WAKE UP! ON ETBLITZ | All-Star Game tonight; Cowboys camp opens next week (program link inside)
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Rangers Report and the All-Star Game is tonight
Well, calling it “the Rangers Report” is a bit of a misnomer, because the Texas Rangers weren’t actually in action Monday night. Major League Baseball is technically on its All-Star Game break: that game is tonight in Atlanta, by the way, and is still probably the most fun of any of the so-called “all-star” professional games.
The NFL’s Pro Bowl used to be fun, and it’s now just a joke that needs to be taken out behind the barn, and… well, you know.
The NBA’s All-Star Game, and the three-point shootout, the dunk contest and all the festivities is fine; it just feels a little tired to me. I mean, I saw Phoenix’s Cedric Ceballos get blindfolded and dunk; we’ve seen guys take the ball from Shaquille O’Neal (a 7-footer) in mid air and dunk; we’ve even seen guys dunk over cars (multiple times).
I guess it’s kind of like a tradition at this point, though. At least the NBA stuck with its format, and didn’t wimp out and move to something like the NFL’s flag football Pro Bowl format currently. I love the NFL, and there’s nothing wrong with flag football. But the two shouldn’t share the same field. Ever.
As far as the All-Star Game, it’s in Atlanta, at Truist Park, home of the Braves, and that stadium opened in 2017.
New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge was the top vote-getter in the American League, and L.A. Dodgers’ Shohei Otani the same in the National League.
The AL All-Stars: catcher Cal Raleigh (Seattle; more on him below); first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto); second baseman Gleyber Torres (Detroit); third baseman Junior Caminero (Tampa Bay); shortstop Jacob Wilson (Athletics); outfielders Aaron Judge (Yankees), Riley Greene (Detroit) and Javier Baez (Detroit); designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn (Baltimore); and Detroit’s Tank Skubal will get the start on the mound.
For the National League, all-stars are catcher Will Smith (L.A. Dodgers), first baseman Freddie Freeman (L.A. Dodgers), second baseman Ketel Marte (Arizona), third baseman Manny Machado (San Diego), shortstop Francisco Lindor (New York Mets), outfielders Ronald Acuna Jr. (Atlanta), Pete Crow-Armstrong (Chicago Cubs), and Kyle Tucker (Cubs); designated hitter Shohei Otani (Dodgers); and Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes will be the starting pitcher.
Watch the All-Star Game on FOX (just regular FOX Network) tonight at 6 p.m. our time.
Back to the Rangers. They’re 5-5 in the last 10 games, and outlasted Houston IN HOUSTON in a three-game series, two games to one. When play starts back on Friday, they’ll host the Detroit Tigers, a 7:05 p.m. start there at Globe Life. If you wanna go, here’s your ticket link, assuming you don’t already have ‘em: Rangers Ticket Information | Texas Rangers.
Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News had a great statistic today: in the last 20 games, the Texas Rangers have scored 114 runs – that means they’re averaging 5.7 a game. They should be winning more, scoring at a clip like that.
Still, they’ve got a lot of work to do. Houston leads the American League West Division with a 56-40 overall record. Seattle is five games back and the Rangers are 8 ½ back from the Astros.
Home Run Derby turned it up
Back to my point about Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game and the surrounding events being the best of the lot, did you catch Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh win the Home Run Derby Monday night?
In the final round, Raleigh hit 18 home runs, holding off Tampa Bay Rays infielder Junior Caminero to claim the title.
Raleigh became the first catcher to win the home run derby (that almost seems impossible, as old as MLB is), and also joined ‘90s superstar Ken Griffey Jr. – who was on hand – as the only two members of the Seattle Mariners to ever win the derby. Griffey Jr. did so twice, in 1994 and in 1998.
Raleigh is also leading MLB in home runs right now (38), and throwing the pitches to him for the derby: none other than his dad, Todd Raleigh, with Cal’s younger brother Todd Jr., catching, a special moment for their family.
Get this: Raleigh hit 54 home runs JUST MONDAY NIGHT, and did so SWITCHING HANDS in the first round! Wow!
Who had the longest home run on Monday? That honor went to Pittsburgh’s Odel Cruz, who hit a 513-footer.
Cowboys Camp
Here at ETBlitz.com, we try to make people happy.
Yeah, everybody. I know we’re told not to do it. And we might fail at it. But we’re going to keep trying.
So in the event there are some of you – ANY of you – planning on actually going to Oxnard, California next week for the Dallas Cowboys’ training camp, here’s a bit of a rundown.
The team arrives in Oxnard Sunday, and camp is actually held at River Ridge Playing Fields.
Practices begin on Tuesday, and many of them are open to the public. They’re at 11:45 a.m. (Pacific time) each day. One of the most popular events every year is fan night, and that’s actually at the end of the first week, on Friday, July 25, from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m.
Parking lots open up at 7:30 a.m. on the weekend camp days and at 8 a.m. through the week, and in case you’re wondering, yes, Cowboys merchandise and the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders will be on hand.
The first actual action is preseason game No. 1, and that’s at the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 9. Preseason game No. 2 is at home, at AT&T Stadium, on Saturday, Aug. 16 at 6 p.m. against Baltimore. And the third and final preseason game is Friday, Aug 22, also at home, against Atlanta, a 7 p.m. kickoff that night.
Dallas, which missed the playoffs a year ago, opens the regular season on the road at Philadelphia on Thursday night, Sept. 4, and that’s the opener for the entire NFL.
Check out this year’s training camp program here: Dallas Cowboys 2025 Training Camp Program 2025 by Marlowe Emberly – Flipsnack.
For all kinds of things you won’t believe, check out the Visit Oxnard page here: Dallas Cowboys Training Camp – Visit Oxnard. You should open that and take a look even if you have no plans to go. It’s awesome.