Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- MLB's All-Star voting update highlights Toronto Blue Jays fans dominating the first round results.
- The American League ballot shows players with minimal playing time, like catcher Alejandro Kirk, leading the rankings.
- The article argues that fan voting undermines player legacies and calls for a committee or executive decision to select All-Stars.
On June 15, MLB.com’s Thomas Harrigan shone like a beacon of journalistic integrity across cyberspace. In a legitimately heroic effort, he managed to run through the first round of MLB All-Star voting results without once calling Toronto Blue Jays fans losers. It was a heartening example of journalistic neutrality; an unflappable commitment to not editorializing and reporting on what he saw without personal bias. I, on the other hand, am not built like that.
MLB's All-Star voting system has been ruined by Blue Jays fans
MLB All-Star voting is stupid. It’s been stupid for a while, but the Blue Jay-ification of the All-Star ballot because of cornball Toronto hype men political machines is the real evidence that it’s time to burn the whole thing to the ground and start over. Because being an All-Star matters, and letting fans dictate terms has officially ruined it.
You may think this is elitist, or engaging in some old-man-yells-at-cloud behavior. But the first round of All-Star voting returns read like what a parody Blue Jays fan account would post on Instagram Reels with flashing graphics, all-caps “VLAD GUERRERO STILL ON TOP” and a Subway Surfers clip running in the bottom left corner. The National League is what it is (why is Juan Soto ninth in outfield voting?), but the American League is a disgrace to respectable society and culture. If Toronto fans keep at it, the AL starting lineup will just be eight Blue Jays and Yordan Alvarez.
There is no argument that Ernie Clement is the best second baseman in the AL. There is no argument that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is the best first baseman, no argument that Andres Gimenez or George Springer are even all that good let alone the second-best shortstop and DH in the AL. But all of that is peanuts compared the real crime against humanity: your No. 2 catcher in the American League, the man currently tracking to advance to the second phase of voting? Alejandro Kirk.
Go to any MLB stats website, sort by American League catchers and find me Kirk’s stats. Oh, you couldn’t find them? That’s right, because Kirk is not qualified for any statistical minimums on Baseball Reference, FanGraphs or MLB.com. Why, you may ask, would the No. 2 catcher in the AL not reach minimum qualifications? Because he’s played EIGHT GAMES this season! Eight!
The All-Star game matters and should be taken seriously
If that isn’t ironclad evidence that we need to pull the plug on fan votes, I don’t know what is. Just leave it up to a committee of players, coaches and executives, or just unilaterally declare the All-Star team by executive fiat.
You may accuse me of being dramatic. But the All-Star Game matters for player legacies and parsing through who was better than who. In 30 years, I want people to know which seasons were Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s best and which ones he struggled in without having to read something from 2026 about Blue Jays ballot-box stuffing. The hilarity of looking through MLB history is often due to incomprehensible voting behavior, such as Ted Williams losing the 1941 MVP award despite having arguably the best hitting season ever because of Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak. It’s idiotic, but it’s at least culturally intriguing.
I speak now, Blue Jays fans, directly to you: this isn’t funny or interesting, this is just stupid. It devalues your team’s prestige to artificially stack the All-Star team. Don’t you want your players to be recognized for being, ya know, actually good? You are turning the All-Star team into which fan base has the strongest labor organization, and are ruining it for everyone. Please stop. Please. Thank you.
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