BOSTON - Alex Rodriguez, A.L. All-Star snub?
You could make that argument.
And that's something not many people envisioned being possible before the 2015 season began. It's certainly not something anybody wanted to envision, either.
Having not played a game since Sept. 25, 2013 (and only playing two months of that season), Rodriguez began the 2015 on a Yankees team that didn't even want him. That goes for most of the fans, too.
Rodriguez was suspended for the entire 2014 season after MLB found overwhelming evidence that Rodriguez took PEDs and then tried to hinder the investigation into those allegations.
The Yankees then had hoped there was a way they could void his contract. They couldn't. Later during the 2015 season, they hoped they could void his home run bonus.
The team and Rodriguez have since resolved the home run bonus dispute, as they paid $3.5 million of the $6 million bonus, all of which Rodriguez donated to various charities.
The irony of it all is that despite the Yankees wanting to rid themselves of Rodriguez, he's one of the biggest reasons they're in first place in the A.L. East.
Rodriguez comes into Sunday's game batting .279 with 18 home runs and 50 RBI. He has an OBP of .384 (higher than any Red Sox player on the active roster).
A-Rod has hit a solo home run in each of the first two games of the Sox-Yankees series, giving the Yankees 1-0 leads in both games. He even gave away his batting gloves to young fans after each home run.
Those within the game, such as Red Sox manager John Farrell, might not be as surprised to see Rodriguez having this bounce-back year.
"I think the last time they were in town here [Rodriguez's] name came up in conversation or question as well, and my response at the time is the same it is now: you never count out great players," Farrell said. "He's had a tremendous year, he's obviously in great shape, the bat speed is there, and the fact that he's missed a year and a half or whatever the time frame is before the start of this season, the fact he's taken over the three-hole kind of speaks volumes to the talent he is."
So Rodriguez will continue to play for the Yankees. He'll continue to get booed in every stadium he plays in (though you hear less boos in Yankee Stadium now… funny how that works). And he'll continue to help his team win games, knowing full well that they wanted him gone.
That's one way to stick it to everybody.