Willson Contreras, Javier Baez in the lead in this week’s N.L. All-Star balloting update

Voting for the MLB All Star Game has been open since May 28 and if you haven’t cast your daily ballots to vote for your favorite Cubs yet, you still have 10 days to get that done before the top three at each position advance to a 28-hour long Starters Election on June 26. Today we got our first glimpse at the vote totals by position from MLB. If the vote leaders were the starters today your MLB starters would be:

MLB

Under the old rules two Cubs would be locks to start their positions. However, since the new system is set up to produce a three-way ballot to determine the starter, there are actually seven Cubs with strong arguments to make the final ballot, plus every Cub on the ballot will need one more push from fans to be named the starter at their position.

Catcher - Willson Contreras has a solid lead

Contreras currently has a 581,000 vote lead over the other two catchers who would currently join him on the ballot: Brian McCann and J.T. Realmuto. However, both Yadier Molina and Yasmani Grandal are in shouting distance of making the final ballot:

MLB

Short Stop - Javier Báez is also cruising

Fan favorite Javier Báez is also cruising to the final ballot. The perennial fan favorite has a 575,000 vote lead over the Braves’ Dansby Swanson. They would currently be joined on the ballot by Corey Seager, but a red-hot Trevor Story is lurking just 14,000 votes behind:

MLB

First Base - Anthony Rizzo is second

Anthony Rizzo is currently on the final Starters Ballot and trailing Josh Bell by about 160,000 votes. This ballot looks relatively settled between Bell, Rizzo and Braves’ first baseman Freddie Freeman, although you could imagine any of those fanbases tipping the starting position to their favorite in a final ballot:

MLB

Third Base - Kris Bryant solidly in second

Nolan Arenado has the largest infielder starter gap after Willson and Javy. He’s currently almost 380,000 votes ahead of Kris Bryant. At this point both look like they will make the final ballot, although there is a close three-way race for the final spot between Justin Turner, Josh Donaldson and Anthony Rendon.

MLB

Surprising results in the outfield

If the ballot were finalized today Bryce Harper would not be on it, but the Cubs would have all three of their starting outfielders on the ballot, as the top nine will go to the Starters Election. Albert Almora Jr. is leading the Cubs in fifth position with Jason Heyward and Kyle Schwarber close behind in seventh and eighth. Cody Bellinger and Christian Yelich look to be locks to start the All Star Game at the moment. Ronald Acuña Jr. has a solid lead for the third spot, but that spot looks like it could be more competitive:

MLB

The bottom line is that the Cubs have four position players with strong arguments for starting the All Star Game, but only two of them are leading their respective positions right now. All of the outfielders could make a run on the final ballot with a well-timed hot streak and a surge of Chicago voting.

Vote early, vote often and we’ll keep you posted as the Starters Election approaches on June 26.