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New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso will participate in the Home Run Derby next week in Los Angeles.

Major League Baseball made the announcement Monday on its official Twitter pageconfirming the return of one of the Derby’s most successful hitters.

“It’s a really fun event,” Alonso told reporters in the Mets clubhouse Monday before their game against the Braves in Atlanta. “It’s going to be super exciting, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Last year, in Denver, Alonso outlasted Baltimore Orioles first baseman Trey Mancini to become the third back-to-back Home Run Derby champion. Alonso recorded 74 home runs — totaling 6.35 miles in distance — en route to the crown.

“I think I’m the best power hitter on the planet,” Alonso said after the win last year. “Being able to showcase that, and really putting on a fun display for fans, I just think it’s a dream come true for me because when I was young, my parents let me stay up past my bedtime to watch this. That was one of the few nights per year I actually got to stay up past my bedtime, just watch incredible feats that you don’t see in a regular baseball game.”

And now Dodger Stadium will be his stage next Monday, as he takes a break from a regular season that has New York fans thinking about a postseason run. The Mets enter play on Monday with a 53-33 record and a first-place standing in the National League East. Alonso leads the team with 23 home runs to go along with a .273 batting average and 70 RBIs.

Last year — with New York bench coach Dave Jauss pitching to him — Alonso wowed the crowd at Coors Field with a final-round total of 23, in joining Ken Griffey Jr. (1998-99) and Yoenis Cespedes (2013-14) in winning consecutive titles.

“This is just surreal,” Alonso said at the time. “It’s just truly a blessing.”

Alonso confirmed Monday that Jauss will again be his pitcher next week.

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Who’s ready for some MLB All-Star Home Run Derby excitement? The most anticipated event of the summer is heading to Hollywood with some of the biggest names in the sport set to take aim at the Dodger Stadium bleachers on Monday, July 18 (8 pm ET on ESPN)

With the first participant in this summer’s eight-player field unveiled Monday, one thing is clear: Everyone will be trying to keep up with back-to-back derby champion Pete Alonso.

As the remaining contestants are announced heading into Thursday’s Home Run Derby bracket selection show (7 pm ET on ESPN), we’ll break down each player chosen — and his case for taking the belt from the Mets slugger known as The Polar Bear.

Play: ESPN’s Derby Pick’em

Pete Alonso

2022 HR total: 23 | Longest: 447 feet

Why he’s the home run king: Alonso has participated in two All-Star Home Run Derbies during his MLB career and twice ended the night as champion — and twice won a $1 million prize for his efforts.

In 2019, Alonso took down Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in an epic derby battle by blasting a total of 57 long balls in Cleveland. When the event returned in 2021, Alonso outslugged the field at Coors Field in Denver, topping Trey Mancini in the final round and hitting 74 total home runs — including 20 that traveled at least 475 feet.

After his 2021 win, Alonso said: “I think I’m the best power hitter on the planet. Being able to showcase that and really put on a fun display for fans, it’s truly a dream come true for me. When I was younger , my parents actually let me stay up past my bedtime to watch this.”

Clearly all those nights staying up watching paid off for the Mets slugger.

Derby fun fact: Alonso joined Ken Griffey Jr. (1998-99) and Yoenis Céspedes (2013-14) as the only back-to-back champions in derby history.

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Dodger Stadium concession workers have threatened a strike in the days leading up to the All-Star Game.

Unite Here Local 11, the union that represents those workers, announced in a news release on Monday that “99%” of the employees voted in favor of going on strike, adding that one could occur “at any moment.” A representative for Levy Restaurants did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Dodger Stadium will soon host its first All-Star Game in 42 years, beginning with the Futures Game on Saturday, the Home Run Derby on Monday and the main event on Tuesday. The Dodgers will navigate a five-game road trip ahead of the festivities.

Dodger Stadium concession workers are employed by the Chicago-based company Levy Restaurants, which, according to Unite Here, employs nearly 1,500 food servers, bartenders, suite attendants, cooks and dishwashers at Dodger Stadium. Unite Here Local 11, which represents 32,000-plus hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona, didn’t provide specifics on the workers’ demands, saying only that it is “seeking to negotiate a fair new union contract.”

