Getty Justin Turner of the Los Angeles Dodgers
With the rosters for the 2017 Major League Baseball All Star game locked in, it’s up to fans to select the final two players for the 88th All Star game on Tuesday July 11th. The Final Vote campaign is the last stage of selection for the All Star game and the second stage that is fan-driven. Fans select the starters for each league in stage one, stage two consists of players from all 30 teams voting to fill out the rosters and stage three is when the commissioner’s office selects the last few players to be included.
Last year Michael Saunders of the Toronto Blue Jays beat out George Springer of the Houston Astros and Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox in the American League, while Brandon Belt of the San Francisco Giants held off Starling Marte of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Both players ended up going 0-1 in the game, which the National League won 4-2.
Here’s who is the in the running to represent their leagues this year.
American League
Mike Moustakas of the Kansas City Royals leads the way in the AL Final Vote race (Getty)
Elvis Andrus, Texas Rangers
Xander Bogaerts, Boston Red Sox
Didi Gregorius, New York Yankees
Logan Morrison, Tampa Bay Rays
Mike Moustakas, Kansas City Royals
National League
A group of loyal Dodgers fans, Pantone 294, are volunteering to vote for 24 consecutive hours to get Justin Turner into the All Stare Game (Getty)
Justin Bour, Miami Marlins
Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs
Anthony Rendon, Washington Nationals
Mark Reynolds, Colorado Rockies
Justin Turner, Los Angeles Dodgers
As of 1pm on Wednesday, Moustakas and Turner, both third basemen, were in the lead. Bogaerts is right behind Moustakas, with Bryant trailing Turner. Bryant’s wife Jessica has been one of his fiercest advocates, taking to Twitter to campaign for her husband several times a day.
What’s more American than baseball & voting?! Let’s celebrate the 4th with watching the @Cubs game & #VoteKB t.co/T4gRkKhydo 🇺🇸⚾️🇺🇸
Bogaerts is looking to break a dismal run of Red Sox who have failed to snag the Final Vote nod. Since Boston closer Hideki Okajima won the Final Vote in 2007, Boston has gone 0-4 in the Final Vote race. Bogaerts finished second to Moustakas in the Final Vote race in 2015.
Voting ends Thursday July 6, 2017 at 4:00 p.m. eastern time.