MLB cancels over 60 million All-Star votes

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The chances of seeing Omar Infante suit up for the American League All-Star squad are getting slimmer by the hour. On Thursday, MLB Advanced Media CEO Bob Bowman announced the cancellation of between 60 and 65 million ballots for the upcoming All-Star Game.

The decision was made after Royals fans (and probably other fans looking to create chaos) exploited the online voting system earlier this week, putting a total of eight Kansas City players in line to start for the American League. While 60 million votes sounds like a sizable chunk of the 300-some million ballots that have been collected so far, Bowman insisted that the 20 percent cut was on par with results from previous seasons.

Nevertheless, MLB still stands to gain an additional 200 million votes by the deadline on July 2, 2015, providing a wide berth for fans who haven’t yet figured out how to capitalize on their voting impact with false email addresses or rudimentary hacking skills. Even after MLB culled the suspicious-looking ballots, Royals players appeared to have the edge on many deserving competitors, including Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera and Astros second baseman Jose Altuve.

Balancing the All-Star election process would require limiting fan input, but that doesn’t appear to be a step MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is willing to take. "In general over time fans have done a pretty good job," he told the press on Tuesday. "We’ll see how it all turns out." Should Manfred change his mind, he wouldn't be the first commissioner to interfere with the All-Star selections.

Maybe it’s not the integrity of the Midsummer Classic that matters -- if it ever did -- but how much attention MLB can grab before fans realize just what it is they’re fighting about.