Detroit Tigers Miguel Cabrera now leads All-Star voting at first base

In the “things going back the way they should” department, the Detroit Tigers all-world slugger Miguel Cabrera has overtaken Eric Hosmer for first place as the starting first baseman in All-Star voting.

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Not only has Miggy surpassed the first sacker from the rival Kansas City Royals, he now holds more than a 1.3 million vote advantage. In the fifth voting announcement for the AL starters announced today, Cabrera has reclaimed the lead he lost about three weeks ago. His 9,342,149 votes was good for first place over Hosmer’s 8,013,745.

It seems the #VoteMiggy efforts, that not only promoted Tigers’ fans to action but many fans of baseball hopeful of seeing the best players start, paid off. So did, apparently, MLB cancelling more than 65 million votes last week.

It is still looking like a royal blue American League representation at the All-Star Game next month in Cincinnati, unless something drastic happens. Kansas City players still lead the other five infield positions, DH and 2/3 of the outfield spots.

The other crying shame is still in place as former Tiger Omar Infante still leads Jose Altuve at second base by just over half a million votes.

The Tigers’ other worthy starter is SS Jose Iglesias, who trails Alcides Escobar by more than 2.5 million votes.

Yoenis Cepsedes has risen to fourth in the outfield voting, about a million behind Alex Gordon in third place. Mike Trout has moved into the outfield lead with 9.1 million votes followed by KC’s Lorenzo Cain in second with roughly nine million votes.

To move off the “homer” angle a minute, it shows you what a silly system All-Star Voting is when Alex Avila, who has not played since May 7 and hit around .200 when he did play, is in fourth place among starting catchers. Victor Martinez had a nice weekend back in New York after spending a month on the disabled list, but he certainly doesn’t deserve to be in fourth among AL designated hitters.

Once again, the MLB voting system is broke. Either fix it and preserve the sanctity of the game counting toward the World Series or just scrap that and let the fans vote ridiculous players in starting positions as a lark.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Baseball, you can’t have it both ways.

Please team with us, Climbing Tal’s Hill and Jays Journal to continue our joint effort for #VoteMiggy, #VoteAltuve and #VoteDonaldson.

Next: MCB's MLB Power Rankings: Tigers at no. 11