Chris Sale and Justin Morneau lead final All-Star reserve voting

By Mike Marteny | Jul 8, 2014

May 10, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale (49) speaks prior to a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at U.S Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports /

The final vote poll booths have been open for 36 hours now, and over 15 million votes have been cast. Polling it open until 4pm eastern time on Thursday, so expect many more millions of votes to be cast. For that reason it is impossible to give an exact tally until the polls close. In the ten minutes it takes me to write this, several thousand more votes will be cast.

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This year, baseball fans are charged with picking the king (AL pitcher) and queen (NL position player) of the MLB Prom (All Star game). Let’s face it folks. All this is is a popularity contest. How does Chris Sale’s 0.87 WHIP not have him on the team anyway? Or Anthony Rizzo’s 18 home runs?

Here are the standings so far:

AL Pitcher:

Chris Sale, White Sox: Sale was the winning pitcher in last year’s All Star game. Sale lost a month to injury, but is still 8-1 with a 2.16 ERA and silly 0.87 WHIP.

Garrett Richards, Angels: Richards has 10 wins, a 2.71 ERA and 119 strikeouts in his first year as a starter.

Rick Porcello, Tigers: Porcello is second in the majors with 11 wins, and just recently had a 25 inning scoreless streak snapped. His 3.53 ERA is a bit high for an All Star though.

Corey Kluber, Indians: Kluber is fifth in the majors with 137 strikeouts, and has a 2.86 ERA to go with it.

Dallas Keuchel, Astros: Kid Keuch has a 8-5 record with a 3.06 ERA and three complete games.

NL Hitter:

Justin Morneau, Rockies: Does it really matter what his credentials are? Who doesn’t want to see his return to Target Field for the All Star game? Still, the .315 average with 13 homers and 59 RBI don’t hurt any.

Anthony Rizzo, Cubs: Rizzo doesn’t have Morneau’s gaudy average, but he does have 18 home runs, and we all know chicks dig the long ball.

Justin Upton, Braves: Upton is third in the NL in homers with 17, and has a great OPS (.855).

Anthony Rendon, Nationals: The Nationals have five consecutive years of failure when it comes to pushing final vote players into the All Star game. Rendon has had a great year, but the thing that NL Manager Mike Matheny has to love is his ability to play second or third base. You know who Matheny wants.

Casey McGehee, Marlins: McGehee doesn’t hit home runs, but he sure drives in runs. And hits. He leads the NL with 110 hits, and is hitting .322. The only other NL player in the top ten in batting average not on the All Star roster is Matt Adams.

Who gets your vote? Personally I think Sale is more deserving, and I would love to see Morneau back in Minneapolis.