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There’s never enough room on the MLB All-Star rosters for every deserving player. 

Both leagues’ stacked Midsummer Classic teams were revealed Tuesday night. For every feel-good story recognized, some great players are left with nothing to show for their stellar starts.

Expect some changes before next Tuesday’s showdown. Two more players will be selected in the final fan vote, and injuries are bound to cause some honorees to bow out. Starting pitchers who take the mound on Sunday are prohibited from partaking, a rule that results in extra turnover.

For now, the following exclusions will simply have to enjoy a short vacation instead of traveling to San Diego.

All-Star Snubs

Ian Kinsler, 2B, Detroit Tigers

The San Francisco Giants of All-Star Games, Ian Kinsler has made the Midsummer Classic in each of the last four even years. Despite sporting a worthy portfolio, the streak will snap unless he garners the final fan vote.

The 34-year-old is having his best offensive season in years, hitting .290/.348/.496 with 16 home runs and eight stolen bases. His 124 weighted runs created plus, a ballpark-adjusted measure of offensive production graded on a scale where 100 is average, represents his highest clip since 2008. 

He’s well on pace to procure his first 20-homer campaign since going deep 32 times five years ago. After hitting his 200th career homer on Sunday, Kinsler joined a select group of versatile players, as noted by MLB.com’s Richard Justice:

Per the Detroit News‘ Chris McCosky, the Detroit Tigers standout expressed pride in his all-around game.

“I try to do whatever it takes and not be one-dimensional,” Kinsler said. “It’s kind of my goal, when I play the game, to be able to run the bases well, play defense well and try to perform every aspect of the game on offense—steal, score from first, advance on a ball in the dirt.”

Nevertheless, the fans chose right by selecting Jose Altuve, and Robinson Cano’s resurgent bat commanded a bench spot. Kinsler was ultimately hurt by Eduardo Nunez occupying a spot as the Minnesota Twins’ lone honoree.

Gregory Polanco, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates

The Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds needed a representative. Although Odubel Herrera and Adam Duvall are both enjoying great seasons, neither would have beaten out Gregory Polanco without the rules forcing all 30 teams to send someone.

Polanco has a case to start in the National League outfield, but he now needs an injury to make the roster. He should be on speed dial if Dexter Fowler—currently on the disabled list with a right hamstring strain—can’t play. According to MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat, Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon said his starting center fielder could soon return.

“It’s not impossible to think [he can return] by the end of this week,” Maddon said. “It’s a day-to-day thing. It’s getting better. Obviously, he’s motivated to play in the All-Star Game. I understand that. We’ll just play out the rest of the week and see where it takes us.”

Polanco‘s 3.0 WAR eclipses Fowler’s and Yoenis Cespedes’ and matches Bryce Harper’s. Excluding Kris Bryant—who will start at third despite spending some time in the outfield—only reserve Marcell Ozuna has a higher mark among National League outfielders.

Hitting .294/.374/.521 with a career-high 12 home runs, the 24-year-old has unseated Andrew McCutchen as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ star. He has also netted an 11.5 walk percentage and 35.3 hard-hit rate during his breakout campaign. 

If it’s any consolation, he’ll make plenty of All-Star teams down the road.

Jake Lamb, 3B, Arizona Diamondbacks

The National League houses four third basemen with an OPS above .935 and WAR of 3.3 or better. That’s a lot of infielders for one position, but manager Terry Collins should have found a way to fit them all.

Instead, Jake Lamb did not receive an invite despite boasting an National League-best .609 slugging percentage. As highlighted by AZCentral.com’s Nick Piecoro, most of his power has come in pivotal spots for the Arizona Diamondbacks:

Other than biased opinions, a major flaw in fan voting is everyone flooding the ballots early before digesting the full picture. This process apparently leaked into the bench selections, as the 25-year-old recorded a 1.066 June OPS.

Lamb hit six home runs last year. He now has six over the past two weeks. 

Collins could have easily justified rostering Lamb alongside Bryant, Nolan Arenado and Matt Carpenter since Bryant can handle left field and Carpenter has spent the past month playing second base. Fans can rectify the error by choosing him in the final vote.

Note: All advanced stats are courtesy of FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Even during a 162-game season, one amazing day can command the attention of fantasy baseball players everywhere.

Multiple players blazed their path into this week’s wavier-wire recommendations with a monster statement game. Perhaps the magic has already passed, but it’s tough to ignore a dominant performance.

