Cubs rule, AL infield makes history and more All-Star roster notes

The rosters for the 2016 All-Star Game were revealed on Tuesday night, with the Cubs’ heavy presence and the history-making AL infield among the key takeaways from this year’s teams for the Midsummer Classic.

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The youngest infield in All-Star history, an all-Cubs infield and four representatives of the majors’ highest-scoring offense highlight the starting lineups for next Tuesday’s All-Star Game, to be held at Petco Park in San Diego. They, along with the rest of the starters, reserves and Final Vote candidates for both leagues, were announced on Tuesday evening—a compressed schedule due to the July 4 holiday.

For the second straight year, the starters at all of the positions except pitcher were determined exclusively via online voting, with the venerable paper ballots having been retired. Fans were allowed to vote 35 times per email address, without verification; as with last year, multiplemedia members received emails thanking them for voting when they'd done no such thing, but for MLB, ballot stuffing is a feature, not a bug. The rest of the selections were decided via a combination of player voting and the selections of managers Terry Collins and Ned Yost. Here are the starting lineups:

American League

C Sal Perez, Royals

1B Eric Hosmer, Royals

2B Jose Altuve, Astros

3B Manny Machado, Orioles

SS Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox

OF Mookie Betts, Red Sox

OF Mike Trout, Angels

OF Jackie Bradley Jr., Red Sox

DH David Ortiz, Red Sox

National League

C Buster Posey, Giants

1B Anthony Rizzo, Cubs

2B Ben Zobrist, Cubs

3B Kris Bryant, Cubs

SS Addison Russell, Cubs

OF Yoenis Cespedes, Mets

OF Dexter Fowler, Cubs

OF Bryce Harper, Nationals

On Wednesday, Cliff Corcoran and I will nitpick the starting and reserve selections via our annual Best 25-man Rosters for each league. The remainder of the rosters and the Final Vote candidates are below, but for now, here are a few key points:

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• Since the last voting update on June 27, the only position where a player trailing in the voting came from behind was at NL catcher, where Posey trailed the Cardinals’ Yadier Molina by just 5,130 votes. That wasn’t the closest final result, however. In the NL second base vote, Zobrist edged the Nationals’ Daniel Murphy by a mere 88 votes, that out of more than six million cast.

• The Cubs are the first team since the 1976 Reds with five starters elected by the fans. The 102-win Big Red Machine, which won its second straight championship later in ’76, placed catcher Johnny Bench, second baseman Joe Morgan, shortstop Dave Concepcion, third baseman Pete Rose and outfielder George Foster (normally a leftfielder, but starting in center) in the Senior Circuit’s lineup. This year’s Cubs are the second team whose entire infield will start the All-Star Game. The first was the 1963 Cardinals, whose infield featured first baseman Bill White, second baseman Julian Javier, third baseman Ken Boyer and shortstop Dick Groat. The 1963 selection came not via fans but players, managers and coaches, since the fan vote was suspended after 1957 when overzealous Reds fans elected seven players (fan balloting returned in 1970). 

• Including starting pitchers Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester, the Cubs will send seven players to San Diego, the most of any team, which is fitting as they own the majors’ highest winning percentage (.627 via a 52–31 record as of Tuesday night). The Red Sox will send at least six, including starter Steven Wright—but not David Price—and closer Craig Kimbrel, with Dustin Pedroia a candidate in the Final Vote. The Orioles are the only other team with at least five players, while 15 teams—the Angels, A's, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Mariners, Padres, Phillies, Pirates, Rays, Reds, Tigers, Twins and White Sox—will have just one representative, barring the Final Vote results and substitutions due to injuries.

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• The AL’s starting infield is the youngest in All-Star history, with all four players 26 or younger. In fact, the only player in the team's starting lineup who is older than 26 is 40-year-old Red Sox DH David Ortiz. The honor of being the youngest All-Star belongs to the Dodgers’ Corey Seager, who’s 22 years and 69 days old (as of July 5), edging out Addison Russell (22 years, 164 days) and Francisco Lindor (22 years, 234 days). Seager is the lone rookie with a roster spot, though Trevor Story could join him by winning the Final Vote.

• Just as they did in guiding their teams to last year’s World Series, Collins and Yost took very different approaches in building their pitching staffs. Including the injured Clayton Kershaw and the inactive Madison Bumgarner (since he’s scheduled to start on Sunday), the NL squad features nine starters and five relievers, all of them closers save for the recently traded Fernando Rodney, who after being sent from San Diego to Miami is now setting up for fellow All-Star A.J. Ramos. The AL squad features just five starters, with nine relievers including the injured Wade Davis. Of the latter group, Kimbrel, Alex Colomé and Andrew Miller are the only ones who have spent significant time closing this season. Yost’s AL squad won last year’s game, though the middle relievers who made that team save for Davis (who took over closing duties later in the year) and the Yankees’ Dellin Betances were bystanders for the actual game.

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Reserves & Pitchers

(*Player is currently injured)

American League

C: Stephen Vogt, Athletics

C: Matt Wieters, Orioles

1B: Miguel Cabrera, Tigers

2B: Robinson Cano, Mariners

3B: Josh Donaldson, Blue Jays

SS: Francisco Lindor, Indians

SS: Eduardo Nunez, Twins

OF: Carlos Beltran, Yankees

OF: Ian Desmond, Rangers

OF: Mark Trumbo, Orioles

DH: Edwin Encarnacion, Blue Jays

LHP: Cole Hamels, Rangers

RHP: Danny Salazar, Indians

LHP: Chris Sale, White Sox

RHP: Steven Wright, Red Sox

RHP: Marco Estrada, Blue Jays

RHP: Dellin Betances, Yankees

RHP: Brad Brach, Orioles

LHP: Zach Britton, Orioles

RHP: Alex Colome, Rays

RHP: Wade Davis, Royals*

RHP: Will Harris, Astros

RHP: Kelvin Herrera, Royals

RHP: Craig Kimbrel, Red Sox

LHP: Andrew Miller, Yankees

National League

C: Jonathan Lucroy, Brewers

C: Wilson Ramos, Nationals

1B: Paul Goldschmidt, Diamondbacks

1B: Wil Myers, Padres

2B: Daniel Murphy, Nationals

3B: Nolan Arenado, Rockies

3B: Matt Carpenter, Cardinals

SS: Corey Seager, Dodgers

OF: Adam Duvall, Reds

OF: Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies

OF: Odubel Herrera, Phillies

OF: Marcell Ozuna, Marlins

RHP: Jake Arrieta, Cubs

LHP: Madison Bumgarner, Giants

RHP: Johnny Cueto, Giants

RHP: Jose Fernandez, Marlins

LHP: Clayton Kershaw*, Dodgers

LHP: Jon Lester, Cubs

RHP: Stephen Strasburg, Nationals

RHP: Noah Syndergaard, Mets

RHP: Julio Teheran, Braves

RHP: Jeurys Familia, Mets

RHP: Kenley Jansen, Dodgers

RHP: Mark Melancon, Pirates

RHP: A.J. Ramos, Marlins

RHP: Fernando Rodney, Marlins

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Final Vote

AL

Ian Kinsler, Rangers

Evan Longoria, Rays

Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox

Michael Saunders, Blue Jays

George Springer, Astros

NL

Brandon Belt, Giants

Ryan Braun, Brewers

Jake Lamb, Diamondbacks

Starling Marte, Pirates

Trevor Story, Rockies