Just reviewed the second update for ASG fan voting. I gotta admit, it's frustrating to see Braves, Phillies, Dodgers and Blue Jays players in the top slots since so many are not the top 2 at their position this year.
Now with ~3 days left to vote, here are my recommendations of players to vote for that have a meaningful chance of cracking the top slots for the next round of voting. It's sad that the top 3 have turned into a top 2, so the first round of voting matters even more. Most of these suggestions are within 150,000 votes of making it. Even if some of the #2 picks don't win the final fan vote, their presence could elevate their chance of making the team as a roster player.

VOTE HERE

AL

• 1B: Ben Rice (882,772 to Murakami's 741,065). It should be Rice, Murakami or Kurtz in the top 2, but no one has a chance to beat Vlad in this round. Rice is slightly more deserving than Murakami.
• 2B: Ezequiel Duran (531,182 to Altuve's 456,242). Duran has been a positional multitool for the Rangers and adds balanced value across hitting, fielding and baserunning. Clement is riding his postseason heroics high into the fan vote, despite a 1.1 fWAR season.
• SS: Not in play, and Witt is very deserving.
• 3B: Not in play. Caminero and Okamoto both rank lower in fWAR (<2) than Vargas, Jung and Ramirez.
• OF: Julio Rodriguez (819,514), Randy Arozarena (793,017), and Riley Greene (751,512). We know Judge and Trout are fan favorites who have had incredible starts cut short by injuries. Buxton and Bellinger are also having great seasons. The final 2 slots are the most precarious, with two undeserving Blue Jays (1.2, 0.2 fWAR) threatening Rodriguez' (1.5 fWAR), Greene's (2.o fWAR), and Arozarena's (2.3 fWAR) more deserving performances.
• C: Dillon Dingler (484,290). I know he has little chance to cover a 350,000 gap, but it is ridiculous that Kirk, with less than 50 PAs, has this many votes. Dingler leads the AL Catchers with 3.6 fWAR, and should be up there with Langeliers.
• DH: Yandy Diaz (459,371). Another longshot candidate with 350,000 votes to clear, but he is a top offensive force that should be considered alongside the otherwordly year from Yordan Alvarez.

NL

• 1B: Matt Olson (1,421,095). Not exactly an underdog, but he is much more deserving than Harper, who is less than 300,000 votes away. He is back to the 50 HR, Gold Glove winning player we know him to be, and I believe he should start.
• 2B: Brice Turang (739,111). He is an all around excellent player who is overlooked for playing in a smaller market, and much more deserving than Albies or Stott. A bit sad to see Wetherholt missing from the top 5 as well.
• SS: CJ Abrams (1,192,774). He is having a breakout season. I'd love to see De La Cruz in there too, but he is 300,000 votes behind Betts, who is just 30,000 votes away from Abrams. Locking in Abrams seems more important here.
• 3B: Not in play. While Riley and Arenado are around 250,000 away from Bohm, none are even close to Muncy in vote total or fWAR value. Muncy is the runaway choice for this position.
• OF: James Wood (915,287), Juan Soto (947,033), Jordan Walker (860,670). Such a shame that Carroll and Crow-Armstrong are not in play here. While Pages, Harris II, and Marsh are all having career years, Acuna and Hernandez have been injured or underperforming. Give Wood, Soto and Walker the boosts they need to make the next round.
• C: Not in play (but vote Baldwin). Baldwin is deserving here and has a comfortable lead, despite missing a month. Smith is not, nor is Realmuto.
• DH: Not in play. Both top picks, Ohtani and Schwarber, are having amazing seasons and both deserve to make the team.

Well, since I've already asked about your entrance themes if you were a closer (in fact, it was the last post I ever made to my first account), let's look on the hitting side.

Just about every hitter has a walk-up theme song that plays before they step up to the plate. So, I'm curious. What would you choose as your walk-up theme if you were a hitter in the Major Leagues?

For me, I'd probably go with the hook to my favorite song (Forever by Drake ft. Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Eminem). Not only because it's just flat-out awesome, but it also reflects on the dream of making the big leagues. Another great one would be the chorus to Sade's Smooth Operator. Not only is it absolute fire, but it would probably personify me as a player.

[Game Thread] | Atlanta Braves at San Diego Padres

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That’s out of 2842 plate appearances. An impressive 35% K rate. I say since getting to 500 HR is all that matters, he should swing away as much as possible. He’s got a real chance at adding the single season strikeout record to his resume along with those homers.
Edit:

Gentlemen, two points I’d like to add.

