Cespedes)	OF	Colorado Rockies
Marcell Ozuna* (starts for Dexter Fowler)	OF	Miami Marlins
Bryce Harper*	OF	Washington Nationals
Yoenis Cespedes (injured)	OF	New York Mets
Dexter Fowler (injured)	OF	Chicago Cubs
Jonathan Lucroy	C	Milwaukee Brewers
Wilson Ramos	C	Washington Nationals
Paul Goldschmidt	1B	Arizona Diamondbacks
Wil Myers	1B	San Diego Padres
Daniel Murphy	2B	Washington Nationals
Nolan Arenado	3B	Colorado Rockies
Matt Carpenter (injured)	3B	St. Louis Cardinals
Corey Seager	SS	Los Angeles Dodgers
Aledmys Diaz (replaces Carpenter)	IF	St. Louis Cardinals
Brandon Belt	1B	San Francisco Giants
Adam Duvall	OF	Cincinnati Reds
Starling Marte (replaces Fowler)	OF	Pittsburgh Pirates
Odubel Herrera	OF	Philadelphia Phillies
Jay Bruce (replaces Cespedes)	OF	Cincinnati Reds
Jake Arrieta	RHP	Chicago Cubs
Madison Bumgarner (needs rest)	LHP	San Francisco Giants
Johnny Cueto	RHP	San Francisco Giants
Jeurys Familia	RHP	New York Mets
Kenley Jansen	RHP	Los Angeles Dodgers
Clayton Kershaw (injured)	LHP	Los Angeles Dodgers
Jon Lester	LHP	Chicago Cubs
Mark Melancon	RHP	Pittsburgh Pirates
A.J. Ramos	RHP	Miami Marlins
Fernando Rodney	RHP	Miami Marlins
Stephen Strasburg (needs rest)	RHP	Washington Nationals
Noah Syndergaard (injured)	RHP	New York Mets
Julio Teheran	RHP	Atlanta Braves
Bartolo Colon (replaces Bumgarner)	RHP	New York mets
Max Scherzer (replaces Strasburg)	RHP	Washington Nationals
Drew Pomeranz (replaces Syndergaard)	LHP	San Diego Padres

Pitching Breakdown

The pitching in this year's All-Star Game might leave something to be desired due to the absence of some big names. 

San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner and the undefeated Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals will not be able to pitch due to recording starts too close to Tuesday's festivities. 

On top of that, New York Mets fireballer Noah Syndergaard and Los Angeles Dodgers virtuoso Clayton Kershaw have sustained injuries. 

Those four arms alone have combined for a 41-10 record with an average ERA of 2.27. Luckily for the National League, they still have an embarrassment of riches on the hill, but these major absences have closed the gap between the pitching staffs of both rosters:

AL Pitcher (Team)	W-L	ERA	NL Pitcher (Team)	W-L	ERA
Cole Hamels (TEX)	9-2	3.21	Jake Arrieta (CHC)	12-4	2.68
Danny Salazar (CLE)	10-3	2.75	Johnny Cueto (SFG)	13-1	2.47
Chris Sale (CHW)	14-3	3.38	Jose Fernandez (MIA)	11-4	2.52
Steven Wright (BOS)	10-5	2.68	Jon Lester (CHC)	9-4	3.01
Dellin Betances* (NYY)	2-4	2.66	Julio Teheran (ATL)	3-8	2.96
Brad Brach* (BAL)	6-1	0.91	Jeurys Familia* (NYM)	31 saves	2.55
Zach Britton* (BAL)	27 saves	0.72	Kenley Jansen* (LAD)	27 saves	1.16
Alex Colome* (TB)	1-2	1.69	Mark Melancon* (PIT)	27 saves	1.23
Will Harris* (HOU)	1-1	1.62	A.J. Ramos* (MIA)	27 saves	2.25
Kelvin Herrera* (KC)	1-2	1.77	Fernando Rodney* (MIA)	0-2	1.04
Andrew Miller* (NYY)	5-1	1.37	Max Scherzer (WSH)	10-6	3.03
Corey Kluber (CLE)	9-8	3.61	Bartolo Colon (NYM)	7-4	3.28
Aaron Sanchez (TOR)	9-1	2.97	Drew Pomeranz (SD)	8-7	2.47

With the designated hitter in effect even though the game is being taken place at an NL ballpark, this will be a whole new challenge for some of these National League aces, as there will be an onslaught of talented bats coming to the plate. It's something that American League pitchers are more used to even if the talent isn't as elite. 

When it comes down to short, concise outings that occur during All-Star Games, a stress on relievers to shut things down toward the middle and end of games will be crucial. The NL collected a number of closers, headlined by the Mets' Jeurys Familia, who leads the majors with 31 saves. 

The AL, on the other hand, went with a series of setup men where six of them have an ERA south of 2.00. 

If these rotations suggest anything, it will at least be a closely contested game as the arms to be featured in San Diego have been dominating all season. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.