The Royal Eight

Royals fans, you had to do it, didn't you? Seven All-Stars wasn't enough. That wasn't a loud enough message. No, you had to get one more in the starting lineup. You had to get eight. And why not let that eighth Royal All-Star be the worst hitter in the entire American League? 

After years of watching Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez voted as starters despite injuries and many mediocre seasons, I tried to tell myself that this was poetic justice. Finally, a small market team is hacking the AL All Star Roster, taking it back from the big guns of Boston and New York. But why Omar Infante?!?!?! 

The ballot-stuffing of Royals fans is littered with irony. The most obvious being the surging votes for Infante. Infante blew past stolen base leader, Jose Altuve, and potential MVP candidate, Jason Kipnis, to claim the top spot. Obvious remarks about Infante's God-awfulness aside, Kansas City bullied their way past Houston and Cleveland to elect their eighth starter.

Cleveland is a fellow small market team, one that has struggled for success similarly to Kansas City. Houston, though a larger market, has struggled to find a strong following after being the worst team in baseball for almost 10 years. The Astros finally have some success, with the best record in the American League, yet the Royals are blocking their star player from starting on the All-Star team. #VoteInfante is ruining two good stories. 

Further irony is that the Yankees actually deserve a starter this year. If the season ended today, the American League playoffs would feature Tampa Bay, Texas, Kansas City, Minnesota, and Houston. Of those five teams, Kansas City is the only team among these league-leaders that is not a surprise. Nobody had Minnesota sitting on top of Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit. Nor Houston and Texas beating out Seattle and Los Angeles. These teams deserve recognition.

I have heard many times that this is payback for the many years of having the American League roster dominated by Yankees and Red Sox. I alluded to that myth earlier. That era is already over, and has been for some time. Yes, every so often Jeter or A-Rod would get voted in despite being injured, but they would always be replaced with a better, more deserving player. In 2014 and 2013, the AL Starters represented eight different teams. Each of those rosters only started one player from Boston and New York. This AL Roster in 2015 will be the most homogenous starting roster since 2008. 

I keep trying to tell myself that watching Mike Trout and the Royal Eight face the National League All-Stars in Cincinnati would actually be fun. But it won't be fun to watch. The Royals aren't the most fun team to watch. Nor are they, individually, the best at their positions. Lorenzo Cain is legitimately exciting. And Alcides Escobar is as solid as any American League shortstop. But the rest don't represent the best of the best. This present AL roster would feature only two players that rank in the top five league leaders of HRs, RBIs, batting average, stolen bases, or WAR. And Trout is one of those two (Mike Moustakas is fourth in batting average).

Miguel Cabrera is flirting with another triple crown. Mark Teixeira and Albert Pujols are having resurgent years and are tied for the lead in home runs. Josh Donaldson is one of the top three position players in terms of WAR. And Nelson Cruz is raking home runs yet again. 

There is an obvious way to fix this roster. Go out and vote for the best players. But there is something else clearly wrong with the voting system. It's easy to cast tons of votes super quick. And strong regional markets just aren't voting. Hacking aside, something is out of sync when Salvador Perez leads the entire MLB in votes, with more than 7 million. That is good for fourth most amongst the all-time top vote getters.

I am sure we won't see all eight of these Royals hold onto their leads in the voting, especially with the outcry building over Infante, and the plethora of talented first basemen better than Eric Hosmer. But we will see a lot of them start. Kansas City has an insane regional following right now, and I am sure that will be one of the top markets tuned into the Midsummer Classic.

But what other American League team will watch this event, knowing they got trolled by Royals fans? It's time, finally, to fix the MLB All-Star game. Fans have the ability to pick the starting roster for a game that will determine home field advantage for the World Series. That sentence is an insane crack through which fans can actually imprint their choices onto the fate of an entire baseball season.

It's time to take that power away from the fans.