2015 MLB All-Star Roster: Key Stats for Players in AL & NL Lineups

More than any other sport, baseball is built on numbers. There are depths to statistical analysis now that would have seemed crazy to fans even a decade ago. The 2015 All-Star Game is a fantastic representation of figures, both old and new. 

It doesn't take a genius to know that, say, Mike Trout and Bryce Harper are really good. All of the basic and advanced numbers will tell you that. It's the stars whose numbers may not immediately leap off the page who make the Midsummer Classic rosters so fun to examine. 

Looking over the starting lineups for the American and National League teams in Tuesday's All-Star Game, here are the key numbers to keep an eye on that will have an impact on the outcome. 

All-Star Starters

American League	Position	National League
Salvador Perez, Kansas City Royals	C	Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants
Albert Pujols, Los Angeles Angels (Injury Replacement)	1B	Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks
Jose Altuve, Houston Astros	2B	D.J. LeMahieu, Colorado Rockies (Injury Replacement)
Alcides Escobar, Kansas City Royals	SS	Jhonny Peralta, St. Louis Cardinals
Josh Donaldson, Toronto Blue Jays	3B	Todd Frazier, Cincinnati Reds
Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels	OF	Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals
Lorenzo Cain, Kansas City Royals	OF	Matt Holliday, St. Louis Cardinals (Injured, Will Not Play)
Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles (Injury Replacement)	OF	Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates (Injury Replacement)
Nelson Cruz, Seattle Mariners	DH	-

Key Stats

Andrew Nelles/Associated Press

On the surface, baseball is a simple game. One player pitches a ball, another player tries to hit the ball and one of nine players spread out on the diamond attempts to catch the ball if it's put in play. 

Yet the vast array of information at our fingertips makes the game so much more than that. For instance, here's how the starting lineups compare in terms of power numbers:

AL HRs	Stat	NL HRs
130	Total	113
Pujols, Trout (26 each)	Team Leader(s)	Bryce Harper (26)

There are two things to be factored in when looking at the gap in home runs that actually makes the National League stronger overall. 

First, the NL total will increase once an official replacement has been named for injured St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday. He hasn't appeared in a game since June 8 due to a quadriceps injury and has been ruled out of the All-Star Game. 

Second, when you average out the totals for the starting lineups, the NL comes out ahead because there are only seven players to consider as of right now since the AL also has a DH.

Simple division has the NL starting lineup averaging 16.1 home runs among the seven starters compared to 14.4 for the nine AL counterparts.

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

For perspective on how wide the gap of 1.7 homers is between the two leagues, per Baseball-Reference.com, an average Major League Baseball game in 2015 averages 0.95 home runs between two teams. 

So what's the best way to offset a powerful lineup? Dominant pitching, of course. 

The NL has already been dealt a significant blow in that category, as the Washington Nationals have already announced Max Scherzer will not pitch in the game after starting Sunday's first-half finale against Baltimore. 

With Scherzer absent from the proceedings, here's a look at the pitching leaders in three different categories heading into the break:

American League	Stat	National League
Sonny Gray, Oakland Athletics (2.20)	ERA	Zack Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers (1.39)
Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox (157)	Strikeouts	Gerrit Cole, Pittsburgh Pirates (116)
Sale (0.95)	WHIP	Greinke (0.84)

Keep in mind, those numbers don't even factor in what relievers are able to do in one-inning stints. That adds a different dynamic to things with pitchers like Cincinnati's Aroldis Chapman and the New York Yankees' Dellin Betances sporting ERAs under 2.00 and averaging around 15 strikeouts per nine innings. 

Yet the NL's loss of Scherzer does hurt the overall depth of the rotation significantly—unless Clayton Kershaw takes his spot—because among the top 10 MLB pitchers in strikeouts (via ESPN.com), the Nationals' ace is the only one from the senior circuit to make the All-Star team. 

The AL has two of the top five strikeout pitchers on its roster—Chris Sale (No. 2) and Chris Archer (No. 4). 

Pittsburgh's Gerrit Cole becomes the NL's strikeout leader among All-Star representatives, currently tied for 11th in all of baseball with 116 punchouts. There are plenty of pitchers on the team who can miss bats, but going against an AL starting lineup that features two players with 26 home runs can get ugly in a hurry. 

AL manager Ned Yost and NL manager Bruce Bochy have plenty of toys to play with off the bench, as the position players typically only last five innings and pitchers usually go one, so a lot will depend on how they handle things. 

Given the way Bochy is able to manipulate games in his favor during the playoffs, as well as Yost's tendency to give away outs, the NL seems to have the edge going into the game. 

But baseball is a funny game that can't always be explained in just nine innings. 

Stats via Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.