Cubs rule, AL infield makes history and more All-Star roster notes
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The youngest infield in All-Star history, an all-Cubs infield and four representatives of the majors’ highest-scoring offense highlight the starting lineups for next Tuesday’s All-Star Game, to be held at Petco Park in San Diego. They, along with the rest of the starters, reserves and Final Vote candidates for both leagues, were announced on Tuesday evening—a compressed schedule due to the July 4 holiday.
For the second straight year, the starters at all of the positions except pitcher were determined exclusively via online voting, with the venerable paper ballots having been retired. Fans were allowed to vote 35 times per email address, without verification; as with last year, multiplemedia members received emails thanking them for voting when they'd done no such thing, but for MLB, ballot stuffing is a feature, not a bug. The rest of the selections were decided via a combination of player voting and the selections of managers Terry Collins and Ned Yost. Here are the starting lineups:
American League
C Sal Perez, Royals
1B Eric Hosmer, Royals
2B Jose Altuve, Astros
3B Manny Machado, Orioles
SS Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox
OF Mookie Betts, Red Sox
OF Mike Trout, Angels
OF Jackie Bradley Jr., Red Sox
DH David Ortiz, Red Sox
National League
C Buster Posey, Giants
1B Anthony Rizzo, Cubs
2B Ben Zobrist, Cubs
3B Kris Bryant, Cubs
SS Addison Russell, Cubs
OF Yoenis Cespedes, Mets
OF Dexter Fowler, Cubs
OF Bryce Harper, Nationals
On Wednesday, Cliff Corcoran and I will nitpick the starting and reserve selections via our annual Best 25-man Rosters for each league. The remainder of the rosters and the Final Vote candidates are below, but for now, here are a few key points:
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• Since the last voting update on June 27, the only position where a player trailing in the voting came from behind was at NL catcher, where Posey trailed the Cardinals’ Yadier Molina by just 5,130 votes. That wasn’t the closest final result, however. In the NL second base vote, Zobrist edged the Nationals’ Daniel Murphy by a mere 88 votes, that out of more than six million cast.
• The Cubs are the first team since the 1976 Reds with five starters elected by the fans. The 102-win Big Red Machine, which won its second straight championship later in ’76, placed catcher Johnny Bench, second baseman Joe Morgan, shortstop Dave Concepcion, third baseman Pete Rose and outfielder George Foster (normally a leftfielder, but starting in center) in the Senior Circuit’s lineup. This year’s Cubs are the second team whose entire infield will start the All-Star Game. The first was the 1963 Cardinals, whose infield featured first baseman Bill White, second baseman Julian Javier, third baseman Ken Boyer and shortstop Dick Groat. The 1963 selection came not via fans but players, managers and coaches, since the fan vote was suspended after 1957 when overzealous Reds fans elected seven players (fan balloting returned in 1970).
• Including starting pitchers Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester, the Cubs will send seven players to San Diego, the most of any team, which is fitting as they own the majors’ highest winning percentage (.627 via a 52–31 record as of Tuesday night). The Red Sox will send at least six, including starter Steven Wright—but not David Price—and closer Craig Kimbrel, with Dustin Pedroia a candidate in the Final Vote. The Orioles are the only other team with at least five players, while 15 teams—the Angels, A's, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Mariners, Padres, Phillies, Pirates, Rays, Reds, Tigers, Twins and White Sox—will have just one representative, barring the Final Vote results and substitutions due to injuries.
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• The AL’s starting infield is the youngest in All-Star history, with all four players 26 or younger. In fact, the only player in the team's starting lineup who is older than 26 is 40-year-old Red Sox DH David Ortiz. The honor of being the youngest All-Star belongs to the Dodgers’ Corey Seager, who’s 22 years and 69 days old (as of July 5), edging out Addison Russell (22 years, 164 days) and Francisco Lindor (22 years, 234 days). Seager is the lone rookie with a roster spot, though Trevor Story could join him by winning the Final Vote.
• Just as they did in guiding their teams to last year’s World Series, Collins and Yost took very different approaches in building their pitching staffs. Including the injured Clayton Kershaw and the inactive Madison Bumgarner (since he’s scheduled to start on Sunday), the NL squad features nine starters and five relievers, all of them closers save for the recently traded Fernando Rodney, who after being sent from San Diego to Miami is now setting up for fellow All-Star A.J. Ramos. The AL squad features just five starters, with nine relievers including the injured Wade Davis. Of the latter group, Kimbrel, Alex Colomé and Andrew Miller are the only ones who have spent significant time closing this season. Yost’s AL squad won last year’s game, though the middle relievers who made that team save for Davis (who took over closing duties later in the year) and the Yankees’ Dellin Betances were bystanders for the actual game.
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Reserves & Pitchers
(*Player is currently injured)
American League
C: Stephen Vogt, Athletics
C: Matt Wieters, Orioles
1B: Miguel Cabrera, Tigers
2B: Robinson Cano, Mariners
3B: Josh Donaldson, Blue Jays
SS: Francisco Lindor, Indians
SS: Eduardo Nunez, Twins
OF: Carlos Beltran, Yankees
OF: Ian Desmond, Rangers
OF: Mark Trumbo, Orioles
DH: Edwin Encarnacion, Blue Jays
LHP: Cole Hamels, Rangers
RHP: Danny Salazar, Indians
LHP: Chris Sale, White Sox
RHP: Steven Wright, Red Sox
RHP: Marco Estrada, Blue Jays
RHP: Dellin Betances, Yankees
RHP: Brad Brach, Orioles
LHP: Zach Britton, Orioles
RHP: Alex Colome, Rays
RHP: Wade Davis, Royals*
RHP: Will Harris, Astros
RHP: Kelvin Herrera, Royals
RHP: Craig Kimbrel, Red Sox
LHP: Andrew Miller, Yankees
National League
C: Jonathan Lucroy, Brewers
C: Wilson Ramos, Nationals
1B: Paul Goldschmidt, Diamondbacks
1B: Wil Myers, Padres
2B: Daniel Murphy, Nationals
3B: Nolan Arenado, Rockies
3B: Matt Carpenter, Cardinals
SS: Corey Seager, Dodgers
OF: Adam Duvall, Reds
OF: Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies
OF: Odubel Herrera, Phillies
OF: Marcell Ozuna, Marlins
RHP: Jake Arrieta, Cubs
LHP: Madison Bumgarner, Giants
RHP: Johnny Cueto, Giants
RHP: Jose Fernandez, Marlins
LHP: Clayton Kershaw*, Dodgers
LHP: Jon Lester, Cubs
RHP: Stephen Strasburg, Nationals
RHP: Noah Syndergaard, Mets
RHP: Julio Teheran, Braves
RHP: Jeurys Familia, Mets
RHP: Kenley Jansen, Dodgers
RHP: Mark Melancon, Pirates
RHP: A.J. Ramos, Marlins
RHP: Fernando Rodney, Marlins
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Final Vote
AL
Ian Kinsler, Rangers
Evan Longoria, Rays
Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox
Michael Saunders, Blue Jays
George Springer, Astros
NL
Brandon Belt, Giants
Ryan Braun, Brewers
Jake Lamb, Diamondbacks
Starling Marte, Pirates
Trevor Story, Rockies