Although the following players are available in over 50 percent of Yahoo Sports leagues as of Sunday evening, their ownership rates will steadily increase over the next few days. That’s especially true for the man pictured above, who will soon be claimed in a majority of leagues.

What else is there to do on a holiday besides scour the open market for free agents? Consider freeing these players from the tyranny of the fantasy waiver wire. 

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Fans can decipher most of the 2016 MLB All-Star Game starting selections before Tuesday night’s lineup reveal.

Based on the final update that MLB Communications provided last Monday, most of the voting leads are too sizable to erase. Tight battles are brewing in the American League’s outfield and behind the National League’s plate, but voters have flocked to the deserving candidates in recent weeks. 

Overall, the starting lineups will look the way All-Star lineups should. There should be no easy outs on account of bad decisions from the voting populous.

It’s nice when the All-Star teams are actually full of stars. 

With the starters seemingly settled, let’s go a step further and project each squad’s All-Star Game batting order.

American League

Not even Ned Yost—the manager who won a World Series despite batting Alcides Escobar in the leadoff spot—can mess up this lineup.

The fans are making the Kansas City Royals skipper’s job easy by selecting a group of deserving, well-rounded hitters. Catcher Salvador Perez has the lowest batting average (.281) in a lineup with five guys batting .325 or better.

Yost will love receiving a lineup full of elite contact hitters with power and speed. Then there’s designated hitter David Ortiz, who is an easy choice to bat cleanup in his final All-Star Game. He deserves it, given his 1.108 OPS, more than 100 points ahead of anyone else.

When everyone is this good, the order doesn’t matter much anyway.

Yost can appreciate the benefit of gaining home-field advantage in the World Series after enjoying it in each of the past two years. Per the Kansas City Star‘s Pete Grathoff, he understands the importance of winning this exhibition contest:

If you’ve ever been to a playoff game in Kansas City, you know that’s a home-field advantage. It’s big. It’s big for everybody, especially when you get down to the end of the season and you’re playing a big series, you want that home-field advantage. You want your fans behind you. You want to sleep in your own bed. It’s important.

Last year, Yost slotted Jose Altuve second in the No. 8 role. The Houston Astros second baseman entered the game hitting .293/.335/.412, justifying his bid afterward with a .337/.372/.512 second-half slash line. 

The 26-year-old has ascended to MVP territory, hitting .355/.428/.575 with more walks (39) than strikeouts (33). Midway into 2016, he’s one home run away from matching last season’s career high of 15.

Last week, MLB statistician Ryan Spaeder monitored Altuve‘s incredible performance days before he earned his fourth four-hit game of the year:

He’ll bat either No. 1 or 2, depending on whether Yost wants Trout No. 2 or 3. After Yost has spent so much time slotting a shortstop with a career .262 average in the leadoff role, Xander Bogaerts‘ .334 average may prove too tantalizing to resist.

A healthy Clayton Kershaw may have coerced the manager into protecting lefty Eric Hosmer, but he’ll want to reward his first baseman for a strong first half at the plate. (His poor defensive metrics are an issue for another day.) Yost will also save Perez from the No. 9 spot to inject one of the Boston Red Sox’s athletic outfielders at the bottom.

National League

Despite his postseason power tear, the New York Mets made little effort to bring back Daniel Murphy. This almost certainly wasn’t manager Terry Collins’ call.

Management chose not to pay an erratic fielder with limited plate discipline, but the Mets skipper always featured him prominently in the batting order. Per ESPN.com’s Adam Rubin last month, Collins has continued to speak fondly of Murphy, who is now wreaking havoc on the Mets with the Washington Nationals:

I’m not shocked. I’ve always thought Dan Murphy can win a batting title. If he took bases on balls, as we said many years ago, I think this guy was 10 walks short [instead of outs] of winning a battle title three years ago. It’s in him to do that. I’m excited that he’s doing well. We think the world of Dan and what he did here.

Murphy is one of several infielders who are lagging behind a Chicago Cub in the voting tally. Ben Zobrist will block second base, but Collins can reward the man who tormented the Cubs last October and sent New York to the World Series with four homers in as many games.

Choosing Murphy as the designated hitter wouldn’t just be a biased token of gratitude from an old boss. Murphy sports an NL-best .346 batting average while maintaining last year’s power spark, already replicating last year’s career-high 14 home runs. Altuve and Ortiz are the only other hitters with more extra-base hits than strikeouts.

