No surprise: MLB pulled the plug on the 2020 All-Star Game originally scheduled for Dodger Stadium, but the venerable ballpark will host the next available ASG in 2022.
Atlanta’s Truist Park had already been awarded the 2021 All-Star Game.
California’s prohibitions on large gatherings, plus advice from healthcare professionals warning against such large events in this age of COVID-19, were cited as reasons for not rescheduling the Midsummer Classic.
“Once it became clear we were unable to hold this year’s All-Star festivities, we wanted to award the Dodgers with the next available All-Star Game, which is 2022,” said Commissioner Rob Manfred in a press statement. “I want to thank the Dodgers organization and the City of Los Angeles for being collaborative partners in the early stages of All-Star preparation and for being patient and understanding in navigating the uncertainty created by the pandemic. The 2022 All-Star celebration promises to be a memorable one with events throughout the city and at picturesque Dodger Stadium.”
“As excited as we were to host this year’s All-Star Game, we know that it will be worth the wait and that Dodger Stadium and Los Angeles will host a world-class event in 2022,” said Dodger President & CEO Stan Kasten. “We’d like to thank Commissioner Rob Manfred for re-awarding All-Star Week to Los Angeles so quickly, as well as Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilmember Gil Cedillo for their continued support of this premier sporting event, which will have lasting benefits for our community.”
One casualty in this shift: the ticket holders for this year’s game, whose ducats will not roll over for the 2022 game. Fans holding tickets for the 2020 game can ask for a refund beginning Monday or roll them toward 2021 for a credit on their accounts, plus a 10 percent bonus, while season-ticket holders in 2021 would have first priority for 2020 ASG tickets.
Despite the cancelation, MLB, the Dodgers and the Dodgers Foundation (LADF) will honor their commitment to four All-Star Legacy Projects totaling $1.7 million. The four projects will benefit the communities of South Los Angeles, Downtown Skid Row, Lincoln Heights and Chinatown.
This 2022 All-Star Game will mark the fourth time in franchise history that the Dodgers will hold the All-Star Game, including the third time in Los Angeles and the second at Dodger Stadium, which last staged the event in 1980. Previously, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was the site of the second All-Star Game of the 1959 season and in the franchise’s Brooklyn lineage, Ebbets Field hosted the 1949 All-Star Game.
There are three MLB ballparks not to host or be awarded an All-Star Game: Yankee Stadium, Globe Life Field (Texas Rangers) and Tropicana Field (Tampa Bay Rays). Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia Phillies) has already been awarded the 2026 All-Star Game, for the celebration of the 250th anniversary of American independence and follows suit from 1976, when Veterans Stadium hosted the All-Star Game in the year of the nation’s bicentennial.