Written by Richard Justice at MLB.com
We do not come to bury the Cubs. Let’s face it, they are baseball’s blueprint for leadership, talent and passionate fans.
Now about that last part. Few cooler things have happened in sports in this country than watching all those Cubs fans celebrate winning the World Series last October.
As World Series MVP Ben Zobrist said, “We always talk about baseball connecting generations. We saw it firsthand. When we won, the first thing a lot of our fans thought about was their father or grandfather or someone they were connected to the game through.”
That passion was never clearer than in last year’s All-Star voting, when Cubs fans voted five of their guys — including the entire infield — into the National League starting lineup.
Outfielder Dexter Fowler was forced to withdraw because of a hamstring injury, but the Cubs still had the entire starting infield — Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Zobrist and Anthony Rizzo.
Will that dominance repeat itself at the 2017 MLB All-Star Game presented by MasterCard on July 11 at Marlins Park in Miami? How do the Cubs stack up on the Esurance MLB All-Star Ballot?
The Cubs are going to be at the center of the conversation as fans turn out to vote, and because of Rizzo and Bryant, two stars playing like stars, it’s hard to imagine anyone topping them in the voting. So with all due respect to the wonderful performances of first basemen such as Freddie Freeman, Eric Thames and Ryan Zimmerman, as well as the likes of Nolan Arenado and Justin Turner at third, it’s very likely the Cubs’ corner infielders will be well represented in South Florida. However, fans all over the National League have deserving players as well. So before you start lamenting Chicago’s NL ballot dominance, this is your chance to go out and vote and get the whole league represented.
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