Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Starling Marte (#VOTEMARTE) has made a move to first place in the National League race after nearly two full days of fan balloting in the 2016 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote (#FinalVote), held exclusively on MLB.com and the individual Club sites. Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Michael Saunders (#VoteCaptainCanada) continues to maintain the top spot in the American League.
Marte has regained the top spot with 5.3 million votes in what is shaping up to be one of the closest finishes in Final Vote history, dating back to 2002, as he now holds the slimmest of leads over both Brandon Belt (San Francisco Giants) and Trevor Story (Colorado Rockies). Story has been helped by Rockies fans on the phones as the rookie shortstop leads all NL candidates in votes via the mobile text ballot. Creative campaigns supporting Jake Lamb (Arizona Diamondbacks) and Ryan Braun (Milwaukee Brewers) have helped them make day two pushes, closing the gap among all five candidates.
Saunders has passed 11 million votes to pace the tight race in the AL race, and continues to hold off the other four candidates in close races that have the players chasing him continuing to jockey positions. Ian Kinsler (Detroit Tigers) and Dustin Pedroia (Boston Red Sox) swapped the third and fourth positions multiple times over the past 24 hours with the Red Sox second baseman currently holding third behind Saunders' closest competitor, George Springer (Houston Astros). Springer has received the most mobile text ballot votes of any of the 10 players. Kinsler looms close in fourth ahead of Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria.
As of 4 p.m. EDT, the complete 2016 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote standings are:
American League
1. Michael Saunders (TOR) - #VoteCaptainCanada (A4)
2. George Springer (HOU) - #VoteSpringer (A5)
3. Dustin Pedroia (BOS) - #VotePedey (A3)
4. Ian Kinsler (DET) - #VoteKinsler (A1)
5. Evan Longoria (TB) - #VoteLongo (A2)
National League
1. Starling Marte (PIT) - #VOTEMARTE (N4)
2. Brandon Belt (SF) - #VoteBelt (N1)
3. Trevor Story (COL) - #StoryTime (N5)
4. Jake Lamb (ARI) - #VoteLamb (N3)
5. Ryan Braun (MIL) - #VoteBraun (N2)
REGIONAL VOTING
For a regional analysis of the 2016 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote, go to MLB.com's data visualization map. Click here to access the interactive map.
HOW TO VOTE
Voters also can use their mobile devices to cast ballots at MLB.com/vote or via text message. To receive the ballot, text the word "VOTE" to 89269. To vote for a specific player, fans can text the choice to 89269. EXAMPLE: Text "A3" to vote for AL Player 3 or "N3" to vote for NL Player 3. Message and data rates may apply. Text "STOP" to end and "HELP" for information. Mobile voting in Canada also is available and fans should text their choices to 101010.
Baseball fans have cast nearly 600 million online votes since the program's inception in 2002.
TWITTER VOTE BACK FOR FIFTH YEAR - FRIDAY, JULY 8 ONLY
For the fifth consecutive year, the MLB All-Star Game Final Vote will include social balloting, as Twitter support from the 10 candidates' fans over the last six hours of balloting will count toward their final vote totals. From 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. (EDT) on Friday, July 8, any tweet that includes a designated player hashtag (noted above) will be tabulated as part of the official vote total used to determine the AL and NL winners.
WINNERS ANNOUNCED ON A SPECIAL EDITION OF MLB NOW - JULY 8, 4PM EDT
The winners, as chosen exclusively by online fan voting totals, then will be announced during a Final Vote-themed telecast of MLB Now featuring commentary from political analyst Jeff Greenfield, live on MLB Network and MLB.com from 4-5 p.m. (EDT). MLB Network will provide extensive coverage across all of its studio programming during the Final Vote, including interviews with the candidates, hourly updates, heat maps indicating the cities where votes are being cast for each candidate, updates on player and club campaigns and a running countdown clock leading up to the announcement.