It appears only Chicago Cubs (and maybe Cincinnati Reds) fans believe shortstop Addison Russell is an All-Star. With the internet backlash that had come out against the young 22 year old, you’d think he snuck into a military personnel only game.
https://twitter.com/KenRosenthal___/status/750555154034913280
No, that isn’t really Ken Rosenthal… but this is the feeling many baseball fans have expressed over the past several hours as they learned of the 2016 All-Star starters.
https://twitter.com/ryan_stl1/status/750602191430311936
The thing is, they shouldn’t be mad at the system, they should be mad at themselves. One fanbase was able to beat out 29 others to vote a player into the game. One fanbase. As much as I’d like to agree with some of these baseball fans, it just shows the lack of interest from most other fanbases rather than the Cubs fans ability to take advantage of a bad system.
how did we let addison russell & his absolute trash offensive numbers start in front of seager im hot
— 📘. (@SeanMatsukawa) July 6, 2016
Corey Seager should be the NL SS, not Addison Russell.
Seager .305 17 HRS 10 E
Russell .238 9 HRS 9 E— Ross Porter (@therossporter) July 6, 2016
What this, and what the Kansas City Royals were able to do last season tells me is, two things. One, all fanbases vote for their own players. Two, team success increases those fan’s votes. This is the only real way you can explain the way in which less deserving players can beat the much more deserving ones.
Yes Corey Seager is having a better offensive season than Addison Russell, but the Cubs are having a far better season than the LA Dodgers are having. Similarly Jose Altuve was having a much better season than the Royals Omar Infante, but the Royals had a much better record in 2015 than the Houston Astros did (especially early in the season).
The most sensible argument is, the fan voting is a popularity contest, which is right. Fans vote for popularity, which is earned by playing otherworldly baseball or being apart of the best and most visible team in the league.
.@Addison_Russell voted as starting shortstop for the NL All-Star team, his #ASG debut. pic.twitter.com/ct1ZIUL1Jq
— MLB (@MLB) July 5, 2016
I cannot sit here and argue whether Addison should or should not be in the game. I do know he’s no slouch, and there have been worse All-Star’s voted in (ahem Infante) before. I also know Cubs fans are not any less knowledgeable than any other fanbase. I know this because Addison Russell is starting this game, and Seager or Trevor Story or Jean Segura are not.
While Addison’s overall average might not be equal to that of the other guys, he is on pace to have a 90 RBI season, with 20 HR as well. Pair that with his stellar defensive ability, and it certainly makes him a budding star in the making. At worst you can say, the National League is blessed with incredible young shortstops, in the likes of Russell, Seager, Segura, and Brandon Crawford.
While we see baseball fans ridicule Chicago Cubs fans over the next couple of weeks, be assured that those same fanbases equally voted for a mostly undeserving candidate as well. If they hadn’t, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
