Did we finally find a team we can beat GT 7-6

[Donn Beach]

Well they are pissed in Toronto and Boston...if it's a popular contest why would Julio be more popular than Springer? Did the league need to balance the roster, need a center fielder?

Are you suggesting the Commissioner's office made the selection?

Who picks the reserves and pitchers?
In short, it's a group effort between the player ballot and the Commissioner's Office. A change made in 2017 resulted in All-Star skippers no longer having a say in selections, so there's no longer the potential for any perceived conflicts of interest

They are involved, the more common issue is having all the teams represented but that wouldn't have been with the mariners

[Michael K.]

Okay, i'll accept that partly because i don't watch the games. It just seems to me that he gets extra votes due to the hype created by his rookie season and HR derby performances. Franklin Gutierrez had a similar WAR in 2009 and wasn't an all-star, and Mike Cameron consistently put up better offensive numbers, including in his 4 seasons in Seattle and was an all-star once despite being one of the better defensive outfielders in the game.

Fans vote for the names they know, not the ones playing well. Julio making an All Star teams tells us a lot about how much we should care about who makes the All Star team. Not much.

2/3 of the vote for reserves is by players and coaches.

Gotcha, I guess I kind of forgot about that. That is nuts. Oh well, good for him. I'm sure he gets a big fat bonus for being below average and still being an All Star. If he didn't have all the hype he'd be a late game defensive replacement on most playoff teams, yet he'll be an All Star. Mind blowing.