​Whatever it is about the All-Star Game that puts a chokehold on the National League should be studied. Once again, the American League prevailed, shutting out the NL in Philadelphia, 4-0. If you had the NL being held to three hits on your bingo card, then congrats, you win, because the bats were borderline silent, and they never even had opportunities with runners in scoring position, leaving all five base runners stranded. The AL now has a 49-45 all-time record in the Midsummer Classic, which doesn’t sound so bad until you look at the most recent years.Outside of the first inning, there wasn’t much offensive action from either side. The pitching, however, was extremely on point and easily highlighted why they were all named All-Stars. American League starting pitcher Dylan Cease looked as good as ever, striking out the side but losing a battle to Freddie Freeman and walking him for the lone blemish in his hitless outing. He used 24 pitches to get through the inning, mainly because the NL batters kept fouling pitches off, but Cease was able to buckle down and showcase his strikeout ability on the main stage, all while mic’d up.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe AL used 11 arms throughout the game, and the NL bats completely rode the struggle bus, only getting three hits the entire game while striking out a whopping 15 times. In fact, 10 of 11 AL pitchers recorded at least one strikeout, and Bryan Baker only tossed 1/3 of an inning in the ninth, so I think we can let him off the hook. Cease ended up with the win after his three-strikeout frame, and the next seven out of the bullpen earned a hold. On top of that, the AL defense was on point, and even though many fans were annoyed that Ernie Clement was voted in from the fans, he made the best play of the night in the field.Juan Soto finally gave the NL its first hit in the bottom of the fourth off Joe Ryan, who struck out Freddie Freeman and CJ Abrams to end any potential threat. The bats were silent again for several more innings, until Pete Crow-Armstrong singled up the middle in the bottom of the eighth, but once again, nothing came from it.In what was essentially garbage time in the bottom of the ninth, Baker entered to get the last out for the AL, but Otto Lopez came up to bat with two outs and ripped a base hit out to right before Baker forced a ground out to end the game. Lopez deserves a lot more recognition on the national level, however, as he’s been having a phenomenal year for the Marlins, and ranks fifth in WAR in all of baseball while holding the top batting average (.334). Think Luis Arraez, but with a bit more power while being an above-average fielder and stealing plenty of bases.The AL All-Stars had a lot more success at the plate, though they were, too, a bit sporadic. The AL posted seven hits and went 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position while leaving six on base, which is seven more opportunities than the NL had, so they’ll take what they could get tonight