Major League Baseball today marked the official start of All-Star Balloting for the 2016 MLB All-Star Game presented by MasterCard, which will be held on Tuesday, July 12th at Petco Park, the home of the San Diego Padres.
MLB's All-Star Balloting Program is the largest of its kind in professional sports. The Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot recorded an all-time high of 620 million votes in 2015, eclipsing the previous record total of 391 million votes (2012).
For the second consecutive season, the All-Star Balloting Program will be conducted exclusively online and via mobile devices at MLB.com, all 30 Club web sites and the MLB.com At Bat mobile app. Beginning today, fans around the world can cast their votes for starters a total of 35 times with the 2016 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot, including a maximum of five valid ballots cast in any 24-hour period. During the voting period, the 2016 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot will be available in English and Spanish, and will offer audio CAPTCHA functionality for visually impaired fans. Traditional Chinese, Korean and Japanese versions of the online ballot will be available in May. Banco BHD will once again sponsor online All-Star balloting in the Dominican Republic, making Spanish-language ballots available to fans in the Dominican Republic via LasMayores.com, the official Spanish-language Web site of Major League Baseball.
"Today's launch of All-Star balloting continues a great tradition that allows our fans around the world to participate in the All-Star experience," Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr. said. "The city of San Diego will undoubtedly provide a wonderful backdrop for all of the events that All-Star Week has to offer, and all of us at Major League Baseball join the Padres in looking forward to a memorable Midsummer Classic this July."
Details regarding the unveiling of the 2016 American League and National League All-Star Teams will be available in the coming weeks. The AL All-Star Team will have nine elected starters via the fan balloting program, while the NL All-Star Team will have eight fan-elected starters. The pitchers and reserves for both squads - totaling 25 for the NL and 24 for the AL - will be determined through a combination of "Player Ballot" choices and selections made by the two All-Star managers - AL skipper Ned Yost of the defending World Series Champion Kansas City Royals and NL manager Terry Collins of the New York Mets.
Following the announcement of the American League and National League All-Star rosters, fans will begin voting to select the final player for each League's 34-man roster via the 2016 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote. Fans will cast their votes from a list of five players from each League over the balloting period. Now in its 15th season with nearly 600 million votes cast, fans again will be able to make their Final Vote selections on MLB.com, Club sites and their mobile devices.
This year's final phase of All-Star Game voting again will have fans participating in the official voting for the Ted Williams All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet. During the Midsummer Classic, fans can vote exclusively at MLB.com and the 30 Club sites - online or via their mobile devices - with the 2016 All-Star Game MLB.com MVP Vote, and their collective voice will represent 20 percent of the official vote determining this year's recipient of the Arch Ward Trophy.
MLB All-Star Week includes the MLB All-Star Game presented by MasterCard at Petco Park (July 12th), Gatorade All-Star Worktout Day featuring the T-Mobile Home Run Derby (July 11th), All-Star Sunday featuring the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game and All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game (July 10th), All-Star FanFest at the San Diego Convention Center (July 8th-12th), plus a lineup of additional events taking place around the city. The 87th Midsummer Classic will be televised nationally by FOX Sports; in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS; and worldwide by partners in more than 160 countries. ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide exclusive national radio coverage of the All-Star Game. MLB Network, MLB.com and Sirius XM also will provide comprehensive All-Star Week coverage. For more information about MLB All-Star Week and to purchase tickets, please visit AllStarGame.com and follow @AllStarGame on social media.