PHILADELPHIA — Juan Soto and CJ Abrams were on the same team Tuesday night.
They both faced Dylan Cease in the first inning of the All-Star game.
“The Padres are really good talent evaluators,” Cease said later. “I mean, they really do always have consistently really good talent.”
After watching the first inning, Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller weighed in by phone: “We’ve had some good players.”
Yes they have.
Eight of them — seven former Padres and current closer Mason Miller, who struck out the only batter he faced in the ninth inning — participated in Tuesday’s 4-0 victory by the American League over the National League at Citizens Bank Park.
After NL starter Christopher Sánchez, pitching in his home ballpark, allowed three runs in the first inning, Cease took his turn as the AL starter in his first Midsummer Classic.
Cease, who departed San Diego after last season and signed with the Toronto Blue Jays, struck out Kyle Schwarber and Soto, walked Freddie Freeman and struck out Abrams.
Cease, who helped the Padres to playoff appearances in 2024 and ‘25 and pitched the second no-hitter in franchise history, was not teammates with Soto in San Diego. They missed each other by a few months, with Soto traded away in December 2023 and Cease acquired in a March 2024 trade.
Soto and Abrams could not have been teammates, because they are linked by the August 2022 trade that made Padres of Soto and Josh Bell and sent Abrams, Luke Voit, Jarlin Susana, 2025 All-Star MacKenzie Gore, Robert Hassell III and James Wood to the Nationals.
Toronto Blue Jays’ pitcher Dylan Cease throws during the first inning of the MLB baseball All-Star Game between the American League and National League, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Abrams was 0-for-2 in his second All-Star game in three years. Wood, playing in his second consecutive All-Star game, struck out in his one trip to the plate.
Royals pitcher Michael Wacha, who was with the Padres in 2023, struck out two in a 1-2-3 third inning. Nick Martinez, who pitched for the Padres in 2022 and ‘23 and now pitches for the Rays, retired the side in order in the fifth.
Giants second baseman Luis Arraez, a part of the past two Padres teams, struck out in his only at-bat.
Miller began the ninth by striking out White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami on four pitches before being removed so Phillies closer Jhoan Duran could pitch in front of the home crowd.
Miller said there were multiple contingencies for him pitching, and he knew Duran would “finish the game up at home.”After pitching in his second All-Star game, he was waiting at his locker to speak with one reporter from San Diego and a dozen Japanese media who wanted to ask about his facing Murakami.
“I think that this whole experience is exciting and and all that,” Miller. “But the game is is what we all look forward to as players … Just getting a chance to get out there and compete and play in this environment.”
One out for one All-Star.
The Padres had just one player at the game for the first time since 2019. Just once in the previous five years did they have fewer than three.
The former Padres in Tuesday’s game, it should be noted, are making a combined $135 million. Soto is playing on a 15-year, $765 million contract he signed with the Mets in 2025. Cease and the Blue Jays agreed on a seven-year, $210 million deal in November.
Abrams ($4.2 million) and Wood ($806,000) might be the only players the Padres could afford, given their payroll limitations the past three seasons.
Multiple people in the Padres have said in recent weeks that the team has the ability to add payroll at this year’s trade deadline.
And there has been some take with the Padres’ All-Star give. Ryan O’Hearn became a Padre a few weeks after playing in last year’s All-Star game. Tanner Scott was acquired at the deadline shortly after playing in the 2024 game.
Juan Soto of the New York Mets and CJ Abrams of the Washington Nationals, who were once traded for each other, walk and talk on their way onto the field during the second inning of the 2026 MLB All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
The .500 Padres have not determined whether they are buyers or sellers, but if their play in the next two weeks convinces them to bolster the roster, perhaps another coup is on the horizon.
If so, Cease’s assessment of the Padres ability to evaluate might be a reason for optimism.
“I think it speaks to the work our group does being able to identify some super-talented players,” Preller said on the day of the 2024 All-Star game.
There were 10 former Padres in that year’s game. The seven former Padres in this year’s game was the same number as last year.
In all, 21 different former Padres have been All-Stars at least once since 2023.
It is not like Preller relishes the fact that so many good players have moved on — some because they got more money via free agency, some because they were capital spent in trades. But he knows what in his estimation had to be done to power a perennial playoff push, and there is some affirmation for him and his staff in the abundance of All-Stars.
“It continues to be a sign we’ve done a great job identifying players either in the draft or bringing guys to San Diego,” Preller said Tuesday. “It’s high-ceiling guys. That’s what the All-Star game is.”