Major League Baseball awarded the 2028 All-Star Game to San Francisco on Friday, hoping that the Midsummer Classic can be part of a two-part West Coast baseball bonanza that July.

The Los Angeles Summer Olympics are scheduled for July 14-30, 2028, and baseball will be included as a medal sport. Players have expressed strong interest in taking part, and while MLB and the union must reach an agreement on the specifics of player participation, staging the All-Star Game in San Francisco helps ease logistics.

Making it official now – before an expected lockout when the current collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1 – could be a sign that Olympic participation will not be a point of contention in negotiations. Both sides seem eager to take advantage of the Olympics’ platform to help grow the sport.

Also, in the Giants’ case, it’s simply their turn. The other West Coast MLB cities – Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Diego and Seattle – have all hosted more recently than the Giants. So have the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies, and while the Athletics are scheduled to move to Las Vegas in 2028, they haven’t gotten there yet.

Oracle Park, the Giants’ picturesque waterfront stadium at 3rd and King Streets, last hosted the event in 2007. Some other MLB cities, like Toronto (1991) and Baltimore (1993) have waited longer, and the Tampa Bay Rays have never hosted. But for 2028, geography works against those venues.

The 2027 All-Star Game – potential lockout permitting – will take place at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, which has not hosted since 1990.

San Francisco has a colorful All-Star Game history. In 1961, at blustery Candlestick Park, Giants pitcher Stu Miller was called for a balk when a gust of wind caused him to sway on the mound. In 1984, New York Mets rookie Dwight Gooden struck out the side in his All-Star debut. In 2007, at the new ballpark, Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners hit the first and only inside-the-park homer in All-Star history.

“Hosting the All-Star Game is more than celebrating the game’s brightest stars, it’s a chance to highlight the people, neighborhoods, and culture that make our community so special,” Giants president and chief executive Larry Baer said in a statement. “Few cities offer the unique combination of sports, culture, innovation, entertainment, and natural beauty that defines San Francisco.”

The city’s mayor, Daniel Lurie, called San Francisco “the sports capital of the world” in a statement, noting that the area has recently hosted the Super Bowl, World Cup and NBA All-Star Weekend.

But San Francisco has also been hit hard by housing and drug crises, and Lurie acknowledged that he had discussed some of the challenges with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.

“As I shared with Commissioner Manfred two weeks ago, we’ve made public safety our top priority since day one, and we’re delivering safe and clean streets for residents and visitors,” Lurie’s statement said.

“San Franciscans feel like our city is moving in the right direction, and people want to be here again. These major events bring visitors, support our local restaurants and bars, and continue to drive our recovery.”