2026 MLB All-Star Game: Every Team’s Best All-Star Of The 21st Century

Best players in team history? Well-trodden ground. To celebrate the 2026 MLB All-Star Game (July 14 at 8 p.m. ET on FOX), we’re doing something different. Based on extensive research, we’re selecting the best All-Star of the century for all 30 teams. These aren’t careers or even full seasons that we’re looking at, but instead, the players who were the very best for their teams, from Opening Day until the All-Star break, from 2000 through 2025. Injured in August? It does not matter here, so long as the work before was exceptional. Fell apart after a historic first half? Same difference. Here are the players whose first halves stood out the most over the past quarter-century. How does your team’s top All-Star for 2026 stack up? Click on a division below to navigate.AL East | AL Central | AL WestNL East | NL Central | NL West AL East Judge has been on an all-time tear since 2022. At no point in his career was this more evident than in 2025, when Judge won the “Slash-Stat Triple Crown,” leading the majors in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. Last season, Judge slashed 331/.457/.688 with 53 homers — his fourth campaign with at least 50 dingers — and won his third American League MVP. Before the All-Star break, Judge slashed an even wilder .355/.462/.733 with 35 of those blasts, beating out other Yankees performances of the century … mostly from himself. Part of what made the idea of the Red Sox trading Betts rather than extending him so absurd was his MVP-winning 2018 season, in which the 25-year-old led the majors in wins above replacement (10.7), batting average (.346) and slugging (.640). He also played all-world defense in right field and posted a 30/30 season five years before MLB changed the rules to make thievery easier for baserunners. In the first half of 2018, Betts slashed .359/.448/.691 with 108 hits, 51 of them for extra bases. Bautista broke out with the Blue Jays in late 2009 after five years of replacement-level play with the Pirates. The following year, he bashed an MLB-leading 54 home runs, led the majors in total bases and finished fourth in the AL MVP vote. His 2011 season featured fewer long balls, but was better overall: .302/.447/.608, MLB leader in slugging, OPS and OPS+. Before the 2011 All-Star break, Bautista slashed an other-worldly .334/.468/.702 with 31 homers before a slower second half during which his OPS was “just” .896. Roberts was an underrated second baseman both before and after his 2005 breakout, maybe in part because he never quite reached those lofty heights again. His age-27 season — which featured his first of two career All-Star appearances — was fantastic, though, and difficult to replicate. Roberts batted .345/.416/.591 with 42 extra-base hits while going 18-for-23 on steal attempts and playing fantastic defense. By season’s end, his glove alone was worth two wins above replacement, and his bat nearly six. His second half looked more like the Roberts the Orioles would get from then on — still great, but not that. It’s fitting that Longoria represents the Rays here, and also with a season that exemplifies their organizational M.O. It wasn’t too flashy, not too attention-grabbing, but certainly did the job and more as part of a greater effort. Longoria’s 2010 was his best season in a 16-year career; the Rays went 96-66 and won their second-ever AL East title. Longoria made the All-Star team, posted his highest MVP finish (sixth) and scored a Gold Glove. In the first half, he slashed .300/.381/.513 with 101 hits, 43 for extra bases. AL Central You’d think Cabrera’s Triple Crown 2012 would be the pick here for the Tigers, but his first half of 2013 was even better. In fact, his entire 2013 was better. Cabrera won his second straight American League MVP award after slashing .348/.442/.636 with a 190 OPS+ — the 15th-best OPS+ of the century, and 11th-best for players not named Barry Bonds. Cabrera’s first half did most of the heavy lifting. He slashed .365/.458/.674 with 30 of his eventual 44 home runs and 51 extra-base hits in his first 93 games. Cabrera would go on to win his third straight batting title, capping a four-year run where he batted .337. Just how incredible was Thomas? Well, he not only qualifies as the best first-half player of this century for the White Sox, but very likely for the previous century