OK, baseball fans, you can stop the feverish texting and tweeting. MLB announced Friday afternoon that Brandon Belt of the San Francisco Giants and Michael Saunders of the Toronto Blue Jays won the Final Vote competition to crown the final two All-Stars for the NL and AL teams.
Saunders was the top overall vote-getter in the text, tweet and online voting campaign, getting 17.7 million votes since polls opened on Tuesday night. After an injury-riddled 2015 season, Saunders has been money in the Toronto outfield, hitting .298 with 16 homers. George Springer of the Houston Astros finished second.
Belt, meanwhile, paced the NL with 10.4 million votes, beating out Starling Marte of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who finished second and was ahead after the second day of voting. Belt, San Francisco’s first baseman, is hitting .300 with a .399 OBP this season.
The vote assures the Giants didn’t lose an All-Star on Friday, as Madison Bumgarner bowed out of the game because he’s scheduled to pitch Sunday. Bartolo Colon of the New York Mets was chosen by NL manger Terry Collins (also the Mets manager) to take his place.
In reality, Saunders and Belt may not be the final All-Stars added to each team. There’s still time for players to drop off the roster and get replaced over the weekend, especially pitchers like Bumgarner who pitch Sunday.
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