The first results for the National League's squad at the All-Star Game were released on Wednesday, with Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and Cardinals' catcher Yadier Molina among the early leaders.
NL All Star ballot: Troy Tulowitzki leads voting in Senior Circuit
The National League All-Star roster is taking shape. If you don’t like it, you can vote 34 more times.
Justin Edmonds
Barring some unforeseen reversal in popularity, Tulowitzki will be named an All-Star for the fourth time in his nine-year career. Just four nominations seems hard to believe given his impressive track record and league-leading .373/.476/.711 batting line this season, but Tulo missed considerable time in 2008 and 2012, and didn’t make the cut in 2007 and 2009 despite solid performances.
Tulo's teammate Charlie Blackmon heads up the outfield class, presumably due to Rockies' fans stuffing the ballots. He's having a fine season, posting a 127 OPS+, but his presence means the far superior Giancarlo Stanton, Yasiel Puig, and Carlos Gomez have all been left out of the starting lineup at present. Andrew McCutchen is there, however, and Ryan Braun is currently third among outfielders: maybe fans don't care about PEDs as much as angry winter narratives have led us to believe they do. You could counter with saying Brewers fans are stuffing the ballots, too, but that wouldn't explain why Gomez is toiling away in sixth at his position.
MLB tweeted out the full “starting lineup” for the National League. Things can change, as this is the first of many updates, and there are still millions of votes to be cast:
NL @AllStarGame ballot leaders: 1B A. Gonzalez 2B Utley SS Tulo 3B Arenado C Molina OF Blackmon OF McCutchen OF Braun
— MLB (@MLB) May 28, 2014 If you missed the early returns from the AL vote, we’ve got you covered there, too. The 2014 All-Star Game will be held on July 15 at Target Field in Minnesota.
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