Brewers pitchers play integral role in NL's history-making 2025 MLB All-Star Game win

One of the great things about baseball is that every time you watch a game, you're likely to see something you've never seen before. That was certainly the case for those who tuned in to the 2025 MLB All-Star Game, as the contest ended in a fashion that it never has before.

Back in 2002, Milwaukee hosted its third All-Star Game. It was just the second in Milwaukee Brewers' franchise history, and the first in their new stadium of Miller Park (now American Family Field). Presiding over the game was MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, who brought baseball back to Milwaukee in 1970 and was the principal owner of the Brewers up until he was elected commissioner in 1998, at which point he transferred the ownership rights to his daughter Wendy Selig-Prieb. With the 2002 ASG tied 7-7 in the 11th inning and both teams out of pitchers, Selig had a meeting with the umpires and infamously shrugged before it was announced that the game would officially end as a tie.

For a while, after the 2002 debacle, All-Star Game managers were told to reserve a few pitchers in case the game went to extra innings, but this wasn't a preferable solution either, as it meant that some pitchers who were expecting to throw in the game were left out.

In 2022, a new solution was adopted. Rather than enter into a traditional extra innings format if the All-Star Game was tied after nine innings, the two teams would participate in a swing-off. The Home-Run Derby-esque tiebreaker features three players from each team who are awarded three swings to try and hit home runs, and the team with the most homers at the end of the three rounds is crowned the winner of the All-Star Game.

After three years of fans essentially rooting for a tie, this electric tiebreaker was finally used for the first time in last night's All-Star Game.

National League wins All-Star Game in first-ever swing-off, Megill and Misiorowski collect four clean outs in relief

The National League was ahead for essentially the entire game. A two-RBI double from Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte off 2024 AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal in the bottom of the first gave the NL an early two-run lead.

That score of 2-0 remained until the bottom of the sixth inning, when Pete Alonso hit a three-run homer and Corbin Carroll added a solo shot to extend the NL's lead to 6-0. However, the American League punched back in the top of the seventh. Athletics slugger Brent Rooker slugged a three-run shot of his own, and Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals drove in a run on a groundout, cutting the NL's lead to just two runs.

Randy Rodríguez, a relief pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, who surrendered the long ball to Rooker and the RBI groundout to Witt, needed help escaping the seventh inning, with a runner still on first base and two outs in the frame. Emerging from the bullpen to relieve Rodríguez from his disappointing first ASG appearance was Brewers' closer Trevor Megill.

Megill faced just one batter, a tough out in Cleveland Guardians' outfielder Steven Kwan, but he induced a groundout and preserved what was left of the NL's dwindling lead.

When it came time for the NL All-Stars to take the field once again in the penultimate frame, the Brewers' rookie sensation, Jacob Misiorowski, was among them, toeing the rubber in what is hopefully his first of many All-Star Games. Miz was his normal electric self, starting the first batter he faced, 2x All-Star Randy Arozarena, off with a 102 mph fastball. Arozarena did eventually send one to the warning track, but it stayed in the ballpark. However, prior to the fly out, The Miz spun a 98 mph slider that had both dugouts laughing in disbelief.

Misiorowski didn't pick up a strikeout in last night's All-Star Game, and did allow one hit to Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda, but he ultimately tossed a clean eighth inning, which proved to be important after Robert Suarez of the San Diego Padres and Edwin Díaz of the New York Mets combined to allow two runs in the final frame, sending the game into the first-ever swing-off.

Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies was the hero in the mini derby, connecting for home runs on all three of his swings and winning the ASG MVP Award for his efforts. Between Schwarber's three and one from Kyle Stowers of the Miami Marlins, who led off the swing-off for the National League, the NL topped the AL's total of three home runs without even having to use their final participant, which would have been Alonso.

It was quite the night for MLB: the swing-off was a huge hit, plenty of exciting talent was on full display, and a stunning tribute to Hank Aaron was executed to perfection in between the sixth and seventh innings (see video below). And for Misiorowski, who was subjected to all kinds of controversy after an All-Star selection that he had no control over, his clean eighth inning and the head-turning stuff that he displayed should once again quiet the noise that has blared throughout his record-breaking start to his MLB career.