Phase 1 of All-Star Game voting closed on Thursday and, to no one's surprise, the Los Angeles Dodgers are well-represented among National League finalists. Will Smith came in second behind Drake Baldwin at catcher, Freddie Freeman is leading Matt Olson at first, Max Muncy over Alec Bohm at third, Mookie Betts behind CJ Abrams at shortstop, Andy Pages leading all outfielders, and Teoscar Hernández on the cusp of a start in fourth place.
And then, of course, there's Shohei Ohtani. He ruled not only the NL DH vote, but the overall tally, securing an incredible 3,341,257 votes and locking up his sixth consecutive All-Star start.
Though it's nothing revolutionary, it's extra satisfying given who came in second as the American League's highest votes-getter. The Toronto Blue Jays' Ernie Clement will get his first All-Star appearance with 3,232,932 votes.
How is a 1.0 bWAR player somehow a top-two vote-getter in the sport, according to fans? He isn't, of course. But the entire country of Canada came out of the woodwork to give their would-be World Series MVP a consolation All-Star nod. It's infuriating, but at least Ohtani beating out Clement is some proof that there's still justice in the world.
Shohei Ohtani rules baseball after All-Star vote results, sorry Blue Jays fans
Blue Jays fans stuffed the ballot box across the board in the AL. There's a Toronto finalist at every single position. The particularly egregious ones are Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (0.7 bWAR) beating out Ben Rice (2.0 bWAR) and Andrés Giménez and Alejandro Kirk being finalists at all. Giménez has a .645 OPS. Kirk has played in a grand total 14 games and is hitting under .200.
It's not hard to see what's going on here. The Blue Jays choked in the World Series and are playing sub-.500 baseball in 2026, but Canada wanted to give their guys a participation trophy. Why hold your team accountable for a historic flop and a slumping follow-up season when you could baby them and hold their hands instead?
If all of the Blue Jays finalists end up advancing, the All-Star Game is just going to be a no-stakes 2025 World Series rematch. In the event that happens, we'll be more than happy to watch Ohtani and the best-record-in-baseball Dodgers throttle Ernie Clement and the below-.500 Blue Jays. Again.