“Stadium workers are proud of the role they play to bring fans the best game experience possible,” Unite Here Local 11 co-president Susan Minato wrote in a statement. “They are the backbone of our tourism and sports industry, yet many struggle to stay housed and to make ends meet. They often live with economic uncertainty because the quality of jobs vary stadium to stadium. No worker should have to continue living like this. “

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Back in 2016 when he was running the Cubs, Theo Epstein explained giving up top infield prospect Gleyber Torres in a package for closer Aroldis Chapman by asking, “If not now, when?” The Yankees’ championship drought is 13 years, which even using the late George Steinbrenner’s math would not equate to the 108-year drought the Cubs experienced. But with a team this special, the same justification for going all-in at the trade deadline applies.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman understands the stakes. He knows he must seize the moment. His team is too good for him to be passive when the deadline represents his last chance to significantly alter his major-league roster.

“You’re always trying to improve your club regardless,” Cashman said. “It’s always, ‘If not now, then when?’”

Which isn’t to say Cashman should be reckless. Few of the players known to be available in a trade project as Chapman-type difference-makers. The current Yankees also bear a certain similarity to the 1998 club that, in Cashman’s first year as general manager, won 114 games and the World Series without adding a single player at the deadline.

Cashman tried that year for future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson, who ultimately went from the Mariners to the Astros for Freddy Garcia, Carlos Guillen and John Halama in one of the all-time great deadline blockbusters. The Yankees try pretty much every year, a notable exception occurring in 2017, when owner Hal Steinbrenner, wanting to stay under the luxury-tax threshold in 2018, balked at the $60 million-plus remaining on Justin Verlander’s contract — a decision that backfired Verlander was the ALCS MVP against the Yankees that fall. But while a reasonable case can be made for these Yankees mostly standing pat, they need to drop the hammer, even to the point of overkill.

Even after back-to-back losses to the Red Sox, the Yankees are 61-25, matching the franchise’s fourth-best record at the 86-game mark. They play in an era when teams face almost daily injury concerns. And they compete in an expanded playoff format that requires even the best clubs to keep pushing in the regular season for seeding, then navigate a postseason that consists not of one or two rounds, but a minimum of three.

Teams today seek every last analytical edge, every last marginal advantage. So while the Yankees rank third in the majors in rotation ERA, they still should look to add a starter, knowing Jameson Taillon has a 6.81 ERA in his last seven outings, Nestor Cortes is near his career-high in innings and Luis Severino has not Carried a full workload since 2018. While they expect Domingo Germán, Jonathan Loáisaga and Zack Britton to return from injuries, Germán as a reliever or starter, manager Aaron Boone still would like another bullpen arm for added protection. And while the offense leads the majors in runs per game, the team would benefit from the addition of a contact-oriented outfielder who might help extend rallies in the postseason.

Even in the best of times, Cashman exhibits a wry, sky-is-falling sense of humor. He was only half-joking over the weekend when he told the Fox broadcasters that the Yankees’ astonishing success this season is only setting them up for crushing disappointment if they fail to win the Series. He is still smarting from the Yankees’ curious underperformance in 2021, calling it “one of my toughest years” as a GM even though the team finished 92-70 before losing to the Red Sox in the wild-card game.

The deadline can be the trickiest of beasts. The Yankees’ biggest splash a year ago, a trade for Joey Gallo, turned out to be ill-conceived. An under-the-radar move, the acquisition of Clay Holmes, proved a masterstroke. But just as the Dodgers added Yu Darvish to a 104-win team in 2017, and Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to a 106-win club in 2021, Cashman needs to keep swinging. Yes, even if the market allows him to hit only singles, not home runs.

Consider:

• This could be Aaron Judge’s last season with the Yankees.

Judge, who turned down a seven-year, $213.5 million offer at the end of spring training, is four months away from becoming a free agent. And while most in the game expect him to stay with the Yankees, that could prove a dangerous assumption. Most expected Freddie Freeman to stay with the Braves.

• The Astros are a legitimate threat.

The Yankees are 2-3 against the Astros, the team that defeated them in the ALCS in both 2017 and 2019, though the first of those series was tainted by Houston’s illegal sign stealing. Against Astros pitching this season, the Yankees are batting .130 with a .520 OPS. Their lead over the Astros’ for best overall record in the American League, essential for home-field advantage in another potential ALCS rematch, is only 4 1/2 games.

• The luxury tax should not be an issue.

The Yankees stayed under the threshold in 2021 just as they did in 2018, enabling them to re-set their penalty rates to the lowest levels. Their current luxury-tax payroll, $262.2 million according to Fangraphs, would require them to pay a penalty of about $7.9 million. If they pushed their luxury-tax payroll to say, $275 million, the penalty would increase to about $13.5 million. Not an incidental amount. But also not oppressive for a high-revenue club. The Dodgers paid a $32.65 million luxury-tax bill last season.

• The players are doing their part.

