Cody Bellinger’s Long Road Back to the All-Star Game Took Longer Than He Expected

Cody Bellinger stood in the middle of Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday night, a two-run single already in the books, and maybe let himself feel it for a second. The American League beat the National League 4-0. Bellinger drove in the runs that made it happen. But the stat line wasn’t what made the moment stick.

It was the fact that he even got back there.

Bellinger hadn’t been an All-Star since 2019. That was the year he won NL MVP with the Dodgers, hitting .305 with 47 homers. He was 24, and like he admitted after the game, he figured that was just the way things would go from now on.

“My first few years in the big leagues, I was here I think two of my first three years and I was like, ‘oh, I’ll be here every year,’” Bellinger said, via SNY Yankees on X. “Took a long time to get back. It’s such a competitive league. It’s hard to be an All-Star.”

A career that lost its way and found it again

Between 2020 and 2022, Bellinger’s production cratered. Shoulder surgery. Leg injuries. His OPS dropped from .903 in 2019 to .542 in 2021. The Dodgers non-tendered him after the 2022 season, a stunning fall for a former Rookie of the Year and MVP. He signed a one-year deal with the Cubs, bet on himself, and quietly rebuilt his swing and his confidence.

Then came the trade to the Yankees last winter. New York took a calculated gamble on him bouncing back at 29, and so far it’s paid off. He’s hitting .272 with 18 homers at the break. He’s back in center field most nights. And he’s an All-Star again, which is something nobody would’ve guaranteed two years ago.

His two-run single in the first inning Tuesday was just one at-bat. But it felt like a full-circle moment for a guy who spent three seasons wondering if he’d ever get back to that level.

“It’s such a competitive league,” he said. “It’s hard to be an All-Star.”

He said that line twice during his postgame scrum. It wasn’t a slip. It was a guy who’d lived it.

The Yankees got the win. Bellinger got the MVP trophy for the game. And somewhere in the middle of all that, he probably realized the thing he’d known at 24 wasn’t true. Nothing in this league is guaranteed. Not even for the guys who make it look easy early.