No All-Star Starters for the Cubs

The 2021 MLB All-Star Game is coming in 11 days, and when all is said and done, it’s possible the Cubs will be one of the teams with just a single representative.

Early on in the All-Star voting, it was looking like the Cubs might land – and merit! – a couple starters on the NL squad. As June went on and the deep slumps for Javy Báez and Kris Bryant crushed their numbers, as Anthony Rizzo got hurt, as Joc Pederson never quite fully popped, and as Willson Contreras was leaned on so heavily that he’s just been doing what he can to keep afloat, well, it didn’t really seem like the Cubs merited a positional starter anymore. And they didn’t get one.

The starting groups for the AL and NL were announced, and while the Cubs had runners-up/third-place types at almost ever spot, they have no positional starters for the All-Star team.

The Cubs will, of course, have at least one representative (Craig Kimbrel is a holy lock barring some kind of crazy situation), and it’s possible they could get multiple if – for example – Kris Bryant were to heal up and explode over the next week. Or maybe Willson Contreras gets some love for all that he’s done. Maybe Andrew Chafin gets appropriate due, but non-closing relievers are a really tough fit on the roster when managers make their selections. It’s possible that, when pitchers and reserves are announced, Kimbrel will be it for the Cubs this year.

The winners and the voting, via MLB:

CATCHER
AL
Salvador Perez (Royals): 62%
Martín Maldonado (Astros): 20%
Yasmani Grandal (White Sox): 18%

NL
Buster Posey (Giants): 58%
Yadier Molina (Cardinals): 25%
Willson Contreras (Cubs): 18%

FIRST BASE
AL
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays): 75%
Yuli Gurriel (Astros): 15%
José Abreu (White Sox): 10%

NL
Freddie Freeman (Braves): 48%
Max Muncy (Dodgers): 34%
Anthony Rizzo (Cubs): 18%

SECOND BASE
AL
Marcus Semien (Blue Jays): 54%
Jose Altuve (Astros): 32%
DJ LeMahieu (Yankees): 14%

NL
Adam Frazier (Pirates): 47%
Ozzie Albies (Braves): 33%
Gavin Lux (Dodgers): 20%

THIRD BASE
AL
Rafael Devers (Red Sox): 61%
Alex Bregman (Astros): 22%
Yoán Moncada (White Sox): 16%

NL
Nolan Arenado (Cardinals): 40%
Justin Turner (Dodgers): 34%
Kris Bryant (Cubs): 26%

SHORTSTOP
AL
Xander Bogaerts (Red Sox): 42%
Bo Bichette (Blue Jays): 37%
Carlos Correa (Astros): 21%

NL
Fernando Tatis Jr. (Padres): 64%
Javier Báez (Cubs): 19%
Brandon Crawford (Giants): 17%

OUTFIELD
AL
Mike Trout (Angels): 19%
Aaron Judge (Yankees): 13%
Teoscar Hernández (Blue Jays): 12%
Byron Buxton (Twins): 12%
Michael Brantley (Astros): 10%
Cedric Mullins (Orioles): 10%
Randal Grichuk (Blue Jays): 8%
Adolis García (Rangers): 8%
Alex Verdugo (Red Sox): 8%

NL
Ronald Acuña Jr. (Braves): 21%
Nick Castellanos (Reds): 18%
Jesse Winker (Reds): 16%
Mookie Betts (Dodgers): 13%
Chris Taylor (Dodgers): 7%
Joc Pederson (Cubs): 7%
Mike Yastrzemski (Giants): 6%
Bryce Harper (Phillies): 6%
Juan Soto (Nationals): 6%

DESIGNATED HITTER
AL
Shohei Ohtani (Angels): 63%
J.D. Martinez (Red Sox): 20%
Yordan Alvarez (Astros): 17%

(The NL DH is chosen by the NL manager.)