It’s an unspoken doctrine of the deadline — when a team performs at a high level, the players expect the front office to honor their efforts by working equally hard to strengthen the roster. This won’t be a problem for the Yankees. Several team veterans, knowing of Cashman’s burning desire to end the team’s second-longest championship drought since its first of 27 titles in 1923, fully expect him to push for upgrades. Frankly, the only thing the clubhouse seems to be debating is which players the Yankees should get.

Which is where the conversations become difficult.

Going back to the 1998 deadline, Cashman had a team he described as “fantastic” with “really no weaknesses.” Johnson, though performing below his usual standards with the Mariners, was the big prize. “In theory, he would make everybody better. And you didn’t want your opponents to have him,” Cashman said. “But to be quite honest, the (Yankees’) chemistry was so amazing. And as good as he was, you didn’t know how he would mesh with our crew.”

Cashman had another concern about Johnson, as well. He noticed that when the Mariners came east, they frequently rearranged their rotation so Johnson would not pitch at the old Yankee Stadium. Cashman was grateful the Yankee kept missing one of the best pitchers in the games, but he found the pattern odd, so he asked Mariners manager Lou Piniella for an explanation. According to Cashman, Piniella replied, “He hates pitching in New York. He hates pitching in Yankee Stadium.”

So, while the Yankees indeed attempted to land Johnson, Cashman kept Piniella’s words in the back of his mind and chose not to meet the Mariners’ price. Nearly seven years later, Cashman went ahead and acquired Johnson, who by that point was 41. Johnson’s two years with the Yankees were uneven, and included a memorable run-in with a TV cameraman when he went for his physical in Manhattan. Then and now, some players were not meant for certain markets.

Gallo, batting .163 with a .666 OPS in 468 plate appearances since joining the Yankees, turned out to be one such player. The Yankees value his baserunning and defense, at least when he is playing right field, but likely will part with him if they can find a taker. Cashman needs to be careful not to make a similar mistake, lest the screw up probably his best team since 1998.

How hard, then, should the Yankees push for the Reds’ Luis Castillo or the A’s Frankie Montas, knowing they would be coming from non-competitive teams in smaller markets? (Castillo had a good start against the Braves in the 2020 postseason and Montas also pitched in those playoffs, though not particularly well).

Would three additional years of club control with Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds actually be preferable to the Royals’ Andrew Benintendi as a two-month rental, considering the much higher acquisition cost and the uncertainty about how Reynolds might react moving from Pittsburgh to New York? No such doubt exists with Benintendi, who appeared in three postseasons with the Red Sox and was part of a Series champion in 2018.

Prospective trade partners covet the Yankees’ top two infield prospects, Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza, but Volpe is almost certainly a keeper, and perhaps the team’s starting shortstop in 2023. Cashman said the Yankees also have a “ton of pitching” in their farm system, which The Athletic‘s Keith Law ranked 22nd in February. Baseball America was higher on the Yankees’ system, rating it 13th.

Obviously, Cashman is not going to foolishly overpay, especially not in a thin market. His description of the 1998 team — “fantastic… really no weaknesses” — also is a fairly accurate description of his current group. But if Cashman tried for Randy Johnson in 1998, he’s going to try for whatever morsels he can grab, and possibly more.

His team is that good. If not now, then when?

(Top photo: Justin Berl / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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The Atlanta Braves acquired the 35th pick in Sunday’s Major League Baseball draft from the Kansas City Royals for center-field prospect Drew Waters, right-handed pitching prospect Andrew Hoffmann and Double-A third baseman CJ Alexander.

The draft choice, which is tradable because it is a competitive-balance pick given to small-market and low-revenue teams, comes with a slot value of $2,202,100. The Braves’ bonus pool will swell to more than $10.2 million, moving them from the 19th-most available money to ninth.

Waters, 23, was at one point a consensus top-100 prospect but has plateaued at Triple-A over the past two seasons. A switch-hitter whose glove is good enough to keep him in center field long term, Waters is the key to the deal for Kansas City, joining its young core of Bobby Witt Jr., MJ Melendez, Vinnie Pasquantino and the soon-to- arrive Nick Pratto. Waters has been added to Kansas City’s 40-man roster and optioned to Triple-A Omaha.

Chosen with the 41st pick in the 2017 draft, Waters is hitting .246/.305/.393 in 49 games at Triple-A this season. The emergence of Michael Harris II, the Braves’ rookie center fielder, made Waters expendable.

