Shohei Ohtani is the most special boy in the world.

Ohtani went 3-4 in the second 2016 NPB All-Star Game as a DH, to win the ASG MVP. The year before, he started the first All-Star game as a pitcher (he had a no-decision).

That link wasn't very useful for me, try this one

Those AL OF options weren't that enticing. Trout obviously (hurt of course) and Judge are no-brainers but nobody else who entered the final heat is remotely a "star" (although all good players). None of that is as embarrassing as Joc Pederson entering the final heat for NL OF which is even shorter of star power in the starting 3. Clearly some successful ballot "stuffing" in Toronto and I suppose Cincy ... or is this the influence of online voting with all the stats right there. (Was it current stats only?)

Anyway, hard to argue too much with the IFs and C. I'm surprised Frazier topped Albies but it's a reasonable selection.

Teoscar is a fairly poor choice (Mullins, Gallo, Brantley all would be better IMHO) but he's having a good enough year that it's not anything to get worked up about. I'd probably have taken Soto over Castellanos or Winker simply because for me "great player having good year" is more appealing than "good player having great year" but again those guys are probably having better years than Soto at the moment. Mike Trout should be selected to the All Star team by default if he goes 0 for the first half.

AL East - 6
AL Central - 1
AL West - 2
NL East - 2
NL Central - 4
NL West - 2

Byron Buxton would have been a better choice but he's injured so I can see how he didn't get support. Of course, since he's injured electing him means another person will get his spot.

Not sure how much other teams pushed but I know the Jays pushed hard for fans to get out and vote. There was a countdown on the game to when voting was going to end. Bo Bichette had a case to make it 4 Jays as he is having a very good year at SS. I figure Teoscar Hernandez benefited from the Jay fans wanting to push Vlad in. When you have an exciting player to vote for you push harder. I'm sure if the Angels had anyone outside of Ohtani and Trout they'd have been pushed in as well. Of course, if the Angels had more solid players they would be over 500.

Adam Frazier's an interesting selection. He's definitely deserving (or at least not undeserving) based on the "best first half" criterion that most people seem to apply, but he's a rather anonymous player with no track record of stardom, from a team that's not only small-market but also terrible.

Frazier should be automatically disqualified for not backing up first on the Baez play.

Teoscar? It's unfortunate that Cedric Mullins wasn't rewarded for his first half.

The real head-scratcher to me is Betts did not get a start. I was under the impression that Betts was among the most popular players (and deserves to be) and he's having a solid season. If Betts playing in LA can't waltz onto an AS team by popular vote then something is very different than 1975 (it's hard to think of anything).

After last postseason's barrage, if there was gonna be a surprise AL name, I'd have thought Arozarena (and having a solid year).

But I'm looking at the OF WAR leaderboard and I guess there's just a lack of what I consider star power in the OF these days. Mullins leads and Brian Reynolds (the Whit Merrifield of the rust belt) is next. Acuna, Betts and Judge are obviously stars but Gallo, Castellanos, Canha, Adolis and Winker round out the top 10. When Schwarber breaks Bonds' record sometime in mid-Aug he'll become a superstar but he's not there yet. The only real "star" name among the lower WAR totals is Soto ... even faded stars are hard to find (McCutchen).

I do wonder how much the "presentation" of the ballot matters. Traditionally, players injured early didn't get voted in very often; with the vote even more "real time", it should be even less likely today, yet Buxton with 110 PA and not playing since early May (and playing for a last place team) nearly got voted in. Obviously it wasn't his long track record of success. I can't think of any reason other than when fans (esp of other teams) went online to vote, the line of 369/409/767 was staring them in the face.

Anyway, Jessie Winker getting voted in over Mookie Betts is just mind-boggling to me. It's a different world. Maybe it's a better world.

Maybe it's because Betts is in his odd-numbered year downturn. Next year he'll probably be MVP.

If Betts playing in LA can't waltz onto an AS team by popular vote then something is very different than 1975 (it's hard to think of anything).

If I'd thunk on it at all, Betts would've been my pre-voting pick for overall vote leader.

C Buster Posey, SFG

Just left the Giants game after apparently injuring the thumb on his glove hand. Might need to be replaced, if it’s serious.