Chicago Cubs are in the running to host the 2025 All-Star Game

It's been 33 years since the Chicago Cubs last hosted an All-Star Game at Wrigley Field. Despite their best efforts at lobbying to hold the event ever since the Ricketts family purchased the team, with renewed efforts of late since renovations in and around the ballpark have finished, they've routinely been passed over in favor of other teams and newer ballparks.

Considering the 2024 All-Star Game has already been secured by the Rangers, it'll be 2025 at the earliest that festivities could come back to the Northside. Things happen and new stadiums open, but with only 30 teams in the league and the Cubs having the third-longest All-Star hosting drought, it's high time Wrigley be tapped again to bring the Midsummer Classic back to Chicago. If MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is to be believed, the team has a good shot of making it this time around.

We've mentioned that the Cubs would be frontrunners for 2025 before, but Manfred reiterated that on Tuesday when talking about a range of topics including the possibility of expansion, relocations, and the All-Star Game. He highlighted Wrigley Field and Atlanta's Truist Park as prime possibilities and emphasized that length of time since hosting is one of their priorities going forward:

Atlanta and Chicago weren't the only teams in the running for the honors. Baltimore, Boston, and Toronto are also under consideration and all have fair shots at landing the All-Star Game. Boston has lobbied heavily to get the event back to Fenway and Toronto has the second-longest drought among that lineup, last hosting the game in 1991.

There are few excuses left to not let the Chicago Cubs host the All-Star Game

The rub is that if recency really is such a huge factor, there's little argument against giving the game to the Cubs. There are no new stadiums opening that would otherwise take priority in 2025 nor any other special occasions that would make another team among those candidates more fitting. Aside from Tampa Bay and Oakland, whom Manfred didn't even mention, every team has hosted an All-Star Game since the Cubs have including six that have gotten the honors twice.

The commissioner specifically called out Wrigley Field for how long it's been. "(Wrigley) was 1990 — I think it was my first one. That’s a long time," he told reporters. For extra context, the last time the game made it to Wrigley, Ryne Sandberg won the Home Run Derby.

Now would be the perfect time to revisit the Friendly Confines. With state-of-the-art renovations from the 1060 Project complete inside and out of the ballpark and the new DraftKings Sportsbook built, Wrigley Field is in the best shape it'll be for the foreseeable future. If the Cubs miss out on hosting this time around, it could also spell a very long wait as their next shot will be in 2027 (Philadelphia has 2026 secured for America's 250th birthday). Should another team take that slot, things get even dicier as the Athletics will almost certainly get a chance to host once their new stadium opens as projected in 2028.

We won't learn who'll host the All-Star Game in 2025 until later this year. Here's hoping this is the time the Cubs finally come away with the honor.

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