MLB All Star game still proving to be a joke

I've been putting up with the MLB All Star game for several years now, but this might be the straw that broke the camel's back.  The "this" I'm referring to, is that there are currently 5 Kansas City Royals in the starting lineup, and a couple more in contention to crack it for the American League.  That's absurd, especially since one guy in particular (Omar Infante) shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath as "all-star".  I'll get into that more in a second.

Let me first complain about the all-star game itself. Back in 2003 (I believe), major league baseball attempted to give some significant meaning to the game by rewarding the winning league with home-field advantage in the World Series.  Gosh, it even pisses me off just typing that out.  So, for example, let's say in a particular year the National League team wins the All Star game.  A team from the American League wins 105 games that season and gets to the World Series.  Wow, great season.  A National League team wins 85 games and sneaks into the championship.  Despite being 20 games worse record-wise, the National League team will get home-field advantage just because of the All Star game.  Is that not the stupidest thing ever?  Why would you penalize a team that had a great season, and reward another that was mediocre?  I'm all for making the game more meaningful to attract viewers, but come up with something else. 

So that dumb rule is here to stay.  Ok, I'll have to get over it.  But then at least make sure that the best possible players, or at least most deserving, are playing in the game.  NOPE.  Couldn't even get that.  MLB is still letting the fans vote for the all-star starters.  And as we all know, anytime there's a vote, it's usually just a popularity contest.  Well, this year takes the cake.  As I mentioned above, there are currently 5 Royals starting in the game.  Thankfully that's down, because if I'm not mistaken, at least 7 Kansas City starters were slated to start the All Star game not too long ago.  Here's what the voting looks like as of just a couple of days ago:

Tweeted by MLB Communications (@MLB_PR)

TAKE THE VOTE AWAY FROM THE STUPID FANS!  Come on, Anthony, stay focused. 

There's one Royal that deserves to start the game, and that's Lorenzo Cain.  Not one of the other guys should be in there.  Not one.  Let's do a little stat comparing, shall we?  We'll start in the outfield where Alex Gordon currently sits 3rd. 

Alex Gordon - BA: .265 - HR: 9 - RBI: 32 - RUNS: 29 - SB: 1

Here are some fellas that should be starting over him.

Brett Gardner   -    BA: .304 - HR: 9 - RBI: 39 - RUNS: 58 - SB: 15
Yoenis Cespedes - BA: .289 - HR: 10 - RBI: 43 - RUNS: 44 - SB: 3
J.D. Martinez    -   BA: .281 - HR: 21 - RBI: 51 - RUNS: 46 - SB: 2

See the difference?  And that doesn't include Adam Jones, Kevin Pillar, Michael Brantley, Josh Reddick, Torri Hunter or Hanley Ramirez who all deserve to be in there over Gordon, too. 

How about catcher?

Starter:
 

Salvador Perez - BA: .263 - HR: 13 - RBI: 34 - RUNS: 26 - SB: 1

Should be:

Stephen Vogt  -  BA: .290 - HR: 13 - RBI: 53 - RUNS: 58 - SB: 0

Clearly the Royals fans knew that speed would help win the game, so Perez's 1 stolen base really came into play.  (Getting angrier)

Shortstop:

Starter:

Alcides Escobar   - BA: .273 - HR: 2 - RBI: 28 - RUNS: 37 - SB: 5

Should be:

Xander Bogaerts  - BA: .297 - HR: 3 - RBI: 35 - RUNS: 34 - SB: 4

Finally a little closer, but the 24 point higher batting average is the clincher for me.

Now onto the creme de la creme, second base.  Get ready to laugh.  Or throw up.  I did both when I saw this. 

Omar Infante - BA: .231 - HR: 0 - RBI: 23 - RUNS: 23 - SB: 1

That's the funny part.  Now get the waste basket in position, because here comes the boom.

Jason Kipnis   -  BA: .347 - HR: 6 - RBI: 35 - RUNS: 55 - SB: 10
Jose Altuve    -   BA: .298 - HR: 7 - RBI: 33 - RUNS: 38 - SB: 23
Dustin Pedroia - BA: .306 - HR: 9 - RBI: 33 - RUNS: 34 - SB: 1

Like the outfield, this doesn't include guys like Brian Dozier, Ian Kinsler or Logan Forsythe.  Nauseating.  Major league baseball should be mortified just from this position alone. 

The crazy thing is, as much as I want fan voting banned, the National League lineup is almost perfect. 

Tweeted by MLB Communications (@MLB_PR)

 

 

There's only 2 problems with this lineup and 1 questionable call.  It must be a mid-west thing, though, because these problems revolve around the St. Louis Cardinals.

Third base starter:

Matt Carpenter - BA: .278 - HR: 8 - RBI: 38 - RUNS: 45 - SB: 1

Should be:

Todd Frazier   -   BA: .283 - HR: 25 - RBI: 54 - RUNS: 54 - SB: 8

or:

Nolan Arenado - BA: .287 - HR: 24 - RBI: 68 - RUNS: 49 - SB: 0

Come on Cards fans.  This one isn't even close.   

Outfield: 

I'm not even going to give the statistics for this position.  Matt Holliday (3rd outfielder) has been out for just about a month now, and from the sound of it, won't be ready to play in the All Star game anyway.  It looks like Nori Aoki is next in line, and that is incredibly wrong, too.  There's way too many guys to list by name who are more worthy of starting, but let's just say the number exceeds 10. 

The questionable call is at short stop, but it's not dramatic enough to get into. 

So what should happen when one league's fans get it right, and the other's don't?  I still vote to take the vote away from the fans (see what I did there?).  If this game has to decide home-field advantage in the freakin' World Series, can we at least make sure the very best players are representing their leagues?  Because as a Yankee fan, I sure as hell don't want Omar Infante up in the bottom of the 9th with the game on the line. 

I hope the National League wins the All Star game 451-0, and then Kansas City makes it to the World Series again and loses in game 7 on the road.  Take that Royals fans.  :)