Your guide to 2025 MLB All-Star week in Atlanta

Axios

2 days ago

Summer is in the air, and we're in the thick of baseball season, so what better way to celebrate both than the 2025 MLB All-Star Week.
Why it matters: The festivities, which include events leading up to the 2025 MLB All-Star Game, can serve as a distraction to our Braves' current losing record and its fourth-place standing in the National League East.
Driving the news: Truist Park will host the All-Star game, which is set for 8pm Tuesday, and there are plenty of baseball-related activities leading up to the main show.
Zoom in: Things kick off Friday with the HBCU Swingman Classic featuring student athletes from Division I historically Black colleges and universities taking the field at 7pm at Truist Park.
Expect to see marching band performances, step shows by Black fraternities and sororities, and fireworks after the game.
On Saturday, you'll have a chance to watch up-and-coming talent take part in the All-Star Futures Game and watch your favorite public figures participate in the Celebrity Softball Game. Get your tickets to both here.
Jermaine Dupri and former Braves catcher Javy López will each manage their teams through the five-inning game.
Participating celebrities include Atlanta hip-hop icon Big Boi, R&B singer Kandi Burruss, hip-hop artist Quavo, NFL Hall of Fame inductee Terrell Owens and Olympian Jordan Chiles.
MLB will also open its All-Star Village Saturday through Tuesday at Cobb Galleria Centre, where you can get autographs, snap photos with mascots and former players and try out the virtual reality home run derby batting cages.
Sunday's Home Run Derby X, which is free to the public, will have a different format that MLB describes as a "3-on-3 co-ed competition alternating between power hitting and athletic catching."
The derby starts at 2:45pm at Georgia Tech's Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. is among the participants, though that is up in the air since he's been sidelined with a sore back.
Don't forget to tune in to the MLB Draft, which begins at 6pm on ESPN.
If you're at The Battery, you can join other fans for a watch party at the Plaza Green and Georgia Power Pavilion Stage.
Before Tuesday's All-Star Game, Dupri and Atlanta rapper Ludacris will headline the pre-game music celebration at 7pm.
The duo will introduce players for the 2025 game "in a unique hometown tribute to honor the city's influence on global music with a medley inspired by Atlanta's" music stars, MLB said.
They will be joined on stage by Clark Atlanta University 's Mighty Marching Panthers and Essence Dance Line.
Other musicians performing include the Zac Brown Band, Kane Brown and Lauren Spencer Smith.
The 95th All-Star game pits players from the National League against their American League counterparts.
Acuña is slated to be among the starting players on the National League team while fellow Brave Chris Sale is among the starting pitchers.
Braves' first baseman Matt Olson is on the reserves list.