The Major League Baseball regular season is six months long, which allows us to break the season into six convenient chunks. Each of these chunks counts equally, even if it doesn’t seem that way at the time. It always feels, in the moment, that the first and last months count more.

But throughout the season, we are putting together an All-Star team for every month. As we wrap up this thrilling fourth month of baseball, here’s an All-Star pick from each league, at each position, for July. Note that because of fewer games this month -- thanks to the All-Star break -- some of the numbers may seem smaller than usual. Here are the stars over the last month.

Each player is listed with his key stats for July, entering Friday.

Catcher
NL: Carson Kelly, D-backs (.370/.424/.704 slash line)
AL: Sean Murphy, A’s (.333/.416/.560 slash line)

Kelly has been racked with injuries for so long that it’s easy to forget how good he was in 2019 (.826 OPS). This year has still been a bit of a struggle, but July -- a month in which he turned 28 -- has given glimpses of what he can do when healthy.

Also, we’ve been doing this monthly list all year and this is the first time we’ve included an A’s player. Go Sean Murphy!

First Base
NL: Freddie Freeman, Dodgers (.388/.450/.706 slash line)
AL: Josh Naylor, Guardians (.974 OPS, 5 HR)

Paul Goldschmidt finally took a (slight) step back in July, which is to say, he had only a .965 OPS. That allowed Freeman and his Braves replacement Matt Olson (who has eight homers this month) to battle it out for top NL honors. It’s almost as if the Braves couldn’t go wrong.

It was a down month for AL first basemen. Vlad Guerrero Jr. only has three July homers! So Naylor, who is also a DH a third of the time, gets the nod.

Second Base
NL: Gavin Lux, Dodgers (.353/.443/.588 slash line)
AL: Jorge Polanco, Twins (.937 OPS, 6 HR)

It is slim pickings at second base this month, though when in doubt, you can go with a Dodger. Lux is making good on his top prospect status after a slow start to his big league career.

Polanco is only batting .234 this month, but his 17 walks are more than a third of his entire 2021 total (45).

Shortstop
NL: Trea Turner, Dodgers (.337/.370/.558 slash line, 3 SB)
AL: Corey Seager, Rangers (8 HR, 1.041 OPS)

It sure feels like a long time since everyone was worried about Seager. He was one of the five best hitters in baseball in July. 

Meanwhile, the Dodgers have gone 19-4 in July, so I probably could have just picked their entire lineup and rotation for this list.

Third Base
NL: Austin Riley, Braves (10 HR, 1.314 OPS)
AL: Jose Miranda, Twins (.386/.436/.632 slash line)

The Braves are one of the best teams in baseball, particularly over the last couple of months, and if Riley continues on like this, he’s going to earn himself all sorts of MVP consideration. (Imagine if both Freeman and Riley got an MVP Award before Ronald Acuña Jr. did.)

Also, it is totally reasonable that you are asking, “Who the heck is Jose Miranda?” right now. He’s a rookie who has just gotten better every month, from a .532 OPS in May to a .856 OPS in June to an eye-popping 1.067 OPS in July. You win your division with sudden out-of-nowhere contributions like the Twins have gotten from Miranda.

Outfield
NL: Juan Soto, Nationals (.323/.494/.662 slash line); Kris Bryant, Rockies (.347/.417/.653 slash line); Starling Marte, Mets (.991 OPS, 4 SB)
AL: Aaron Judge, Yankees (10 HR, 1.167 OPS, 5 SB); Matt Carpenter, Yankees (8 HR, 1.187 OPS); Aaron Hicks (.981 OPS)

Okay, so the outfield has some real chaos energy this month. First off, in the NL you have Soto -- who might just win Player of the Month -- absolutely raking despite headlining just about every trade rumors story. He’s alongside Marte and Bryant, who is finally hitting the way we all imagined he would when he signed in Denver.

But the real fun is that Yankees outfield. How stacked is it? Well, they have all three spots here, even though Giancarlo Stanton (who’s hurt again) isn’t one of them and they just traded for another outfielder in Andrew Benintendi. When you’re good, you’re good.

Designated Hitter
AL: Yordan Alvarez, Astros (6 HR, 1.169 OPS)
NL: Albert Pujols, Cardinals (.348/.392/.630 slash line)

Has anybody noticed that Pujols has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball in July? Yeah, that Pujols. He has been locked in against both right-handers and lefties all month, including a monster homer against Toronto that helped the Cardinals overcome the absence of Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt in that series. Here’s a fun fact about Albert’s July 2022: It’s his best month by OPS since June 2015, and his second best since August 2012.

Starting Pitchers
NL: Max Scherzer, Mets (1.39 ERA, 45/4 K/BB)
AL: Dylan Cease, White Sox (4-1, 0.61 ERA)

Scherzer played homage to Jacob deGrom this month by being absolutely dominant but only earning one win. Cease, on the other hand, was well-rewarded for his incredible month. Apologies to Brady Singer, Reid Detmers, Justin Verlander, Corbin Burnes, Triston McKenzie, Shane McClanahan and especially Sandy Alcantara. There’s a lot of great pitchers out there, folks.

Relief Pitchers
NL: Edwin Díaz, Mets (10 1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 22/1 K/BB)
AL: Brock Burke, Rangers (15 IP, 1.20 ERA)

I’m not sure you can pitch better than Díaz did this month. Here’s a fun fact: His brother Alexis threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings for the Reds this month, too. Good month to be a Díaz brother.