ASG News

Major League Baseball yesterday evening announced the 2016 All-Star Game rosters, including the National and American League starters selected by fan voting.  Among the noteworthy selections were seven Chicago Cubs, including five starters.  For the AL, the Red Sox lead the way with six players, including four starters.  Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was selected as a starter for the eighth time, his 10th overall and likely final All-Star Game selection.

Royals catcher Salvador Perez was the top vote-getter this year, with 4,965,838 votes.

Several positions had tight races, most notably the spot for NL second baseman, where the Cubs’ Ben Zobrist edged the Nationals’ Daniel Murphy by a mere 88 votes.  For NL catcher, Buster Posey beat out Yadier Molina of the Cardinals by 105,049 votes.

The rosters are as follows:

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For those who have been following the All-Star Game voting trends, tonight is what you’ve been waiting for.  Tonight at 7 pm EST, fans can tune into ESPN to hear the final decisions for starting positions.  The show is hosted by Esurance and is set to take place before the broadcast of tonight’s Pirates-Cardinals game.

In case you missed it, ASGNews covered the final day of voting and recapped a few of the close races.  If you’re unable to watch, then be sure to follow @MLB on Twitter for live announcements.

From the Weekend (6/25-26):

• An early list of potential All-Star snubs (ESPN)
• Colorado Rockies Duo Needs Your All-Star Game Votes (Roxpile)
• Evan Longoria Experiencing Power Surge in 2016, Deserves All-Star Game Appearance (Sports Blog)
• Here’s why the Indians are one of MLB’s top contenders, and how they might get better (CBS Sports)
• Jose Reyes to Mets: Former All-star Reyes Re-signs With New York Mets (Inquisitr)
• MLB’s All-Overlooked Team: 10 Top Players Being Ignored in 2016 ASG Fan Vote (Bleacher Report)
• MLB All-Star 2016: It’s Shocking Which Players I Voted For (Crave)
• Padres Still Lagging in All-Star Voting (Friar’s On Base)
• Rangers players, like peers around MLB, aren’t heartless (Star-Telegram)
• San Diego Padres: The case for White Queso (iSportsBlog)
• Today’s Knuckleball Roundtable: All-Star Starters (Knuckleball)
• 2016 MLB All-Star Game: How to watch the roster announcements (CBS Sports)

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On Wednesday Major League Baseball announced the 12th annual pregame Red Carpet Parade through the streets of Downtown San Diego. It should be comparable to last year’s parade in Cincinnati (http://www.cincinnati.com/picture-gallery/sports/2015-all-star-game/2015/07/14/scenes-from-the-all-star-parade/30146985/).

The parade will begin at Noon on Tuesday, July 12, beginning at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel. At the front of the parade will be convertibles carrying all the members of the National League and American League All-Star teams. The parade will advance through the streets of San Diego all the way to Petco Park. The frontrunners of the parade will be the Grand Marshals, Dave Winfield and Trevor Hoffman.

According to San Diego newspapers, parking will be very difficult. The MLB and Padres encourage fans to use public transportation. There will be free park-and-ride lots along the Trolley and Coaster lines, this includes 5,000 spaces at Qualcomm Stadium.

If you’re unable to make the parade but still want to watch, the MLB Network is televising the event and will show it at 1 p.m. and it will be simulcast on MLB.com.

Read More:
2016 All-Star Game: Player parade in downtown San Diego
All-Star Game Parade Planned in San Diego
Hoffman, Winfield to lead All-Stars parade

This week saw the release of the 2016 All-Star Futures Game rosters.  For those unfamiliar with the Futures Game, it is an annual baseball game hosted by MLB.  It began in 1999, a team of minor league baseball prospects from the United States plays against a team of prospects from other countries.  It is played each year as a part of the festivities of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.  If you’re looking for a little more information on each player, then this article from Baseball America will be helpful as it gives background info on each player.

There has been a good deal of media coverage already.  Most cities cover individuals from their team’s organization.  ESPN has already released their list of players they consider to be missing from the lineups.  MLB.com boasts that this year’s Futures Game is “teeming with top prospects.”

The Futures Game will take place on All-Star Sunday at Petco Park.  The game is at 4 p.m. PT and it can be watched on MLB Network.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter for more All-Star Game updates.

If you haven’t yet voted or if you want to get one last vote in, then today is your last day.  The ballot can be found on MLB’s official site.  A ballot can also be accessed via text.  To receive a ballot simply text “VOTE” to 89269 (USA) or “101010” (Canada). Or text “VOTA” for a ballot in Spanish.  The final vote count will be announced next week.  For those interested in following the fan discussion, be sure to keep tabs on the Twitter trend #ASGWorthy.

Before casting your ballot you may want to look at the final voting updates released earlier this week.  Your vote could make a big difference as there are several tight races.  For example, the Chicago Cubs currently have every infield position in the race.  Or consider Molina (Cardinals) and Posey (Giants) who are separated by only about 5,000 votes with balloting ends tomorrow.  If you have questions about voting, the process, or the game you may want to read the MLB’s FAQ guide for ASG voting.

To join the discussion or follow key updates, be sure to follow us on Twitter.

Weekend (June 18th-19th):

• Keone Kela hoping to rejoin Rangers by All-Star break (Star-Telegram)
• Miami Marlins Ichiro Suzuki Should Be in the All-Star Game (Call to the Pen)
• Ned Yost already planning on how to build AL team for All-Star Game (The Kansas City Star)
• Pitchers in the home run derby? Maybe only Giants ace Madison Bumgarner (Los Angeles Times)
• Quick trip around Major League Baseball (Chicago Tribune)
• Who is Adam Duvall? Five things to know about Reds’ All-Star-worthy outfielder (Sporting News)

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Weekend (June 11th-12th):

• DJ LeMahieu is one of the game’s most underrated stars (Mile High Sports)
• MLB trade rumors: Cubs scouting Yankees bullpen stars, report says (NJ.com)
• Sunday Stretch: Buzz is building for All-Star game (The Des Moines Register)
• Xander Bogaerts is quickly becoming one of the best players in MLB (Sporting News)

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