With Curtis Granderson serving as his leadoff man, Collins seems to understand the importance of setting the table with a patient hitter. While Zobrist isn’t the flashiest All-Star, he leads all NL starters with a .406 on-base percentage. (That would change if Matt Carpenter or Paul Goldschmidt filled the DH spot.)

He’ll likely want to reward Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes for his 20 dingers and .571 slugging percentage, so he joins Cubs corner infielders Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo for a powerful punch. Collins might, however, rearrange the order to alternate his lefties and righties.

Yadier Molina led the latest official update, but Buster Posey soared ahead before the voting closed late Thursday night, according to MLB.com’s Chris Haft. The San Francisco Giants catcher is a household name who is having a far superior season to Molina, so expect him to stay ahead in the tightest race.

After spending his rookie campaign batting No. 9 behind the pitcher, Addison Russell won’t get his feelings hurt by batting at the bottom again. As the one guy in either lineup without All-Star credentials, he’s lucky just to be here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Whether or not they win their respective leagues, the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs are set to make a mark on this year’s World Series.

Home-field advantage plays a pivotal role in any playoff series, so MLB naturally lets an exhibition game decide who gets an extra home game during the championship showdown. If the Red Sox or Cubs don’t make the Fall Classic, the participants can thank or blame the All-Star Game outcome.

In the latest voting updates, provided on Monday by MLB Communications, five Cubs and four Red Sox hitters are slated to start the All-Star Game on July 12. Beside Boston outfielder Mookie Betts, all of them have comfortable leads.

The voting window closed on Thursday, and MLB will reveal each side’s starters on Tuesday night. Little is likely to change, but Buster Posey recently gained a narrow lead over Yadier Molina at catcher.

Let’s look at the updated leaderboard before diving into baseball’s premier offenses, who will be heavily represented in the starting lineups.

Boston Red Sox

Boston leads MLB in runs scored and weighted on-base average (wOBA), so this isn’t a case of biased fans flooding the ballots for an unjust cause. All four guys deserve their spots.

Luckily for Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado is listed as a third baseman despite switching to shortstop during the season. As a result, both young stars will cohabit the left side of the American League’s infield barring a major voting turnaround.

Although his .337 batting average ranks third in the AL to Jose Altuve and David Ortiz, Bogaerts has taken the anticipated leap to stardom with a power uptick. After hitting seven home runs last year, he has gone deep nine times while also collecting 21 doubles.

The 23-year-old is a legitimate MVP candidate, but he’s not Boston’s best hitter. That honor belongs to Ortiz, whose .684 slugging percentage and .457 wOBA lead all qualified hitters by cavernous margins. 

Fans tend to vote retiring veterans in as a sort of lifetime achievement award, but the 40-year-old has earned his spot. He won’t, however, participate in one final Home Run Derby. According to the Boston Herald‘s Jason Mastrodonato, manager John Farrell is worried about the veteran designated hitter losing a step as a result of running out a league-high 31 doubles.

“There have been some times where it’s maybe not been what we saw early in the season,” Farrell said. “The one thing is, we’ve charted the total bases to date and particularly it’s the doubles, the two-base running that really taxes him.”

The most unlikely name of the bunch, Jackie Bradley Jr., was a career .193 hitter before last year’s All-Star break. He has since recorded 20 homers and 10 steals over 149 games, cementing his late breakout with a .297/.385/.558 slash line this season.

Mastrodonato showed how well the 26-year-old outfielder has performed since last year’s late breakthrough:

Betts, having recently gained possession of the third spot, shouldn’t lose it on Tuesday night. The 23-year-old has gained everyone’s attention by hitting .291/.331/.506 with 16 homers and 13 steals. Meanwhile, two of his top competitors—Jose Bautista and Lorenzo Cain—are on the disabled list

Last year, Brock Holt was the Red Sox’s lone All-Star representative—and a controversial one given his .791 first-half OPS. Now they’re on the verge of sending four players to San Diego, possibly five if knuckleballer Steven Wright gets the starting nod.

Chicago Cubs

The Cubs have outscored their opposition by 161 runs, and no other team has a triple-digit run differential. They’re the favorites to reach the World Series, so their players might as well fight for home-field advantage.

Chicago is poised to send its entire infield and center fielder Dexter Fowler to the Midsummer Classic. Per the Chicago Tribune‘s Mark Gonzalez, manager Joe Maddon is excited about watching his players share the spotlight.

