{"id":780940,"date":"2026-07-05T02:18:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T02:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/780940\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T02:18:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T02:18:14","slug":"vladimir-guerrero-jr-declines-to-participate-in-2026-mlb-asg-blue-jays-star-explains-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/780940\/","title":{"rendered":"Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Declines to Participate in 2026 MLB ASG, Blue Jays Star Explains Decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. revealed that he won’t participate in the 2026 MLB All-Star Game despite being selected<\/a> as a starter on Saturday.<\/p>\n

“Very grateful to everyone who voted for me.. but at this time, very respectfully I’m declining to go,” Guerrero said, according to TV sports broadcaster Hazel Mae<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The six-time All-Star has been dealing with discomfort in his back, per Mae.<\/p>\n

Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz will start for the American League in place of Guerrero.<\/p>\n

Guerrero has appeared in 84 of Toronto’s first 89 games this season, although he’s been hampered by\u00a0lingering back issues<\/a>\u00a0as of late.<\/p>\n

Blue Jays manager John Schneider confirmed that he’s taking a cautious approach with the 27-year-old’s playing time due to his health.<\/p>\n

“I don’t want to push it with him,” Schneider said Tuesday, per MLB.com’s\u00a0Keegan Matheson<\/a>. “He’s been working a lot and I think that plays into how he’s feeling. He’s taken a lot of swings over the last week or week and a half. With where he was yesterday and making progress, albeit with just the single to right, I think he’s where we want him to be. He’s really close, so I didn’t want to set him back.”<\/p>\n

After Guerrero wrapped up a stellar 2025 campaign in which he earned ALCS MVP honors while helping Toronto make a World Series appearance, he hasn’t been as productive at the plate this season.<\/p>\n

He’s hitting .265 with four home runs, 13 doubles and 35 RBI in 309 at-bats. Guerrero’s .692 OPS represents a career-low mark.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays currently sit at No. 3 in the AL East standings with a 42-47 record, although they’re just three games back from the final AL Wild Card spot.<\/p>\n

As Toronto looks to improve throughout the second half of the year and chase a postseason berth, Guerrero will skip the All-Star Game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. revealed that he won’t participate in the 2026 MLB All-Star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-780940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}