Sometimes, it's excessively silly when one MLB team dominates the All-Star Game voting (congrats on having access to an entire country, Toronto). Sometimes, though, it's very appropriate.
Remember when the Kansas City Royals won the fan vote nearly across the board in 2015, and everyone was like, "Ha ha," and then they won the World Series? Yeah.
Some fan bases stuff ballot boxes when they want to prove a point. Some fan bases just have a lot of time to click through Captchas on MLB.com and make their digital voices heard. But some fans just know what's up. The voting has been markedly better in recent years. Not sure if the voting body is more educated and/or less prejudiced, but you used to get a lot of, "Uh, Edgar Renteria is your starting shortstop? He's hitting .262 with three homers. Ok." Now? Not so much.
Get your yuks out now about the Texas Rangers going hog wild and tossing the ball around the horn to each other next week, but there's a reason they're all there. There was a reasonable argument for a bunch of Blue Jays ... to finish second to a bunch of Rangers. Their dominance of the voting appears to tell the actual story of a breakout, rather than a fan base that just loves to troll.
MLB Standings Ordered by All-Star Game Voting
AL East:
1. Rays (2 Starters: Yandy Diaz, Randy Arozarena)
2. Yankees (1 Starter: Aaron Judge )
3. TIE - Orioles, Blue Jays, Red Sox (0). Very funny outcome. No notes.
AL Central:
1. TIE - Twins, Guardians, Tigers, White Sox, Royals (0). Oh no!
AL West:
1. Rangers (4 Starters - and maybe more! Judge could give way to Adolis Garcia, who finished fifth behind Yordan Alvarez, also injured.)
2. Angels (1 Starter, but he kind of counts for two)
3. TIE - Astros, Mariners, A's (0). Three of the same team, it's like I'm lookin' at a carbon copy here!
NL East:
1. Braves (3 Starters). Leading vote-getter Ronald Acuña Jr. is joined by Sean Murphy and the closest thing we have to "a classic Renteria" in Orlando Arcia. But he's good!
2. Marlins (1 Starter). Luis Arraez. That feels good.
3. TIE - Mets, Phillies, Nationals (0). This ain't what you paid for.
NL Central:
1. Cardinals (1 Starter - Nolan Arenado)
2. TIE - Brewers, Reds, Pirates, Cubs (0)
NL West:
1. Dodgers (3 Starters): JD Martinez, Mookie Betts ... are you sure we got those AL East standings right?
2. Diamondbacks (1 Starter: Homecoming King Corbin Carroll)
3. TIE - Padres, Giants, Rockies (0). Not the goal, I'd say.
The Yankees were so close to the embarrassing bottom column here, and if the voting public had looked in the mirror and gone, "Wait ... Aaron Judge is hurt, right? Why are we doing this?" they'd have been shut out. Gerrit Cole will likely make the team, but he won't start.
Now, at least, Yankee fans get to watch Judge jog and wave (but he shouldn't put jogging pressure on the wrong foot). Living the dream.