MLB All-Star Game 2019: Rosters, AL, NL Lineups and Pitching Breakdown

Managing pitchers for the MLB All-Star Game is a fickle process. 

Between the time the rosters are named and the game begins, the pitching staffs of the American and National Leagues change for a variety of reasons. 

Injuries and starts on the Sunday before the All-Star Game are the typical causes for the drastic shifts in personnel, which makes life hard on each manager to piece together a game plan.

Typically, the starters for each team go no more than two innings before one-inning stints are handed out to the rest of the pitchers. 

More than half of the hurlers scheduled to participate Tuesday are first-time All-Stars, while six pitchers have three or more All-Star appearances on their resumes. 

Rosters

The updated All-Star Game rosters can be found at MLB.com.

The starting lineups and pitchers for Tuesday's game are expected to be named Monday afternoon in Cleveland.

Pitching Breakdown

American League 

The American League pitching staff has had more alterations made to it than that of the National League. 

Mike Minor and Charlie Morton were replaced by Shane Bieber and Liam Hendriks because of scheduled Sunday starts. Morton made his for Tampa Bay, but Minor did not for Texas. 

Jake Odorizzi and Marcus Stroman were taken off the list of eligible All-Stars due to injuries and were replaced by Jose Berrios and Masahiro Tanaka. 

To throw another wrench into the strategy of manager Alex Cora, Lucas Giolito, Bieber and Gerrit Cole pitched Saturday for their respective teams. 

Giolito, who is tied for the MLB lead in wins with 11, likely will not start because he would be on two days' rest, and he might not even pitch in Cleveland due to his recent start. 

Jeff Haynes/Associated Press

Justin Verlander would appear to be the best option to start Tuesday, but he pitched Friday, which puts him on three days of rest and headed toward a one-inning appearance, instead of a possible two-inning start. 

The freshest option in the stable could be Jose Berrios, who is 8-5 in 18 starts for the Twins, since he pitched Thursday. 

The realistic goal for Cora should be to get through the first five innings with starting pitchers, with Berrios, Verlander, Tanaka, John Means being called upon.

If the AL is ahead in the sixth inning, Cora could call on his bullpen to shut down the NL bats since he has a handful of strong relief options at his disposal.

Shane Greene, Brad Hand, Ryan Pressly, Aroldis Chapman and Hendriks have the potential to keep the NL bats quiet with their variations of movement and speed. 

If the AL has the lead in the ninth, it would be nice of Cora to let Hand finish off the contest in his home stadium.

While that looms as a possibility, Chapman could be the pitcher to come in for the save because he is second in the majors in saves with 24 and has a velocity few hitters can take advantage of. 

National League 

The National League experienced fewer changes to its pitching staff, but two of the three roster switches took veteran hurlers off the roster. 

Zack Greinke and Max Scherzer, who have 13 All-Star appearances between them, were replaced by Sonny Gray and Felipe Vazquez. The other alteration featured Brandon Woodruff replacing Milwaukee  teammate Josh Hader. 

Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Los Angeles Dodgers is the most deserving starter in the NL pitching corps, as he is 10-2 with a 1.73 ERA. 

David Zalubowski/Associated Press

Luckily for NL manager Dave Roberts, Ryu comes into Tuesday on full rest after making his last start Thursday. 

Roberts could call on his own Dodgers pitchers for the first three innings if he elects to go with Clayton Kershaw after Ryu in that scenario. 

The challenge for Roberts when managing his pitching staff is making sure his large collection of starters is ready to go in each inning. 

Woodruff, who is the third 10-game winner eligible to pitch for the NL, Sandy Alcantara, Luis Castillo, Jacob deGrom, Walker Buehler, Sonny Gray and Mike Soroka are the starting pitchers on the NL roster. 

Roberts will likely save one or two of those pitchers with the potential of extra innings in mind, with Buehler a likely candidate for that role since he last pitched Wednesday and is one of Roberts' own players. 

If the NL is ahead in the latter innings, it has a strong trio to rely on to close out the game in Kirby Yates, Will Smith and Vazquez. 

Yates leads the majors with 31 saves, while Smith and Vazquez both rank in the top 10 in that category. 

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Statistics obtained from MLB.com.