as well. In his AL MVP-winning 1994 season, Thomas slashed .383/.515/.795 with 32 home runs in 86 games before his second All-Star selection. That’s a tough act for anyone to follow, but Thomas isn’t just anyone. At the turn of the century, six years later, the 32-year-old Big Hurt put up a .333/.442/.644 first half with 26 homers, 19 doubles and 64 walks as Chicago’s DH. Not only did he still have it, but he played another eight seasons. When all is said and done, Ramírez might end up being one of the best players to never win a Most Valuable Player award. In 2018, en route to his second All-Star selection, Ramírez slashed a ridiculous .302/.401/.629 with 29 home runs while going 20-for-23 on stolen base attempts. His power would drop in the second half, but part of that was because pitchers would pitch around him. Ramírez ended up drawing 106 walks in 2018 after picking up 49 in his 63 second-half games. Twins catcher Mauer won the 2009 American League MVP, a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger award, while also being named to his third All-Star team in four seasons. It was the greatest season of his Hall of Fame career, and his first half was a load-bearing part of that. Mauer hit .373 with 29 extra-base hits — this is where we’ll remind you that he was still a catcher at that point. Catchers aren’t supposed to hit like that; Mauer, a three-time batting champion, is enshrined in Cooperstown for a reason. With few exceptions, the early 21st century was a grim time for the Royals. One of those exceptions was Sweeney, who was named an All-Star for Kansas City in five of six seasons from 2000 through 2005. He was at his best in the first half of 2002, when the righty mashed to the tune of .361/.436/.608 with 41 extra-base hits and 107 hits overall. While his second half was still great, it wasn’t otherworldly like that, and it masked just how good he was prior to his selection to the All-Star team that summer. AL West Football loves its ultra-huge and ultra-fast players, while in basketball there’s an obvious advantage to height and length. In baseball? All of the above helps, sure, but you can also be 5-foot-6 and under 170 pounds and still be a star, so long as you have the hand-eye coordination to make up for it. Altuve is one of the players who best exemplifies this separation between MLB and other major sports, and in 2016 he led the league in hits (216) and won the batting title (.338). In the first half, Altuve slashed .341/.413/.542 with 14 home runs, 40 extra-base hits and went 23-for-26 on stolen base attempts. By last season’s end, “Big Dumper” had set home run records for catchers and switch-hitters. His 60 dingers rank third all time on the American League single-season list, behind Aaron Judge (62 in 2022) and Roger Maris (61 in 1961). By the 2025 All-Star break, these were already all clear possibilities for Raleigh. He was slugging .634, with 38 home runs, 16 doubles, 10 steals, 82 RBIs and 62 walks. On top of all that, he was catching every day and doing a fine job of it, too. Coming off a 102-loss season, the Rangers signed World Series-champion Seager to a 10-year, $325 million deal before the 2022 campaign hoping they could build a worthy team around the shortstop. In 2023, that happened, and Seager led the way to Texas’ first championship. He slashed .353/.413/.613 in the first half, bashing 38 extra-base hits in just 59 games due to a hamstring strain. In the second half, Seager continued to deliver, with 21 homers and another six in the postseason, including three in the World Series against the Diamondbacks. Ohtani might have earned this spot if he were only counted as a designated hitter. In the first half of 2023, his last season with the Angels, Ohtani slashed .302/.387/.663 with 32 home runs, 15 doubles, six triples and 11 steals in 89 games. Ohtani isn’t just counted as a DH, however, and with good reason: In 17 starts and 100 ⅓ first-half innings, Ohtani posted a 3.32 ERA with 132 strikeouts while limiting opponents to a .189/.293/.342 line. He hit 18 more home runs than he allowed over the same time frame, and induced more double plays than he hit into. Giambi was already a damn good hitter entering the 2000 season, but that’s the one where he became great. Giambi would lead the majors with 137 walks and a .476 on-base percentage, but he wasn’t a passive hitter. He was patient, waiting