MLB All-Star Voting Update #5: Who Leads the NL?

Cespedes has consistently been one of the outfield leaders in voting. (Getty)

Last week’s voting update for the NL showed absolutely no changes to the starting lineup. In fact, no update to the National League has seen a single new player lead the voting. The only thing that’s changed was the order of the 3 outfielders in terms of vote-getting. But week after week, it’s still been the same 8 players.

The one race that’s still interesting is catcher. Yadier Molina has led the voting in all 4 updates so far, but Giants fans have not stopped voting for Buster Posey, and Molina’s slim lead never quite grew. Posey could easily overtake Molina in this update… even if he hasn’t yet.

All the other positions seem set. Positions that seemed like close races got less close and players with comfortable leads got even more comfortable leads. Expect a Cubs outfield and the same three outfielders, barring a major surge in votes for 4th or 5th place vote-getters Jason Heyward and Ryan Braun.

The full voting can be found here. Your leading vote-getters are:

First Baseman: Anthony Rizzo, Chicago Cubs

Second Baseman: Ben Zobrist, Chicago Cubs

Third Baseman: Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs

Shortstop: Addison Russell, Chicago Cubs

Catcher: Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals

Outfielders: Dexter Fowler, Chicago Cubs; Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals; Yoenis Cespedes, New York Mets

5 voting updates, 1 lineup. Once again the Cubs have 5 players, once again Yadier Molina just barely leads over Buster Posey. The lead is closer than ever, though, as Posey only trails by 50,000 votes. Molina still leads, but it could be argued that Posey has gained the momentum. Can he overtake Molina in 3 days time?

The other 7 starters are set in stone at this point. All 3 outfielders have reached 2 million votes. Zobrist, Bryant, and Russell all have leads of about 300,000, meaning it would take a miraculous voting surge for anyone to overtake them. Next Tuesday, we’ll find out the one exciting part of this race left: who catches for the National League starting lineup.