The All-Star Futures Game is an annual
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
exhibition game
An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...
hosted by
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer
MLB All-Star Game
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual professional baseball game sanctioned by Major League Baseball (MLB) and contested between the all-stars from the American League (AL) and National ...
. A team of
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
-affiliated prospects competes against a team of
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
-affiliated prospects. From the inaugural 1999 event through 2018, teams of prospects from the United States faced off against teams of prospects from other countries.
Origins
![2010 XM All-Star Futures Game 03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/2010_XM_All-Star_Futures_Game_03.jpg)
The Futures Game was conceived by
Jimmie Lee Solomon
Jimmie Lee Solomon (March 11, 1956October 8, 2020) was an American lawyer and baseball executive. He served as the executive vice president of baseball operations in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2005 to 2010, before going on to serve as the ...
, an Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations for
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
, looking for an event to showcase the
minor leagues
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...
and round out the All-Star week festivities. Early versions of the game created marginal interest in the baseball community, but the event has attracted more attention in later years.
Format
Rosters are selected by a joint committee consisting of people from Major League Baseball, MLB.com, and ''
Baseball America
''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...
'' magazine. All 30 MLB organizations are represented, with up to two players from any organisation and 25 players per team. One team is made up of prospects from American League organizations and the other of National League prospects. From 1999 to 2018, teams were divided into U.S. and World teams based on place of birth. Any player selected to the All-Star Futures Game but promoted to the majors prior to the game is replaced.
Players born in
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
were part of the World team despite being U.S. citizens by birth, because that territory has its own national baseball federation and
national team
A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport.
The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...
.
The game is played by the same rules listed in the ''Official Baseball Rules'' published by Major League Baseball. Exceptions are game duration and the handling of tie games. From 2008 through 2018, games lasted 9 innings. From 1999 to 2007 and since 2019, games last seven innings. Through 2018, up to two extra innings were available to settle a tie after playing all regulation innings. In 2019 and since 2021, one extra inning may be played, with each half-inning starting with a runner at second base, the last player put out. The home team wins if they take the lead in the 7th or 8th inning; the visitors win if they hang on in either inning; the game is over if it is tied after eight.
Changes in 2008
Two major changes took place in the 2008 game:
* For the first time, the United States team was drawn from the pool of players selected by
USA Baseball
USA Baseball is the national governing body for organized baseball in the United States, and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee and the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The organization selects and trains the World Basebal ...
for the
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
in
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
.
* The game lasted nine innings in regulation, rather than seven.
Changes in 2019
Two major changes took place in the 2019 game:
* The teams are now called the National League and American League. Players for each are drawn from affiliates of MLB teams in the corresponding MLB leagues.
* The regulation game is now seven innings. If the game is tied after seven, one additional inning is played, with each batting team starting its half with a runner on second base. The 2019 game was tied 2–all after seven innings of regulation, no runs were scored in the eighth inning, and that was how the game ended.
Larry Doby Award
:''Note: For the award winners, see the "MVP" column in the "Results" section (below).''
Each year, an award is presented to the game's
most valuable player
In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...
. Multiple award winners have gone on to become
MLB All-Star
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual professional baseball game sanctioned by Major League Baseball (MLB) and contested between the all-stars from the American League (AL) and National ...
s, denoted in the below table of game results. In 2003, the award name was changed from Futures Game Most Valuable Player Award to the Larry Doby Award, named after
National Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
inductee
Larry Doby
Lawrence Eugene Doby (December 13, 1923 – June 18, 2003) was an American professional baseball player in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball (MLB) who was the second black player to break baseball's color barrier and the first black pl ...
(1923–2003).
Note that the similarly named
Larry Doby Legacy Award
The Legacy Awards are presented annually by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. The "Hall of Game Award"—established in 2014 and honoring players who personify "the spirit of the way the game was p ...
is an unrelated award presented by the
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) is a privately funded museum dedicated to preserving the history of Negro league baseball in America. It was founded in 1990 in Kansas City, Missouri, in the historic 18th & Vine District, the hub of Afri ...
.
Results
Notes
Media coverage
From 1999 to 2013,
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially fo ...
held the rights to the futures game. From 2014 to 2021,
MLB Network
The MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Com ...
held the rights. Beginning with the 2022 season, the game will air on
Peacock
Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...
.
See also
*
All-Star Futures Game all-time roster
The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of its midsummer All-Star Game festivities. From 1999 to 2018, a team of prospects from the United States (excluding Puerto Rico) competed ...
References
External links
Official website
{{MLBAllStarGame
Futures Game
Futures Game
Recurring sporting events established in 1999
Minor league baseball
Annual events in Major League Baseball