MLB All-Star Game: Mike Moustakas and Justin Turner win Final Vote
By Tim Haberin
Mike Moustakas and Justin Turner have emerged victorious from the Final Vote and will head to Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game in Miami.
Mike Moustakas of the Kansas City Royals and Justin Turner of the Los Angeles Dodgers have won the MLB All-Star Game Final Vote. The pair of third basemen will suit up for their respective leagues in next Tuesday’s contest.
Moustakas and Turner pushed out to early leads in the voting and never looked back. They were on top of each daily voting update this week leading up to Thursday evening’s results announcement on MLB Network. Turner set a Final Vote record with 20.8 million votes.
Fans had many deserving candidates to choose from this year. In fact, you could have made an argument for any of them as worthy of All-Star recognition. However, in the end Moustakas fended off challengers Elvis Andrus of the Rangers, Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox, Didi Gregorius of the Yankees and Logan Morrison of the Rays.
Meanwhile, Turner defeated Justin Bour of the host Marlins (despite a Ric Flair endorsement), Kris Bryant of the Cubs, Anthony Rendon of the Nationals and Mark Reynolds of the Rockies.
Moustakas will be glad to return to the Midsummer Classic after having last year’s season cut short at only 27 games due to a torn ACL. He’s posting the best power numbers of his career, with 25 home runs that are already a career high through just 76 games. That probably has something to do with why he’s participating in next Monday’s Home Run Derby.
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Moustakas has plated 54 RBI overall with a .275/.309/.570 slash line. Given that he’s a free agent at the end of the season, there’s a chance this could be Moose’s last opportunity to represent the Royals on a big stage. He’ll join teammates Salvador Perez and Jason Vargas in Miami.
Turner missed some time with a hamstring injury, meaning he trailed his Final Vote rivals by a fair margin at 61 games played. Fans didn’t seem to mind, and for good reason. Turner is hitting an eye-popping .384/.473/.571 with eight home runs and 33 RBI. If he had the requisite number of plate appearances for qualification, he would lead the majors in both batting average and on-base percentage.
This will be Turner’s first time at the All-Star Game, and with the Dodgers playing like baseball’s hottest team, it should be especially gratifying for the nine-year veteran. Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen, Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger will also represent the Boys in Blue.
Next: This time, the All-Star Game doesn't count
All-Star Week kicks off on Monday, July 10 with a highly anticipated Home Run Derby at 8:00 PM ET on ESPN. Hometown hero Giancarlo Stanton will defend his crown against a field highlighted by rookie sluggers Bellinger and Aaron Judge.
The main event takes place the following night with the 88th edition of the MLB All-Star Game. Fans can tune in to all the action at Marlins Park beginning at 8:00 PM ET on FOX.