With Wrigley Field hosting the 2027 All-Star Game, eyes turn to potential MLB work stoppage

Chicago Cubs will host 2027 MLB All-Star Game at Wrigley Field

The Chicago Cubs will host the 2027 MLB All-Star Game at Wrigley Field on July 13, officially announced by Commissioner Rob Manfred.

CHICAGO - The grand excitement around the Chicago Cubs hosting the 2027 MLB All-Star Game at Wrigley Field should over around the city for the next two years.

A weekend celebrating the best of baseball was meant for Wrigley the landmark.

"We're probably overdue, in terms of being at Wrigley," MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said. "There's tremendous competition for All-Star games, and, frankly, there were cities that had been even longer than Chicago in terms of having a game."

There's still a cloud that remains over the announcement, though.

After the announcement, Manfred answered questions in the Wrigley Field home-team dugout. Some were about finally getting the Midsummer Classic to Wrigley, others were about potential work stoppages.

MLB work stoppages

Big picture view:

MLB has a history of work stoppages. The 20022 season was affected by a lockout, which ended on March 10, 2022.

Even though a new collective bargaining agreement was reached then, it'll be short-lived. The newest CBA expires on Dec. 1, 2026. There are growing concerns about a potential work stoppage after that, especially after Manfred and Phillies star Bryce Harper reportedly got into a heated exchange during a player's meeting. 

"I don't talk about those player meetings," Manfred said. "Let me say this, I think more has been made out of this than needs to be made out of it. Bryce expressed his views at the end of the meeting. We shook hands and went our separate ways."

Manfred didn't look at it anymore than that.

"It was an individual picking a particular way to express himself," he said.

However, it can be perceived as the players struggling to find common ground with MLB leadership at a time when a lockout after Dec. 1, 2026, could directly impact whether the All-Star Game could actually happen at Wrigley Field in 2027.

Commissioner of Major League Baseball Robert D. Manfred Jr. talks in an interview prior to the 95th MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard at Truist Park on Tuesday, July 15, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty I

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What's next:

Manfred will need to find that common ground with the players before Dec. 1 next year to prevent a lockout. 

He's confident that will be the case.

"I came in house in 1998, we haven't had a work stoppage that affected a season since that time," Manfred said. "Three of those deals, I was the chief negotiator. Two of them, I was the commissioner. That's a pretty good record. I think we can do it again."

With a successful track record, Manfred will have to hope his experience can help deter those who are more pessimistic about an impending lockout.

That pessimism, Manfred said, is natural. He combats it with optimism.

"I think it is natural that when you get to the end of the collective bargaining agreement, people who are glass-half-filled people have trepidation about what's going to happen," Manfred said. "I'm optimistic that we'll find a way to make a deal."