Atlanta struck gold with Hoffmann, choosing him in the 12th round of the 2021 draft and watching him dominate at High-A this season. The 22-year-old is 7-2 with a 2.36 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 80 innings. In joining the Royals, Hoffmann is moving up to Double-A Northwest Arkansas, where he will be teammates with Alexander.

Alexander, who turns 26 Sunday, is a big, powerful left-hander with 15 home runs in 289 plate appearances at Double-A. He is hitting .258/.294/.465 and also has played first base.

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BOSTON — Don’t tell the Red Sox — or their feisty and occasionally profane fans — that the year is lost. And most definitely don’t tell them that the great rivalry is on hiatus.

Don’t say anything like that to anyone connected to the Red Sox, who showed they have a little fight left in them, and most certainly the ability to get up for the occasion of a visit from the big, bad Yankees (aka the Evil Empire).

Although the Yankees remain close to a historic track for the season, Boston’s depleted team managed to take both closing weekend games in thrilling, come-from-behind fashion to split this midsummer series with baseball’s best team. In Sunday’s finale, the Red Sox scored the final nine runs to win 11-6 as the disliked visitors performed in a very un-Yankee-like manner.

No one could have seen this coming.

Boston is missing a possible record 10 hurting pitchers (not to mention their best everyday guy) and has been playing uneven baseball through more than half its schedule. But something changed midway through this series. Fenway rocked, and this diminished Red Sox team raised its level.

“Feels good. The boys played well,” the Red Sox’s Alex Verdugo said. “For the guys to keep fighting … it gets the boys fired up.”

The matchup does seem to bring out the best in Boston, whose main competition now is really Baltimore and Seattle and the rest of the middle of the pack in the American League wild-card race but overcame all its faults and misfortune to stage two straight rollicking wins over the vaunted and much healthier Yankees. Predictably, the Fenway faithfully used the occasion to chant their favorite put-down, a profane and factually incorrect, “Yankees S—.”

These 2022 Red Sox have been down, then up and now they are mostly down again, and threatening to be out. They are still 14 games behind, and unlikely to turn into the miracle 1978 Yankees, either, not with all their injuries. A kid named Jeter (Red Sox rookie Jeter Downs) did score the game-winning run late Saturday, then drove in the winning run Sunday, surely sparking some of the famously superstitious (remember The Curse?), baseball-obsessed fans here, who surely seek any sort of positive omen.

Now back to the Red Sox reality. While the Yankees are looking to break the seasonal win record of 116 by the equally improbable 2001 Seattle Mariners (they are now behind the pace for the first time in weeks), the Red Sox are threatening to break the record for pitching injuries.

Beleaguered Boston put its ninth and 10th pitchers on the injured list (that is not a typo!) on Saturday, and the roster of the hurt now includes a very viable rotation of Chris Sale, Nate Eovaldi, Rich Hill, Michael Wacha and James Paxton . Beyond that, Rafael Devers, one of the best players in baseball and a consistent thorn to the Yankees, was out again with lower-back pain, presumably the result of trying to carry his decimated squad the first two games here against a healthier, strong , better Yankees team.

“A lot of our top-tier guys are down. But a lot of our guys are coming back,” Verdugo said. “We’re really excited to get our horses back.”

Sale is expected back Tuesday, and Eovaldi and Hill are progressing. Though even seven pitchers out remains a big hill to climb.

Whatever, hope still flickers here.

“Crazy series … but two big wins for us,” Trevor Story said.

The Red Sox hit three home runs off Yankees starter Jameson Taillon, and the frustration moved over to the visitors’ side — at least temporarily. Yankees manager Aaron Boone gave home-plate umpire Tripp Gibson an earful following a called third strike on Giancarlo Stanton that ended the seventh inning.

Of course, it didn’t rival the video of Sale, the Red Sox rehabbing starter, breaking up the Triple-A Worcester clubhouse. But then again, the Yankees still easily retain baseball’s best record. So why get too upset?

The Yankees may have left here with some bruised egos, however, the result of two blown games against a lesser team before packed houses. The Yankees played far from their best ball. Two catchable pop-ups fell in Boston’s winning rally, the normally sure-handed shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa made a throwing error, reliever Albert Abreu made another, and for the second straight night, the Yankees’ vaunted pen took some hits.

Much of Boston’s damage came against Taillon, who has been prone to the home run ball in recent outings. But the winning rally was staged off Aroldis Chapman, who’s already been demoted from closer to middle man.

If this turns out to be the highlight of Boston’s year, the players and fans did seem to relish it. Fenway Park was rocking as the Sawx piled it on late.

“This is our house,” Verdugo noted after Saturday’s win.

For one weekend it was, anyway.

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