Major League Baseball’s annual All-Star Game being one of the biggest fan-enjoyed events in sports, there has been some backlash throughout the baseball community. The All Star Game and All-Star Weekend is a time in the middle of the season for most players to have a week-long break and get refreshed for the last half of the season. For a handful who were selected as all-stars, it’s a fun time playing a friendly, non-competitive baseball game and hanging out with the best athletes in the sport. If you don’t know anything about the All-Star Game and how players get selected, you would probably think it’s the players with the best stats and having the best year so far. It’s not. Instead, the starters are decided by the fans voting on it.
The fan voting process has multiple stages. Phase one of the fan online voting takes up to three weeks. After the three weeks are over, MLB releases the finalists, and fans can vote for the All-Star starters. With it being done this way, you can imagine some fans are not happy about how things worked out. There are now thousands of people online voicing their dissatisfaction with this system.
In the National League, New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor won the right to be the starter. Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz, who got selected as a reserve, has better stats than Lindor in every offensive metric, but Lindor is a much better defender. The big difference between the two all-star caliber players isn’t about the two as players; it’s about the two teams they’re on. One plays on a big market team with a bunch more fans, and one plays in a small market team with fewer fans. You see the problem? If you didn’t, here’s the rundown: because the result is determined by fan voting, only players from the most popular teams (usually in the biggest cities) actually get a chance.
This method of picking All-Star players has created a lot of controversy and backlash towards the league. Many people online are saying MLB should do what the NBA has done: fans get to make 50% of the choice, and players and media panels the other 50%. This way we won’t see the same players over and over again, and all players have more of a fair chance to make the team based on performance.
The Courier podcaster, and the biggest White Sox fan in town, Billy O’Brien, had some thoughts on the matter.
“I don’t mind voting,” he said. “I like how it gives us fans a chance to vote for players we truly believe deserve it. However, what I don’t like is when it gets a bit out of control and there come players who fans think should or shouldn’t be an all-star. Like George Springer of the Toronto Blue Jays, how is he not an All-Star, yet Julio Rodriguez is?”
Philadelphia Phillies players were not happy when Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski got selected after only having 5 starts in his MLB career and a couple of their teammates got left off the list.
Catcher J.T. Realmuto said, “Nothing against the Misiorowski kid. But those two (Sánchez and Suárez) are deserving of being on the team in the first place. There’s no doubt.”
Trea Turner also decided to weigh in on the matter by saying, “What a joke,” “That’s f— terrible. I mean, that’s terrible, dude.”
MLB fans are welcome to join in on the conversation online and let us know your thoughts on how things should be done going forward.
