Cardinals fans have every right to be upset about ridiculous 2026 MLB All-Star voting

Telling fans how to fan is rarely going to go well, and in the case of this year's out-of-whack All-Star Game voting, St. Louis Cardinals fans have every right to be upset about how the results are turning out for their favorite, deserving All-Star candidates.

Yes, we need to fully understand and recognize that fan voting is a way to include fans in the All-Star process and generate intrigue for the event. The fan voting is also only geared toward the starting lineup, so the rest of the roster is filled out by players and the commissioner's office.

Still, if fans are going to play a major role in determining All-Star game nods, then I think it's very fair to listen to their grievances with the system if it is truly for them. There's been quite a debate over this on social media in recent days.

Some of the grievances by Cardinals fans about All-Star voting are very valid

I have to say, while not all points brought up on social media I have agreed with, I do think fans have some fair critiques, and we need to listen.

Issue 1 - All-Star appearances are weighted when evaluating players

Maybe this will eventually stop being a part of the equation, but for now, All-Star nods still matter to fans when evaluating who the best players are in the league. So when players who are nowhere close to deserving of that honor are put into the game or make a heavy push in fan voting toward that honor, it further dilutes the meaning of that honor.

Issue 2 - All-Star voting allows a specific fan base to "boost" the case of an unworthy recipient.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say most baseball fans don't care if Bryson Stott, Brandon Marsh, Teoscar Hernandez, Jake Bauers, Brandon Lowe, Hyeseong Kim, or Dominic Smith in the All-Star Game, so seeing any of those players represented in place of or outpacing the likes of Jordan Walker, JJ Wetherholt, Alec Burleson, and Ivan Herrera is just not the spirit of the All-Star Game. Sure, it's a popularity contest, but it's not just a "Who do Dodgers and Phillies fans want to see play?" game either.

If Pedro Pages, Victor Scott II, or Nolan Gorman were outpacing guys like Drake Baldwin, Andy Pages, or Max Muncy, I'm going to guess no one would be defending fan voting as "how this is supposed to work".

So, while Cardinals fans have the power to dump a ton of votes in favor of their favorite players, their frustration is far more based in the fact that there are players having mediocre campaigns receiving strong support. And I'm going to guess that other fan bases feel the same and don't like seeing any player who is far from deserving sitting in a strong position in the voting.

Here are a few simple ideas for how fan voting could be improved without taking away the right to vote.

1. Have fans vote from pre-selected finalists

Instead of having fans vote for literally any possible player starting well over a month before the actual game, what if MLB waited until the end of June and then had some combination of media, fans, and MLB submit their votes for who should be finalists for starting spots?

Frankly, a lot can change from June 3rd, when voting first opened, till even the very end of June or early July, so why are we having fans vote on who is most deserving when there's still over a month of baseball to be played? Imagine if ballots could be cast for MVP, Cy Young, All-MLB, or any other honors a month before the end of the season. Sure, those may be a bit less likely to change, but you get the point. If there is still a lot of baseball to be played, I'm not sure it makes sense.

Then from there, fans can vote for who is most deserving. There'll always be "snubs", but I feel pretty confident that we wouldn't see someone like Alejandro Kirk, who has only played in 12 games so far and hasn't been good, ahead of All-Star caliber players in the fan voting.

2. Allow fans to pick the starting lineup from the pre-selected All-Stars

If you really did want to make all of the selections more objective, then have MLB announce who all the All-Stars are based on whatever combination of non-fan voting they select, and then from there, fans can pick who starts at each position and who gets the ball to start for each side.

Ultimately, we should be listening to the fans on this one, and if they are seeing a system that seems pretty outdated and out of whack, it should be reevaluated, especially when we also say the game is "for them".

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