Three Anomalies in All-Star Voting

As is the case every year, Major League Baseball fans vote for the starting position players in the MLB All-Star Game.

And while involving fans in the selection process isn't necessarily a bad thing, it does lead to some odd results.

Starting with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who leads the American League first basemen vote by more than 500,000 votes. Vladdy doesn't even deserve to play in the All-Star Game, yet he'll likely be the starter—at the expense of Ben Rice of the New York Yankees.

Admittedly, the face of the Toronto Blue Jays franchise is extremely popular and a household name throughout the baseball world, but the gap between “Little Rice” and Vlad Jr. is astronomical in 2026.

Rice has posted a WAR of 2.2 with 22 home runs, 53 RBIs, and a WRC+ of 169, which ranks him second in all of MLB, behind only the ever-dangerous Yordan Alvarez. Guerrero, on the other hand, has a WRC+ of 107 and a WAR of 0.9 with just four home runs this season. It's not even close.

But that's not the only anomaly in the All-Star voting. In fact, Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs ranks fourteenth among National League outfielders, having received fewer votes than Brandon Marsh, Mauricio Dubon, Justin Crawford, and Adolis Garcia—none of whom deserve any recognition.

All this despite the fact that PCA has been the league's best defensive outfielder, while posting an OPS of .883 and is on track to hit thirty home runs this season.

It's the same story for James Wood of the Washington Nationals, who is ranked seventh among National League outfielders. In what world is Wood not one of the three starting outfielders, given that he has posted a WAR of 3.4 so far and has hit twenty home runs in addition to posting an OPS of .937?

Yet another absurdity designed to give fans a little more say…

Created by humans, assisted by AI.