for a pitch to crush and laying off those he could afford to ignore. He slashed .333/.476/.647 for the season, driving in a career-high 137 runs and earning AL MVP honors. He got there with a killer start: Giambi hit 22 of his eventual 43 dingers in the first half, with 39 extra-base hits and 78 walks. AL East | AL Central | AL WestNL East | NL Central | NL West NL East After the Phillies traded for the longtime Blue Jays ace in December 2009, Halladay was everything they thought he would be. In 2010, Halladay led the majors in innings with 250⅔, posted a 2.44 ERA, threw nine complete games and four shutouts — both MLB-best marks, as were his 21 wins — struck out more than seven times as many batters as he walked and won the NL Cy Young Award. Halladay was amazing in the second half of the season, but even better in the first, when he had a 2.19 ERA across 19 starts and 148 innings, setting the stage for his second Cy. Starting in 1995, Jones made the NL All-Star team in five of six seasons, and won an MVP in the other. It would be seven years until his next All-Star nod, but boy did Jones make that one count, slashing .376/.472/.614 in the first half while hitting 18 homers. Due to injury, he wound up playing just 128 games in the 2008 season, but that first half helped carry him to his first and only batting title, and his .364 average led all of MLB. In 2000, the Mets made the World Series for the first time since 1986, and Mike Piazza had more than a hand in that. Despite hitting much worse at home than on the road, Piazza went .348/.414/.693 with 24 home runs in the first half. Remember, he was a catcher, and at a time when backstops did not play every day. Those 24 homers came in just 69 starts, and helped him finish with 38 in 129 games. He also had 113 RBIs, 26 doubles, 298 total bases and a 1.012 OPS. Harper’s first MVP award came in 2015, when he produced an MLB-leading 9.7 wins above replacement while leading the NL in runs (118) and home runs (42), and topping the majors in on-base percentage (.460), slugging (.649), OPS (1.109) and OPS+. His 198 OPS+ is the 11th-best mark of the 21st century, and seventh in the non-Barry Bonds division. While Harper didn’t win the batting title, he still hit a career-high .330. That all started in the first half of ‘15, in which Harper slashed an eye-popping .339/.464/.704 with 26 homers and 48 extra-base hits in 81 games. In 2022, Marlins ace Alcántara led the majors in wins above replacement, complete games, shutouts and innings, leading to a unanimous NL Cy Young vote and even a top-10 NL MVP finish. His first half was responsible for much of that work: The 6-foot-5 right-hander was near untouchable before the break, posting a 1.76 ERA over 19 starts and 138⅓ innings while limiting opponents to a .190/.248/.282 line. It’s one of the great first-half pitching performances of the century for anyone. NL Central Lee played in the majors for 15 years and hit .281 with 331 homers, 432 doubles, 104 steals, 1,078 RBIs, 1,081 runs, 874 walks and 1,959 hits. For context, just 29 players in the history of the game have reached 300 homers, 400 doubles, 100 steals, 1,000 RBIs, 1,000 runs, 850 walks and 1,900 hits. And yet, you’d be forgiven for thinking Lee was more of a one-hit wonder, considering just how staggering his 2005 season was with the Cubs. Lee led the NL in hits with 199 and topped the majors in doubles (50), batting average (.335), slugging percentage (.662) and OPS+ (174). In the first half alone, Lee slashed .378/.452/.733 with 27 dingers and 27 doubles. Pujols was a safe guess for the Cardinals, but which season? That’s the real question. It’s tough to beat his 2009 campaign as Pujols slashed an unreal .332/.456/.723 with 102 hits, 55 extra-base hits — including 32 homers — and enough plate appearances left over for 71 walks in 90 games. Pujols had plenty of first halves with the Cardinals that ranged from great to amazing, but none epitomized what he was capable of at his best better than his transcendent showing in 2009. Christian Yelich won the NL MVP for the Brewers in 2018 after batting .326 with 36 homers and 110 RBIs. His batting average, .598 slugging percentage and 7.3 WAR all led the National League. He was then even better for Milwaukee in 2019, and it all started in the first half. En route to a .329/.429/.671 season with 44 homers, Yelich slashed .329/.433/.707 before the