MLB All-Star balloting update: Anthony Rizzo could use your help to make the final ballot

It’s the last week of primary voting for the 2019 MLB All-Star Game and if the first-ever Starters Ballot were printed today seven Cubs would be on that ballot. No team in Major League Baseball has more than All Stars on the ballot as of this update. The Braves are the only other team in the National League with seven possible All Stars on the Starters Ballot, and the Yankees also have seven players who would make the cut as of today.

Catcher - Willson Contreras has a sizable lead

Willson Contreras had a large lead in the first tally of ballots a week ago and he hasn’t lost any ground since then as you can see below:

MLB

What was previously a 580,650-vote lead for Willson has grown to a 830,006-vote lead. Yasmani Grandal has overtaken Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto for the final spot on the ballot here. One thing to note: The vote tallies of Brian McCann and Grandal combined wouldn’t be enough to take the top spot from Contreras, however there are currently 1.7 million votes for other players at the position. That’s 38 percent of the total vote that could break favorably for McCann or Grandal, so Willson will still need all the help you can give him to be the starter for the All-Star Game for the second year in a row.

Shortstop: El Mago has the largest lead among infielders

Javier Báez was in first the last time we looked at these ballots and he’s still in first. He’s also increased his lead impressively:

MLB

Javy had a 574,694-vote lead a week ago that has grown to 907,399. While Corey Seager is hanging onto the third spot here, he was recently placed on the Injured List and a red-hot Trevor Story is close behind. Again, Javy has a lead that is larger than the combination of the second and third place vote getters, but could be overtaken by the field — barely. There are 1,703,665 votes between places four to ten, or roughly 37 percent, that could be redistributed to any of the top three on the ballot.

First base: Anthony Rizzo is slipping and needs your help

When we last checked in on ballots Anthony Rizzo was second behind Josh Bell with a slim 54,927 vote margin over Freddie Freeman. In the last week Freeman has surged past Rizzo and is even threatening to overtake Bell:

MLB

While Rizzo still has a comfortable 501,343-vote lead over the Dodgers’ Max Muncy, he’s going to need a serious push to overtake Freeman or Bell on the Starters Ballot. This race is close with Rizzo trailing Bell by only 158,139 votes and approximately 36 percent of the total vote distributed between players four to ten — anyone could come out on top in the final ballot.

Third base: Kris Bryant is a solid second

The good news is that Bryant is still a solid second at third base. The bad news is that Nolan Arenado seems to have as much of a lock on this position as Contreras and Báez have at theirs:

MLB

At this point it looks like Bryant will make the Starters Ballot, but in order to overtake Arenado he’d need the lion’s share of the remaining vote to break in his favor. There is approximately 37 percent of the vote total distributed between players four to ten on this list, but the size of Arenado’s lead makes overtaking him difficult.

Outfield: Albert Almora Jr., Jason Heyward and Kyle Schwarber still hanging on

All three Cubs outfielders are still hanging onto spots on the final ballot but the likelihood of taking over the top three current vote getters on the final ballot looks slim:

MLB

Christian Yelich and Cody Bellinger are both having career years with 4.5 fWAR and 4.9 fWAR respectively. The only other player in baseball with an fWAR over four is Mike Trout (duh) at 4.6. fWAR doesn’t appear on the All Star Ballot (it should, but that’s a post for another day) however, the voters seem to be getting this one correct with Bellinger and Yelich lapping the field. That means this is really a seven way battle for one spot and Ronald Acuña Jr. is holding a solid lead on that spot. Still, the Cubs are popular and both Schwarber and Heyward are putting up great numbers right now, they could make the final ballot uncomfortable with a nice week at the plate.

As a reminder the top three vote-getters at each position advance to the Starters Ballot. You can vote for your favorite Cubs until 3 p.m. Central time on Friday, June 21. Vote early, vote often and let’s put these Cubs on the Starters Ballot!