The balloting for MLB All-Star teams ends this Thursday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern, and fans can vote up to five times every 24 hours — up to a total of 35 ballots.
The results will be announced on a television special on ESPN at 7 p.m. on Sunday, July 2, and the game will be played at Marlins Park on July 11.
So, who do we think should be on the rosters for each side? We’ve cut through all the red tape for the final balloting and just made sure we had each team represented by at least one player. We also went starting pitcher heavy — they’re more valuable than relievers due to sheer innings thrown — but we won’t quibble if others prefer to load up on relievers to get through the late innings of a potentially great clash between the senior and junior circuits.
I listed my roster with Jon Becker of Roster Resource and MLBDailyDish.com on Tuesday’s recording of Midwest Swing — available here — but did make a change after our discussion.
So here it is, my final version of who’d be on my 34-man roster if the game were to be played today:
AL Starting Lineup
C- Salvador Perez, Royals
1B- Logan Morrison, Rays
2B- Jose Altuve, Astros
3B- Jose Ramirez, Indians
SS- Carlos Correa, Astros
LF- George Springer, Astros
CF- Mike Trout, Angels
RF- Aaron Judge, Yankees
DH- Corey Dickerson, Rays
SP- Chris Sale, Red Sox
—
Bench
- Lorenzo Cain, Royals
- Justin Upton, Tigers
- Miguel Sano, Twins
- Avisail Garcia, White Sox
- Mookie Betts, Red Sox
- Jonathan Schoop, Orioles
- Francisco Lindor, Indians
- Alex Avila, Tigers
- Gary Sanchez, Yankees
- Ben Gamel, Mariners
- Yonder Alonso, A’s
- Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox
Pitching Staff
- Michael Fulmer, Tigers
- Marcus Stroman, Blue Jays
- Carlos Carrasco, Indians
- Chris Archer, Rays
- Craig Kimbrel, Red Sox
- Andrew Miller, Indians
- Chris Devenski, Astros
- Yu Darvish, Rangers
- Lance McCullers Jr., Astros
- Luis Severino, Yankees
- Jason Vargas, Royals
- Tommy Kahnle, White Sox
NL Starting Lineup
C- Buster Posey, Giants
1B- Joey Votto, Reds
2B- Daniel Murphy, Nationals
3B- Nolan Arenado, Rockies
SS- Corey Seager, Dodgers
LF- Marcell Ozuna, Marlins
CF- Charlie Blackmon, Rockies
RF- Bryce Harper, Nationals
DH- Paul Goldschmidt, Diamondbacks
SP- Max Scherzer, Nationals
—
Bench
- Yasmani Grandal, Dodgers
- Freddie Freeman, Braves
- Cody Bellinger, Dodgers
- Justin Turner, Dodgers
- Kris Bryant, Cubs
- Zack Cozart, Reds
- J.T. Realmuto, Marlins
- Josh Harrison, Pirates
- Jake Lamb, Diamondbacks
- Jedd Gyorko, Cardinals
- Anthony Rendon, Nationals
- Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals
Pitching Staff
- Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
- Zack Greinke, Diamondbacks
- Carlos Martinez, Cardinals
- Jacob deGrom, Mets
- Felipe Rivero, Pirates
- Brad Hand, Padres
- Pat Neshek, Phillies
- Kenley Jansen, Dodgers
- Corey Knebel, Brewers
- Stephen Strasburg, Nationals
- Jimmy Nelson, Brewers
- Robbie Ray, Diamondbacks
There’s always controversy with these sorts of things. Who’d I leave out that I shouldn’t have? Who should be in? Keep the discussion going in the comments!