Are you a Phillies or Dodgers fan who wants to ensure that your team will have the home field advantage if they make the World Series? Do you want to see the National League get revenge at the Midsummer Classic after going home empty-handed 13 years in a row? Are you a sadistic sociopath who likes messing with people for the pure schadenfreude?
If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, you might want to reconsider how you fill out your All-Star ballot.
If you truly want to see the best players in baseball duke it out on July 13, then by all means vote for the superstars. But if you want to see the Senior Circuit emerge victorious, you might want to think twice about naming Joe Mauer or Evan Longoria on your ballot.
This slideshow features the AL player at each position who has the greatest potential to screw up his league’s All-Star team, based on both relative ineptitude and current rank in the voting (if the player you vote for has no chance of winning, it doesn’t matter whom you choose).
Injured players have been excluded because if one of them is voted in, he can be replaced with a substitute of the manager’s choice.
Let this be your guide in your unsportsmanlike attempt to tamper with the biggest night of the baseball season! And be sure to check out Part One for how to screw up the NL team.