Ranking the Most Influential Players of the 2024 MLB Midsummer Classic

Ranking the Most Influential Players of the 2024 MLB Midsummer Classic image

📖 Published on: August 16th, 2024

✍️ Updated: August 16th, 2024

⏳ 9 mins read

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Major League Baseball is one of the most prominent competitions in the United States, and for good reason. It is home to some of the most popular players in the world, and arguably the highest-earning athletes in the game as well. The recent 2024 MLB All-Star Game was proof of that point as we have seen a hefty number of stars who are popular in the game.

What is the Midsummer Classic?

The Midsummer Classic, more known as the MLB All-Star Game, is a midseason event where players are given a chance to play at a specific game between the best players hailing from the National League and the American League. Players who play in the game are voted into the starting lineup by fans via online polls, with the rest of the pitchers and reserves being selected based on managers’ and players’ votes, respectively.

The Midsummer Classic is one of the best events in the MLB season image

The All-Star Game is an annual event and is players usually in the second or third Tuesday in July. It usually marks the halfway point of the season and denotes that the League is on its way to the second half – which usually denotes more intense games to play and for fans to enjoy.

The 2024 Midsummer Classic was a promising edition of the All-Star Game. It ended in a 5-3 battle in favor of the American League, thanks to a winning home run by Jarren Duran for two runs to give the AL their first lead at 5-3. That would wind up as the final score as they managed to defend for the rest of the game. Duran was also named the 2024 All-Star Game MVP, which marks the fifth in the Boston Red Sox history.

How Influential MLB Players Impact Fan Viewing

Influential MLB players play a huge role in generating fan viewing and high ratings for any event in the league. For instance, the 2023 World Series was ranked as the least-viewed MLB Final since 1973. It was a series played by the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers, which, to be fair, did not have many star players in their respective rosters. The 2023 World Series generated an average of 9.082 million views in five games, which is the second World Series to tally less than 10 million next to the 2020 edition – which was limited by the COVID-19 pandemic.

MLB stars play a huge role in impacting fan viewing image

Imagine a World Series that has the top popular stars in the game, such as Shohei Ohtani or Aaron Judge. The same can be said for the MLB All-Star Game, which has not seen some big strides over the years. For context, the 2024 edition of the Midsummer Classic only tallied 39,343 spectators in the venue. That is the lowest tally since the MLB returned to the big stage after the COVID-19 pandemic, with the previous editions tallying more than 40,000 spectators.

For comparison, the 2021 (49,184), 2022 (52,518), and 2023 (47,159) editions have set highs in terms of fan attendance in the venue. It is worth noting that stadium capacity plays a huge role in attendance, which should not be a primary concern as to how the recent All-Star Game only managed to bring less than 40,000 fans into the event.

The Globe Life Field was filled with spectators in the Midsummer Classic image

The Globe Life Field, which hosted the 2024 Midsummer Classic, has an overall capacity of 40,300, which means that there are only a total of 957 seats that were not filled in the event. That says a lot about the continued popularity of the MLB as it hints at a near-sold-out crowd in the 2024 All-Star Game. Believe it or not, the presence of a lot of known star players have helped fill out the seats in the Globe Life Stadium. This year’s edition has seen 7,443,000 viewers on Fox, which is an impressive 6% increase from the 2023 game.

The Highest-Earning MLB All-Stars on Instagram

Fan popularity plays a huge role for players in the game, and it cannot be denied that the presence of the top-tier stars in the All-Star Game has helped generate a high viewing rate in the venue alone. One can even say that this set of stars has helped well in bringing in more fan support as the league hosted its 94th edition of the MLB All-Star Game.

Rank Player Team Position Followers (Estimate) Estimated price per post League
1 Shohei Ohtani Dodgers DH 8,000,000 $43K – $51.6K NL
2 Aaron Judge Yankees OF 1,800,000 $13.6K – $16.3K AL
3 Bryce Harper Phillies 1B 1,800,000 $13.7K – $16.4K NL
4 Fernando Tatís Jr. Padres OF 1,800,000 $13.4K – $16.1K NL
5 José Altuve Astros 2B 1,500,000 $12K – $14.4K AL
6 Mookie Betts Dodgers SS 1,500,000 $12.1K – $14.5K NL
7 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Blue Jays 1B 1,300,000 $10.7K – $12.8K AL
8 Juan Soto Yankees OF 1,200,000 $10.2K – $12.3K AL
9 Salvador Pérez Royals C 1,000,000 $9.1K – $10.9K AL
10 Carlos Correa Twins SS 903,000 $8.1K – $9.7K AL

It is worth noting that Shohei Ohtani, who has been the popular icon of the MLB for this season, has the most followers with 8 million, spiking his number of followers ever since he made the move to join the Los Angeles Dodgers in the offseason. But one should also see that Ohtani has the potential to charge at least $43K – $51.6K per sponsored post on Instagram, making him the most influential player present in the All-Star Game. Aaron Judge comes next to him in the list with 1.8 million followers on Instagram and can potentially earn $13.6K – $16.3K per sponsored post. These two players are the top vote-getters for the 2024 All-Star Game, and it is easy to expect that they are also the most influential players for the same event among 52 other players with business accounts.

Shohei Ohtani led the league with most followers on Instagram image

The top 10 is composed of six players from the American League, with Judge being joined by the likes of Jose Altuve, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Juan Soto, Salvador Perez, and Carlos Correa. All of the players inside the top 10 also potentially earn more than $10K per sponsored post, with the exception of Perez and Correa – with the latter being the only one who has not breached 1 million followers as of the time of writing.

Jarren Duran was the all-star MVP image

Jarren Duran, the 2024 MLB All-Star Game MVP, sits at no. 32 on the list in terms of followers and estimated post price. The Red Sox star can potentially earn $1.7K – $2K per sponsored post on Instagram, which says a lot about how not all popular players go on to win individual honors in the Midsummer Classic. Duran nailed the winning homer to help the American League claim a 5-3 victory in the Midsummer Classic and was named MVP for his game heroics.

On top of all that, the National League dominates the list with players who have a high influence on social media. There are a total of 39 players from the NL All-Stars who can potentially earn from their sponsored posts, as opposed to the AL All-Stars, who only have a total of 25 players with business accounts.

Enjoy the Intense 2024 MLB Season Unfold

This study further proves that the presence of MLB stars in the game generates a lot of views and fan presence in the stadiums themselves. This has already been proven by the data coming from the viewership in network coverages and the total fan attendance in the respective games. This just sets the expectations for the coming World Series, whose fan viewership and attendance will likely depend on the winning teams that will come out on top and how intense the coming MLB Playoffs will turn out to be.

Make sure to stay tuned for the latest updates on the MLB and the rest of the sports world! Don’t miss out on the latest happenings with GambleSpot! We have top-notch news, blogs, tournament previews, game predictions, betting guides, game analyses, and many other sports-related content that you can use to make promising bets that will yield you massive rewards!

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