All-Star Races Come Down To Wire As Voting Nears End

Major League Baseball has released it’s last All-Star Game voting update prior to the July 3 deadline and a few tight races remain in both leagues.

The race that everyone has a sentimental eye on is in the American League at shortstop between the retiring future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter (2,924,686) of the New York Yankees and Alexei Ramirez (2,325,527) of the Chicago White Sox. Jeter is seeking to end his career with a 14th All-Star appearance,

In the American League outfield, with the top two spots all but clinched by Jose Bautista (4,460,245) of the Toronto Blue Jays and Mike Trout (4,085,647) of the Los Angeles Angels, the race has come down to the final spot currently held by Yoenis Cespedes (1,941,553) of the Oakland Athletics. Just 12,047 votes separate Cespedes from Melky Cabrera (1,929,506) of the Blue Jays. Adam Jones (1,853,268) of the Baltimore Orioles is right behind the two with only hours to go.

The AL catching situation is unchanged with Matt Wieters (2,103,385) of the Orioles, who is currently out for the season after undergoing Tommy John Surgery, still leads Derek Norris (1,924,049) of the Athletics.

The other races in the AL seem to be over with sizeable vote leads for the frontrunners. First baseman Miguel Cabrera (3,323,380) of the Detroit Tigers and third baseman Josh Donaldson (2,943,332) of the Athletics both lead their positions by more than a million votes. Designated hitter Nelson Cruz (2,944,267) of the Orioles and second baseman Robinson Cano (2,474,924) of the Seattle Mariners have leads nearing the one million mark.

Bautista and Trout are the only two players in either league to have crossed the four million vote mark.

In the National League the closest race is in the outfield where all three positions are up for grabs. Andrew McCutchen (3,173,810) of the Pittsburgh Pirates currently leads Carlos Gomez (3,169,748) of the Milwaukee Brewers and Yasiel Puig (3,001,907) of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins trails close behind with 2,681,019 votes.

The race at catcher is the only other position in the NL that has a close enough vote differential that a change is possible before the deadline. Yadier Molina (3,100,939) of the St. Louis Cardinals currently leads Jonathan Lucroy (2,636,640) of the Brewers. Lucroy has been making a late inning push towards the finish line as he passed Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants (1,985,621) last week and reduced Molina's lead over him by 224,808 votes.

Troy Tulowitzki (3,997,477) of the Colorado Rockies locked up the shortstop position weeks ago with more than a two million vote lead and continues to be the NL's top vote getter. First baseman Paul Goldschmidt (2,582,955) of the Arizona Diamondbacks and third baseman Aramis Ramirez (1,790,777) of the Brewers both have more than a million vote lead at their positions. At second base Chase Utley (2,436,143) of the Philadelphia Phillies leads Neil Walker (1,556,511) of the Pirates.

The final vote will be announced on July 6 with the All-Star game being played on July 15 at Target Field in Minneapolis, MN.

*- Out For Season