Phillies fans are ruining Brewers' chances at a fair fight in All-Star voting

Major League Baseball's All-Star Game selection process has long been a point of contention among baseball fans. The process involves a combination of fan voting, which is used to determine the starters in each league, player ballots, and selections from the Commissioner's Office. The latter two methods are used to determine the reserves and pitchers.

No All-Star Game selection process is perfect, but baseball's combines the volatility of a fan vote with the subjectivity of Commissioner's Office selections. Though the process should theoretically result in every deserving player earning a spot in the Midsummer Classic, seeing as the picks from the player ballots and Commissioner's Office generally make up for the worthy All-Stars that the fans overlooked, every year, there are at least a few names who are left off the roster that should have been included in the All-Star Game.

The fan voting process takes place first and consists of two phases. The first phase of voting, which concludes on Thursday, June 25 at 11 a.m. CT, narrows each position, other than starting pitcher, down to two finalists. Phase two, which begins on Monday, June 29 at 11 a.m. CT and lasts only until Thursday, July 2 at 11 a.m. CT, is then used to determine the starter at each position.

Just yesterday, MLB offered an update of the Phase 1 vote totals with just three days remaining before the two finalists are determined. Shockingly, the Milwaukee Brewers don't have any players in the top two vote getters at any position. William Contreras currently sits in fourth place among NL catchers and trails second-place Will Smith of the Los Angeles Dodgers by more than 600,000 votes. Jake Bauers is in fourth place as well and trails second-place Matt Olson of the Atlanta Braves by nearly 1 million votes. Christian Yelich's deficit behind Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies is even larger at nearly 1.2 million votes.

The closest Brewer to the top two spots at their respective position is second baseman Brice Turang. The Brewers' budding star is just 60,000 votes out of second place among NL second basemen, and the player he's trailing is bound to have the Milwaukee faithful rather frustrated.

Brewers and Phillies running into another All-Star Game conflict with Bryson Stott and Brice Turang

The Brewers and Phillies already have a history when it comes to All-Star Game selections. Last year, Brewers' then-rookie Jacob Misiorowski was named to the NL All-Star team after just five major league starts. Members of the Phillies' roster, who believed their teammate Cristopher Sánchez should have been chosen over Miz, voiced their displeasure with the selection by comparing MLB's All-Star Game to the entertainment showcase that is the Savannah Bananas. However, reports later surfaced that Sánchez had turned down a spot in the All-Star Game because he didn't want to pitch, and the NL simply needed arms to cover innings in the Midsummer Classic.

Fast forward one year, and Phillies and Brewers fans are once again at odds, this time over which of their second basemen should be named a finalist for the starting job in the National League. Ozzie Albies of the Braves currently leads NL second basemen in voting, but behind him is Bryson Stott of the Phillies and then Turang.

What's frustrating for Brewers fans is that Turang has not only been light years better than Stott this year, he's been better than Albies too. Stott is slashing just .233/.289/.386 with an 82 OPS+ and ranks 11th among NL second basemen in fWAR (0.9). Albies has certainly been better than Stott, with a slash line of .280/.330/.446, a 118 OPS+, and 1.8 fWAR to prove it, but even his numbers pale in comparison to Turang's. Even with his colder stretch during the month of May, Turang has a 129 OPS+ and 2.7 fWAR. The Brewers' second baseman has objectively been far better than both Albies and Stott this season.

In fact, the second basemen that Turang should be competing with for the starting job in the National League are players like St. Louis Cardinals' rookie JJ Whetherholt, Pittsburgh Pirates' offseason trade acquisition Brandon Lowe, and San Francisco Giants' second baseman Luis Arraez, who has prevented Turang from making the All-Star Game in the past.

Brewers fans still have time to propel Turang into the top two spots in the Phase 1 voting process and give him a shot at starting for the National League in this year's Midsummer Classic. Even if Turang does miss out on the starting job, it's entirely possible he earns a spot on the reserves thanks to the players' ballot and the Commissioner's picks. However, his current place behind the undeserving Stott highlights the downfalls of MLB's current All-Star selection process.

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