2023 MLB All-Star Week: Ben Verlander’s top moments

Ben Verlander

FOX Sports MLB Analyst

MLB All-Star Week is sadly over, but I’ll never forget these incredible past few days. Everything throughout this week — from visiting the Space Needle to a gum wall with Joel McHale to throwing fish at each other to an unforgettable Home Run Derby to Tuesday night at the All-Star Game — has made this trip awesome.

To cap it all off, the National League won the All-Star Game for the first time in 10 tries!

So without further ado, here are some of my top moments from the All-Star Game and beyond.

Elías Díaz makes me look smart

My co-host Alex Curry can attest to this — as we were watching Díaz’s pivotal at-bat in the eighth inning, I said to her, “[Díaz] is so locked in right now. He’s going to hit a home run.” On the next pitch, he did exactly that..

It was even cooler when MLB on FOX studio host Kevin Burkhardt asked Díaz during the MVP ceremony what it meant for him to have his mom in the stands, and the Rockies catcher teared up.

Rockies’ Elias Díaz wins the 2023 MLB All-Star Game MVP

Randy Aroza-robbery!

After a great Home Run Derby performance in which he advanced to the finals, Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena kicked off the All-Star Game with the second of two incredible outfield catches to take away extra bases along with his friend, Rangers outfielder Adolis García.

When we talk about the All-Star game, we usually don’t think we’ll be talking about incredible defensive plays in the first inning, but it was so cool. You had García and Arozarena out there robbing extra bases with jumping catches at the wall, and Arozarena doing his signature arm-crossing move after his robbery.

Adolis García, Randy Arozarena make stellar catches to begin All-Star Game

We actually ran into Arozarena on Monday at one of the parties around Seattle, and Alex had one of the coolest interactions with him. Arozarena approached us, Alex looked at him, and they executed the arm-crossing celebration at the exact same time.

Seattle serenades Shohei

Shohei Ohtani, of course, plays for the Mariners‘ division-rival Angels, but none of that mattered Tuesday. He got the loudest ovation out of anyone when he was announced aside from the Seattle players (Julio Rodríguez, George Kirby and Luis Castillo).

Then he came up for his first at-bat and the entire stadium started chanting, “Come to Seattle.”

When Ohtani was asked about it after the game, he said it was a really cool experience and mentioned how much he likes Seattle.

Ohtani to the Mariners? There will see tons of speculation about his free agency over the next few months and it’s going to be madness.

It’s J-Rod’s world and we’re just living in it

Not only did Rodríguez get a massive ovation both times he stepped up to the plate Tuesday, he also made some history with an incredible 41-home run performance in the first round of Monday’s Home Run Derby. This place was shaking; it was probably the loudest I’ve ever heard it.

We ended up talking to a lot of Rodríguez’s fellow All-Stars about what it was like for them to witness that moment.

J-Rod is the perfect face for the game of baseball. He’s a great player, he’s a wonderful human and he’s charismatic in two different languages.

The only downside is that he did not hit a walk-off home run. I did call that he would come up in the ninth, and I really wanted him to hit that walk-off. He did end up taking a walk in a great at-bat that added to the drama of the final sequence. It came down to the last pitch with the tying run on second. It was a great end to a great game — and a great week — and I’m glad Rodríguez got to have that moment in the ninth.

In the presence of legends

Cal Ripken Jr. was here, as well. The last time the All-Star Game was in Seattle in 2001, he won MVP, so he fittingly presented Díaz with this year’s award.

I got to reconnect with Ripken after our great interview on “Flippin’ Bats” a couple of weeks ago, and I talked to him again after he handed out the award. He is so nice. He even introduced me to his wife!

Thanks to some extra motivation from Alex, I also was fortunate enough to meet another one of my childhood heroes, Ken Griffey Jr. We ended up having a 10-minute conversation and it was a blast. Griffey joked that I didn’t showboat enough in my brother Justin‘s face when I hit that home run off him in spring training.

Joel McHale and the $1,000 fish

We basically got to spend all of Sunday with Joel McHale, star of FOX’s Animal Control. We went to the Pike Place Fish Market together in hopes of catching a fish. He gets thrown this huge fish, the biggest one they had. We were going to pay for the fish and donate it, but McHale wanted to keep it because he said his mom would love it.

Well, we go to pay for it, only to find out it cost $1,000. It was too late to switch fish because McHale had already taken a bite out of it! I’m just going to assume his mom will be eating that fish for the next three years.

Star treatment

My favorite part of all of this experience is the amount of access we get to the players. I love the playoffs and its intensity, but in this setting, you have so much more access to the players. They’re not as locked in since this is ultimately an exhibition game for them and geared for the fans. We got to talk to a ton of players and had so many great conversations. I’ll cherish these memories forever.