“All day I’ll be looking forward to that moment of sitting there and watching them being introduced and standing on the line, tipping their cap and that will be awesome for us, as a team, for the organization, and for all Cubs fans,” Maddon said. “It’s pretty powerful.”

Even though Daniel Murphy and Nolan Arenado have valid starting credentials, they will likely make the team as reserves. Beside, Ben Zobrist and Kris Bryant also boast All-Star portfolios.

He can’t match Murphy’s .352 average, but Ben Zobrist warrants a roster spot on the strength of a stellar .406 on-base percentage. The patient 35-year-old has drawn more walks (49) than strikeouts (46) during his first year with the Cubs.

After a recent hot streak, including a three-homer game, Kris Bryant boasts an NL-best 4.0 WAR. He also drilled two doubles on Monday to do something that hasn’t happened for almost as long as the team’s infamous title drought:

Any case for Wil Myers or Paul Goldschmidt isn’t a knock on Anthony Rizzo, who is hitting .279/.402/.566 with 19 dingers. The first baseman validated this choice by batting .378/.467/.744 during a red-hot June.

Addison Russell is the lone pure culprit of homerism. There are far better choices than the shortstop with a .719, particularly Corey Seager:

Nevertheless, Russell’s lead over Trevor Story would’ve been too wide to eliminate in a week, especially with the Cubs faithful backing the 22-year-old. His inclusion would cost Seager, Story and Brandon Crawford trips to San Diego.

All advanced stats courtesy of FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Let’s hold off on scheduling an MLB rookie-sophomore game during All-Star weekend.

Promising youngsters have arrived in 2016, but these neophytes wouldn’t fare well against the likes of Kris Bryant, Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa with a hopefully healthy Noah Syndergaard on the mound.

In that hypothetical situation, either Lindor or Correa would need to handle another position for a day. This problem occurs yet again in a 2016 rookie class headlined by three National League shortstops.

Is it cheating to move them from their true position? Probably, but when the alternative is starting Cheslor Cuthbert, it’s time to play loose with the rules. Besides, it will make good practice for when they need to learn a new craft in real life.

With some lineup manipulation and red-hot hands joining the fray, this rookie lineup—which is based on numbers from the season’s first half—has the makings of a solid squad. 

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Democracy has fared well enough in the MLB All-Star Game balloting, where fans are set to send deserving starters to this year’s Midsummer Classic.

As much as Kansas City Royals fans have tried to ruin the voting process, the American League starting squad is in great shape. While the National League leaderboard isn’t perfect, one of the two major mistakes could correct itself before the polls close Thursday at 11:59 p.m. ET.

MLB Communications reported no changes in Monday’s final update before the official reveal. It would take considerable late surges to alter much, but one race remains open in each league.

Let’s take a look at those tight bouts while predicting the final starting squads:

All-Star Predictions

American League: Mookie Betts Maintains Narrow Lead

Four outfielders have realistic chances of walking away with the American League’s final outfielder spot, which Mookie Betts currently occupies.

Last week, the Boston Red Sox star eclipsed Mark Trumbo, Lorenzo Cain and Jose Bautista on the ballot. In the recent update, his edge jumped from 27,023 to 93,891 votes, with Cain leapfrogging Trumbo to fourth place.

Of these candidates, Betts is the right choice:

The 23-year-old has ascended to stardom with a massive power uptick. After going deep 16 times—12 since the end of April—he’s two home runs away from matching last year’s tally.

A complete package, he has also succeeded on 12 of 13 stolen-base attempts while playing solid defense in right field alongside center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr., who will almost certainly represent the Red Sox in San Diego.

While Cain continues to flash world-class defense in center field, his bat has regressed to league-average levels with a .755 OPS and 101 weighted runs created plus. Trumbo has pelted an MLB-high 22 home runs, but he has struggled in the outfield.

Bautista, who is having a subpar year for his standards, is on the disabled list with a hyperextended big toe.

Ian Desmond has a legitimate claim over them all, but he’s roughly 800,000 votes shy of Betts. The converted shortstop has accrued a 3.8 WAR in left field for the Texas Rangers, which puts him second among AL outfielders behind Mike Trout.

He’ll have to settle for a reserve role, as Betts should extend his small lead over the final days. He’s a young star in a big market who boasts eye-popping numbers. Along with scoring an MLB-best 66 runs and hitting for average, he’s one of 10 players to amass double-digit home runs and steals.

