Cubs Maintain Stranglehold on NL All-Star Vote as Dexter Fowler Moves Into Top OF Spot

Six NL players have received over one million votes apiece as of the latest All-Star game update. Four of those men call Wrigley Field Home. Anthony Rizzo (1,264,404) is pacing the pack and his lead over Brandon Belt (402,271) at first base represents more votes than all but the members of the aforementioned group have received. So that’s something.

Kris Bryant (1,172,717) is second in overall voting and leads Nolan Arenado (841,147) by a decent margin. Ben Zobrist (1,140,808) is fourth overall and doesn’t appear to be in any danger of losing his spot to Daniel Murphy (751,925). Things are starting to look a little dicey for Addison Russell (832,191) though, as his scuffling of late has allowed Trevor Story (714,160) to close the gap.

In a bit of a surprise, Dexter Fowler (1,170,718) jumped up to third overall and first among all outfielders with a big surge since last week’s update. The top three remained the same, with Bryce Harper (1,119,168) and Yoenis Cespedes (1,097,593) rounding out the starers. Jason Heyward (703,911) and Jorge Soler (476,053) rank fourth and sixth, respectively, though I think the latter’s recent injury might hurt his chances.

At this point, catcher is the only spot at which the Cubs don’t have a lead. Not only is the two-headed monster of Miguel Montero and David Ross likely splitting votes, but they’re going up against the greatest backstop in the history of the sport in Yadier Molina. If Johnny Bench and Yogi Berra had a baby, and that baby grew up and got a neck tattoo, it’d be Yadi. Good luck beating that guy out for the All-Star Game.

So now that Cubs fans have flexed their muscle in getting their own favorite players to the top of their respective charts, isn’t it time to start trying to tank the AL team? I mean, if you’re really serious about wanting to see Cubs play in the ASG and the World Series, you might want to do everything you can to get them home-field advantage in the latter.

Stay tuned for updates over the next couple weeks to read more about the results everyone who’s not a Cubs fan will be complaining about.