More Than 60 Million All-Star Votes for Fear of Improper Voting

[Big Bid'Ness]

 
MLB Cancels More Than 60 Million All-Star Votes for Fear of Improper Voting

Major League Baseball has wiped out more than 60 million votes for the 2015 All-Star Game amid fears of improper voting techniques.  
 
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports the number of accepted votes is still greater than 300 million. Bob Bowman, the CEO of MLB Advanced Media, explained how the league handled the situation: "I'm not saying we bat 1.000. But it's between 60 and 65 million votes that have been canceled. We don't really trumpet it because if someone thinks they're getting away with it, they'll try to again."
 
The voting procedures have come under extra scrutiny this year with the Kansas City Royals completely dominating the projected American League lineup.
Members of the Royals occupied eight of the nine starting spots for hitters in the latest update, as noted by Aaron Gleeman of the Hardball Talk. The only exception is Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout, who owned an advantage of around 2 million votes over Kansas City's Alex Rios.

 
2015 American League All-Star Vote Leaders Pos. Player Team Votes C Salvador Perez KC 7,202,292 1B Eric Hosmer KC 5,777,363 2B Omar Infante KC 4,518,765 SS Alcides Escobar KC 6,332,981 3B Mike Moustakas KC 6,505,258 OF Lorenzo Cain KC 6,611,781 OF Mike Trout LAA 5,944,068 OF Alex Gordon KC 5,581,096
 
Hardball Talk

 
The current lineup would also include Omar Infante. The second baseman sports a .547 OPS, well below the .718 of second-place vote-getter Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros.
I
nfante told Yahoo Sports: "I have to be happy. The fans vote for me. I'm happy about that. I can't control that. I'm happy because if I'm there, the opportunity to go to the All-Star Game is great."
 
Based on Bowman's comments, it appears the vote removal is an ongoing process and not a one-time mass cancellation of prior votes. That would suggest the Royals' leads reflected in the last update provided by MLB were accurate.
 
The voting period continues through July 2. The 2015 All-Star Game is scheduled for July 14 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio.
 
Even with the voting protections in place, expect to see a lot of Royal blue in the starting lineup.
 

 

[cruzg24]

I dont understand AL fans, wth are they doing? Salvador Perez is the leading vote getter really?

 

[elcheato]

Omar Infante the GOAT

 

[Giantmetfan07]

There's no email validation either. They screwed themselves.

 

[Pugz]

i didnt read this but cant you vote 35 times a day per email? yikes

 

[Giantmetfan07]

It's ridiculous. Just read the sbnation.com piece on how the guy rigged the voting in 20 minutes.

 

[H-MYK]

I don't understand the fan voting aspect when the prize to the winning league is home field advantage of the World Series. Shouldn't the players and management get a say?

 

[elcheato]

The bigger question is why the hell does this game even decide home field advantage? 

 

[CameronCrazy06]

The bigger question is why the hell does this game even decide home field advantage? 

 
preach