Giancarlo Stanton stars in Hollywood ASG | Is Jalen Hurts ready to throw the ball more in Philly?

Happy Hump Day, everyone. This is Wajih AlBaroudi filling in for Zachary Pereles, and I've got all you need to know about last night's MLB All-Star Game, a lookahead to the NFL season and much, much more.

Let's get right to it.

Good morning to everyone but especially to...

GIANCARLO STANTON

Last night's All-Star Game was the fifth for Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton, but this one will certainly go down as his most memorable. Stanton, a native of the Los Angeles area, slugged the game-tying home run in an eventual 3-2 win for the AL, a performance that earned him MVP honors.

The award put Stanton in elite company, and he got to raise it in Dodger Stadium, a venue he holds near and dear to his heart after several visits as a child.

Stanton is only the third Yankees player to win All-Star Game MVP, joining Derek Jeter (2000) and Mariano Rivera (2013). According to Sarah Langs, Stanton's game-tying bomb traveled 457 feet, the second-longest ever in an All-Star Game.The home run left Stanton's bat at 111.7 mph, making it the hardest-hit ball in All-Star Game history, per Langs.

Stanton's teammate, MVP candidate Aaron Judge, gets most of the love from the average fan, so Stanton's home-town breakthrough was a joy to watch. Tony Gonsolin might disagree, but we'll get to him in a moment.

Thanks largely to Stanton's MVP performance, the AL has now won nine consecutive All-Star Games over the NL. In fact, 21 of the last 25 Midsummer Classics have gone the AL's way, a win percentage so high only the Harlem Globetrotters would wince at it.

And not such a good morning for...

TONY GONSOLIN

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Dodgers right-hander Tony Gonsolin entered the All-Star Game with a perfect 11-0 regular-season record. The circumstances were right for him to keep the good times rolling, too, as he had the opportunity to pitch in front of many home fans at Dodger Stadium. The result wasn't the storybook outing he anticipated.

In the top of the fourth inning, Gonsolin allowed the aforementioned 457-foot home run to Stanton.The very next batter, Twins slugger Byron Buxton, homered again to give the AL a lead it would never relinquish. They were the first back-to-back home runs in an All-Star game since Alex Bregman and George Springer's in 2018, and it gave Gonsolin his first loss of the season -- in his home stadium.

Ouch is about all you can say.

In fairness to Gonsolin, his team didn't do him many favors. After scoring two runs on four hits in the first inning, the NL proceeded to go scoreless with just one (!) hit the rest of the way. The Blue Jays' Alek Manoah -- who was dynamite during his mic'd up segment -- and Emmanuel Clase of the Guardians were two of many pitchers who dominated for the AL, as each struck out the side with the latter earning a save.

MLB eying an expansion to 32 teams ⚾

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Less than a month ago, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred stoked the flames of the expansion discussion by telling ESPN he "would love to get to 32 teams." It turns out he has the players' support -- or at least their leader's -- as well. MLBPA executive director Tony Clark told reporters Tuesday he's "hopeful" the league can find itself "in a world of 32 teams rather than 30."

It may be time for new blood in the MLB, as the league is currently in its longest expansion drought since 1961 -- the Rays and Diamondbacks' addition in 1998 was the latest such move. Speaking of the Rays, Manfred has said Tampa Bay and Oakland need new ballparks before the league considers expansion.Manfred suggested last year the MLB would want over $2 billion in an expansion franchise fee, which would make for a sizable payday to the other 30 owners.

As for the cities the MLB could soon be home to, our MLB scribe Mike Axisa listed Charlotte, Montreal, Nashville, Portland and Las Vegas as the most viable options. Las Vegas has long been rumored as a potential destination for the Athletics, which would break the hearts of Oakland fans who already lost their beloved Raiders to Sin City.

While we know for sure an expansion to 32 teams would bring an additional 52 active roster spots and another 80 40-man roster spots, the rest of its effects are impossible to predict. Axisa, though, gave it his best shot.

Axisa: "Expanding to 32 teams presumably would create two 16-team leagues and eliminate the need for daily interleague play, though the universal DH took the starch out of that. It's likely MLB would realign to four four-team divisions per league and perhaps expand the postseason as well (14 teams?). That is my speculation, though it's not hard to envision expansion driving all those changes."

Get ready baseball fans: the MLB could be coming to your city sooner rather than later.