2 deserving Brewers snubbed from initial 2026 All-Star Game roster

Major League Baseball released the initial rosters for the 2026 All-Star Game, which will take place on Tuesday, July 14, at 7:00 p.m. CT at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, on Saturday evening, and it's safe to say it was a rather disappointing reveal for Milwaukee Brewers fans.

The Brewers entered the night with what appeared to be three locks for the 2026 All-Star Game: starting pitchers Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison, and second baseman Brice Turang. However, when the initial rosters were revealed, just one of that trio, Misiorowski, was among the NL All-Stars. Catcher William Contreras, who looked like less of a sure thing than his teammate Turang, was also selected as one of the NL's two backup catchers, giving the Brewers two All-Stars as things stand on July 5.

Misiorowski was about as much of a lock for his second consecutive All-Star Game appearance as there is in baseball right now. The flame-throwing 24-year-old has been the best pitcher in all of MLB through the first half of the 2026 campaign, and would be a shoo-in to start the Midsummer Classic for the NL if the scheduling gods weren't working against him.

Contreras, meanwhile, despite not being quite as obvious of an All-Star as his team's ace, is certainly deserving of a spot in the showcase. The 29-year-old Contreras leads all qualified NL backstops in batting average and walks, ranks second in on-base percentage and RBI, and is top five in both home runs and doubles. Joining NL starter and Wisconsin-native Drake Baldwin of the Atlanta Braves and Hunter Goodman of the Colorado Rockies, Contreras beat out names like Liam Hicks of the Miami Marlins and Will Smith of the Los Angeles Dodgers for a spot in his third All-Star Game.

As exciting as it is to have their team's Opening Day battery in the All-Star Game, Brewers fans certainly expected to have more than two All-Stars during their record-breaking 2026 season. MLB's omission of both Turang and Harrison from the initial All-Star Game rosters is truly a surprise.

Brice Turang and Kyle Harrison both deserve a spot in the 2026 Midsummer Classic

Turang felt like a lock for the All-Star Game all season. After narrowly missing out on each of the last two Midsummer Classics, Turang continued to ride a hot streak from the second half of the 2025 campaign during the first few months of the 2026 season. In April, he posted an .892 OPS with an incredible 17 RBI, and while things have slowed slightly in the time since, Turang is still more than deserving of a spot in the All-Star Game.

The Brewers' second baseman ranks fifth among all NL position players in bWAR with 3.5, a result of his offensive profile taking a step forward while his defense remains elite. Turang once again missed out on the initial roster because of Luis Arraez, who was controversially named to the 2024 All-Star Game as a second baseman despite hardly playing the position during the first half of that season. This year, Arraez is playing almost solely second base, but there's certainly an argument to be made that Turang has been the better player in 2026.

Turang's 3.5 bWAR is far better than the 2.7 bWAR Arraez has compiled to this point in the season. The Brewers' second baseman also has five more extra-base hits this year, 18 more RBI, and more than double the amount of stolen bases as the Giants' infielder. Arraez does sport a .330 batting average that ranks second in all of baseball, but outside of racking up singles and avoiding strikeouts, Turang has out-performed him in almost every metric.

Meanwhile, the fact that Harrison wasn't named to the NL's initial All-Star Game roster is even more egregious. Yes, Harrison's start last night, which came after the rosters were released, was uncharacteristically poor, but the Brewers' southpaw has been nearly unhittable this year. Even with his start last night, Harrison still has a 2.82 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP, both of which would rank in the top nine of all qualified NL pitchers if the left-hander had pitched the few more innings needed to be a member of that group.

What's most frustrating for Harrison is that, at this point the reason he's not an All-Star appears to be a blow-up performance that he turned in while pitching in the Athletics' Triple-A ballpark in Las Vegas back in early June. The conditions of Las Vegas Ballpark, as the stadium is known, were not those of a major league ballpark, and as a result, Harrison got tagged for eight earned runs in 2.1 innings. Take that start out of the equation and Harrison's ERA drops to 1.98, which would make it practically impossible for MLB to deny him a spot in the All-Star Game.

Even with the Las Vegas start included, Harrison belongs in the All-Star Game, and once again it's a member of the Giants who seemingly stood in his way. Logan Webb, despite putting together an unbelievable month of June, has not out-performed Harrison in any metric outside of innings pitched during the 2026 season. Sure, Webb has been an All-Star in each of the last two years and a perennial Cy Young candidate for the last four, but when his 2026 resume is compared to Harrison's, there's not an argument to be made that the Giants' ace is more deserving than Milwaukee's young southpaw.

It's important to note that while Harrison and Turang were snubbed from the initial All-Star Game rosters, both could still end up in the Midsummer Classic as replacements. It already looks likely that Misiorowski will opt not to pitch in next Tuesday's showcase, and many more pitchers will opt out as well, meaning there should be plenty of opportunities for Harrison to join the roster. It's more difficult for position players, but Turang has to be one of the first names on the list should an injury or opt-out come from one of the NL's hitters.

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