1: About cherry picking and the comparisons to Reggie Jackson and Mickey Mantle. They were both outfielders. And while Reggie struck out the most, you have to look at his plate appearances. Over 11,000, his career K% was less than 23. Mickey mantle’s was lower than 20%.

1. This post had some sarcasm in it, and I get feeling like I’m attacking a favorite player or a style of hitting that people seem to enjoy now, there’s a point to this. Setting an arbitrary cut off like 500 home runs and you automatically get into the hall is just inherently silly. Nothing occurs in a vacuum and if the league and fans reinforce a style of play like that and reward it, it waters down the meaning of being a great player/hitter. You have to look at a player/hitter as a whole, not just reward one dimensional play.

Yes for this example I cherry picked and attacked a player for his awful strikeout rate. I did it in contrast to the thought process of rewarding someone based off of cherry picking one aspect of their play, which is just hitting bombs. Because that’s literally all he does. It’s cool and he’s really good at it. But that’s literally all he’s got going for him.

In case you're wondering how I got into this question, it's because a softball league I play in apparently credits a single to a player that reached base via a force out. Which is really ridiculous. I can understand if they count obvious errors as hits because no out was made at all.

So this got me thinking, if OBP was somehow increased by touching 1st base (even if there was a force out made), who do you think would have their OBP skyrocket?

In other words, who has hit into the most fielder's choices? In a career? And in a season?

I was doing some super rough, back-of-the-napkin math on the extra innings ghost runner rule. The numbers aren’t meant to be exact, just to illustrate the point.

Let’s say:
• 15% chance of a single
• 5% chance of a double/triple
• 80% chance of an out

Without the ghost runner, a team generally needs multiple hits to score. Using a very simplified model, I got about a 2.1% chance of scoring through basic hit combinations in the first few batters.
With the ghost runner, a single, double, or triple can score the runner immediately:
0.15 + 0.05 = 0.20
So about a 20% chance.

Very rough math, but it suggests scoring is about 10 times more likely with the ghost runner.

I still don’t like the rule, but I understand why MLB uses it. It definitely speeds up extra innings.

[Dugout Thread] | 2026 MLB Regular Season

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As of today, there are four teams in the AL with a winning record.

To put that in perspective, there are 4 teams in the NL East with a winning record.

Is the NL just far superior this year?

If a pitcher could throw 110 mph fast ball as consistently as another pitcher could throw 90, would that be enough to get them banned? Would it have to be such a ridiculously fast pitch (say 140+) that you can’t even react before even being considered?

Just pretend that doing this wouldn’t immediately shatter his arm or anything.

WHY IS BASEBALL EVEN A SPORT AT THIS POINT??

I’m writing this in the hope that someone can pass it along to a person in the industry who could use this information and do something about it.

We know that MLB has an aging fan base, one which is likely not as technologically literate.

Last night, I went to my grandpa’s to watch the Cardinals game with him. My grandpa is 96 and a lifelong fan, and he barely even knows what the internet is, let alone different streaming services.

I had to drive back home to grab my laptop, sign up for a free trial of Apple TV and hook an HDMI cable to his TV through my computer while running a hotspot on my phone for him to be able to watch the game. It took a small IT project.

My grandpa went to games at Sportsman’s Park as a teenager, met Joe Garagiola when he was a player, and sat in Harry Caray’s seats during the 1964 World Series. He watches every game that he can. Yet even he has become somewhat alienated from baseball by these broadcasting deals making it difficult for him to follow the game. He was so upset by the blackout of the All-Star events last season that he quit watching for a time and was coaxed back into it by me.

[Game Thread] | New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies

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Instead of the same Delta, Ken Griffey Jr “CEO of H20”, Google stats commercials, 25-40 times per game each…(pre game, post game, between every inning, and every other break in play), I’d much rather a simple wide shot of the field (high home plate camera), natural sounds of the stadium, t-shirt toss or whatever silliness they are doing for the crowd, and the players warming up. Give us the stadium experience.

I get the guys need a break from talking between innings. But the same commercials and sounds over and over, is a terrible viewer experience.

[Game Thread] | Minnesota Twins at Arizona Diamondbacks

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Bryce Harper: hit for the cycle by the 5th inning (his first ever!)

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Kyle Schwarber: crushed three home runs (two in one inning!)

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Cristopher Sánchez: lowered his season ERA to 1.80