Mariners Analysis: M’s Continue to be Ignored in All-Star Voting

MLB.com released the second update in American League All-Star voting on Tuesday, and the Mariners continue to be ignored by fans.

The Seattle Mariners are currently 32-26, and sit just 4 games back of the first place Texas Rangers in the American League West. The M’s boast the 5th best record in the AL, but only Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz are currently in contention to be position player All-Stars in 2016.

Cano is having the best first half of his career this season. The 33-year-old second baseman is slashing .288/.345/.559 through his first 258 plate appearances. Cano is tied for third in AL with 16 home runs and his 48 RBI are tied for the second highest tally. He is the leader of the Mariners, and the team will only go as far as he will take them in 2016.

Cruz is the other half of the C&C Boys, and he is having yet another productive season in Seattle. The Mariners’ 35-year-old designated hitter is batting .294 with 15 home runs and 43 RBI across 57 games. Cruz has posted a .385 on base percentage and slugged .555 through his first 247 plate appearances in 2016.

Both Cano and Cruz are more than deserving of representing the Mariners at the mid summer classic, but neither player is receiving the necessary support from fans. Cano remains in third place in second base voting, but he has shrunk Omar Infante‘s lead from 118,790 votes to 86,133. Cruz is still in 5th place in the DH voting, but he is trending in the wrong direction. The Boomstick trailed Victor Martinez by 32,255 last week, but that number has ballooned to 38,247 in the most recent update.

Today we will take a look at the top vote getters at every position in the American League. The Kansas City Royals continue to garner strong support, as they have a player in first or second at every position. The Boston Red Sox have 8 players receiving high vote totals, including 3 vote leaders. The Baltimore Orioles are also receiving plenty of votes from their fans.

It’s up to us as Mariners fans to help our players get the respect they deserve. Seattle is having their best season since 2003, and the time has come for the community to support this team like it’s 1995 or 2001 again. Regardless of your political beliefs, voting for the M’s is something we can all do together.

It’s not too late. Click here to vote for the 2016 All-Star Game.

We will begin the slideshow by analyzing the top vote getters behind the plate.

Next: Catcher