Latest Tigers disrespect in All-Star voting shows how badly the system is broken

MLB released their first All-Star voting update on Monday, and there are injustices across the board. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leads AL first base voting with a .737 OPS? Mookie Betts is second in the NL shortstop race with a .644 OPS and after ruining Yoshinobu Yamamoto's perfect game this weekend?

We could go on, but we'll keep our complaints focused. Two Tigers are on pace to be snubbed of All-Star appearances — big time.

Tigers fans are under no illusions that this team deserves to be as well-represented as the 2025 team was, but there are three players who at least deserve to make it past the first round of voting: Riley Greene, Kevin McGonigle, and Dillon Dingler.

If votes continue to come in at the current pace, Greene (currently in fifth place among AL outfielders) should move on to the second round. But McGonigle and Dingler are sitting at third and fourth, respectively. That's completely unacceptable.

It should come as no surprise that both are stuck behind, among others, the Blue Jays' Andrés Giménez and Alejandro Kirk, neither of whom have any right to beating out the Tigers' candidates based on pure performance.

Tigers' Kevin McGonigle, Dillon Dingler might be cheated out of All-Star appearances

Though he's still an elite defensive shortstop, Giménez is hitting .222 with a .620 OPS this season and is worth 0.3 bWAR. McGonigle is hitting .282/.811 and is worth 3.8 bWAR, making him the fourth-most valuable position player in baseball by that metric.

Kirk has played in seven games entering play on Tuesday after coming off the 60-day IL. The fact that he's even qualified to appear on the ballot is an absolute wonder. Dingler is hitting .258/.868 with 16 home runs, and his bat is so valuable to the Tigers' lineup that AJ Hinch DHs him on days he's off of catching.

Bobby Witt Jr. currently leads shortstop voting; Shea Langeliers leads catcher voting. It's hard to argue with Langeliers and very hard to argue with Witt, but McGonigle and Dingler both deserve to be in at No. 2.

It's pretty clear why so many Blue Jays are overwhelming AL voting. They have an entire country behind them and a fanbase that's still sore about the World Series — never mind the fact that Toronto is third place in the AL East right now. As long as All-Star voting is in the hands of the fans, it will never be fully unbiased, but the Blue Jays fans voting like this are clearly delusional and could never vote based on actual fact.

There's still time, Tigers fans. Phase 1 of voting closes on June 25 at 12 PM EST, and you can vote five times a day. Let's get to it.

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