All-Star break, with 31 of those home runs coming in his first 80 games. If not for a September patella injury that cost him 21 games, Yelich might very well have won his second MVP, as his 2019 season was better across the board. Votto spent all 17 seasons of his big-league career playing for the Reds, and was maybe never better than in 2012 — yes, even though he won the 2010 NL MVP. While the 2012 season as a whole lags behind others since he played in just 111 games, the 28-year-old first baseman played in 82 of those in the first half while hitting .348 with 14 homers, 35 doubles, 100 hits and 65 walks. He then spent 50 days on the IL with a meniscus injury and wouldn’t return until early September. Votto was still great after that, but not at that level — luckily, all we care about here is that pre-All-Star Game showing, and it rips. Brian Giles was overshadowed in his day, perhaps because he was a few years early for a true appreciation of on-base percentage and plate discipline. But hindsight allows a look back at what he was putting down for the Pirates. The outfielder followed up a strong first season with the Pirates in 1999 by slashing .317/.423/.611 in 86 games before the 2020 All-Star break, which included 21 homers, 23 doubles, four triples, 57 walks against 40 strikeouts, five steals in five chances, 101 hits and 72 RBIs. That Pittsburgh lineup wasn’t exactly loaded with sluggers, but Giles found pitches to consistently drive anyway. NL West In 2014, Clayton Kershaw won his third of three NL Cy Young Awards. The 26-year-old posted what would end up being the lowest qualifying ERA of his career at 1.77, while throwing 198 ⅓ innings and striking out 239. And while he would strike out a career-best 301 batters the next summer, much of that incredible performance came from the second half. The 2014 season is when Kershaw was at his best before the All-Star break. The southpaw threw 96⅓ innings with a 1.79 ERA while limiting opposing hitters to a .191/.220/.294 line. He whiffed 126 batters against just 13 walks — nearly a 10:1 ratio. Don’t be fooled by this seemingly ho-hum — for this list, anyway — batting line: .301 with 18 home runs and 20 doubles. Adrián González did that in the first half of 2010 while playing his home games at Petco Park, which was about as pitcher-friendly of an environment as has ever existed. The cool, night air at sea level in San Diego depressed the offense nearly as much as the Padres of the era depressed fans. (The team moved the fences in prior to the 2013 season.) Adjusting for that factor reveals González’s true form as one of the best hitters to ever suit up for San Diego. Barry Bonds hit an MLB-record 73 home runs in 2001; it’s impossible to do that without a monster first half of the season. And Bonds was a monster before the All-Star break in ‘01, hitting 39 of those 73 homers in his first 81 games while slashing .305/.487/.826. Yes, a slugging percentage over 81 games of .826. Bonds had 18 doubles to go with the dingers, as well as going 7-for-8 on steals, racking up 79 hits despite pitchers trying to avoid him — Bonds already had 88 walks by the break — and driving in 73 runs even though opponents pitched around him even more with runners on base. Randy Johnson’s first half with the 2000 Diamondbacks looks more like a season unto itself. The Big Unit threw 144⅔ innings with 198 strikeouts in 19 starts. He posted a 1.80 ERA, while averaging under one baserunner per inning. Opponents slashed just .193/.252/.320 against him, hitting the occasional homer but usually with the bases empty. Johnson won his second of four straight NL Cy Young Awards, a stretch during which he produced a 2.48 ERA with 1,417 strikeouts. The fewest number of batters he struck out in any one of those seasons was 334, in 2002. The best offensive season of Troy Tulowitzki’s 13-year career — and his last great one — was in 2014, when he slashed .340/.432/.603 for the Rockies, all while playing Gold Glove-caliber defense. The injury-prone Tulowitzki, who played in more than 130 games just four times, played just 91 games that season, but 89 of those were in the first half. Tulowitzki hit 21 homers, had 40 extra-base hits, 107 hits and 1.5 wins above replacement with his glove. Before his hip injury, he was in line for his second-best season ever defensively, by that metric, on top of hitting better than he ever had before.