National League: Buster Posey Overthrows Yadier Molina

Anyone cynical about his or her votes not mattering should turn to the neck-and-neck battle unfolding between catchers Yadier Molina and Buster Posey. The St. Louis Cardinals veteran leads by 5,100 votes, down from his 75,413 advantage last week.

Fans are flocking to the San Francisco Giants’ former MVP, who is batting .282/.344/.452 this season with hits in 12 of his last 14 contests. Molina, meanwhile, has cratered after a fast start. Since finishing April with a .341 batting average, he has hit .224.

The 33-year-old is highly regarded for his work behind the plate, but he’s not hitting like an All-Star. Having gone deep only once this year, he holds a microscopic .345 slugging percentage. Wilson Ramos, a distant third on the catcher leaderboard, has a .341 batting average.

Yet voters tend to take a shine to the two established catchers, as MLB.com’s Joe Trezza noted:

A Molina victory would create trouble for the National League players and managers. Posey, Ramos and Jonathan Lucroy would then have to fight for space on the bench, and there wouldn’t be enough room for all three deserving candidates.

It makes little sense to award Molina for his defense when Posey is also a superior fielder. According to StatCorner, he has earned San Francisco’s pitchers more called strikes with his framing than any other backstop in baseball. His five defensive runs saved rank third behind Derek Norris and AL vote leader Salvador Perez, who are tied with nine.

Even if the typical voter doesn’t know this, he or she knows the .308/.372/.481 career hitter on and off the field. The 29-year-old recently became the head of Under Armour’s baseball campaign, per the Baltimore Sun‘s Lorraine Mirabella.

“Buster is everything a team could ask for in a model baseball player,” Ryan Kuehl, Under Armour’s vice president of global category sports marketing, said. “His accomplishments speak for themselves, and Buster’s humility, hunger and never-ending focus on being a better athlete and teammate every day are the values Under Armour was built on.”

Molina has led for most of the way, but Posey has narrowed the gap enough to steal the starting spot at the last moment.

All advanced statistics courtesy of FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Some of this week’s fantasy baseball waiver-wire recommendations will cause readers to second-check the article’s published date.

Accompanied by a few young up-starts, this list features several former studs well past their glory years. They’re all available in over 50 percent of Yahoo Sports leagues, but the veterans would have even smaller ownership rates if not for their past successes.

After horrible starts and/or injury absences, these guys are gradually returning to relevancy. And then there’s an uncomfortable moral conundrum managers must address.

Let’s take a look at free agents to scoop up entering June’s final week.

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For the most part, MLB fans are voting deserving starters into the 2016 All-Star Game.

Per MLB.com’s Mark Newman, the league released updated American League and National League results earlier in the week. Every current AL starter deserves an All-Star bid, and a couple of NL gaffes are close enough to fix before voting ends Thursday at 11:59 p.m. ET.

It’s a good thing fans only decide the starters. Otherwise, the rosters would be a mess in a game that actually still matters for some stupid reason. Kansas City Royals fans are succeeding in sending Salvador Perez and Eric Hosmer to San Diego, but they have also stuffed the ballots for the rest of their injured and mediocre position players.

In the NL, Chicago Cubs fans have flooded the ballots. Fortunately, Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist, Kris Bryant and Dexter Fowler have all earned their starting designations on more than fan loyalty. Their allegiance, however, also has Addison Russell in the lineup and Jason Heyward as the runner-up outfielder.

Voters have recognized most of the true superstars, but several studs are either buried at the bottom of the latest update or absent altogether. Some skills receive less national attention, and others have recently staked their claims after early-rising fans already submitted their ballots.

Note that this isn’t a list of the best players without a starting spot. Daniel Murphy, Nolan Arenado, Josh Donaldson and Mark Trumbo currently must settle for a bench slot, but they’re not getting ignored as runners-up with over a million votes each.

Despite stellar starts, these guys will all need the managers and players to elect them into this year’s Midsummer Classic.

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The fantasy baseball waiver wire can’t stay hot forever.

Through hot streaks, call-ups and role changes, a steady stream of worthwhile free agents circulate on a regular basis. Yet an upgrade isn’t always available at no cost, and there’s no law requiring fantasy players to pick someone up every week. 

This might be a week to lay low. Assembling a fruitful list of 10 waiver-wire recommendations has never proved tougher this season. Some options are limited to smaller mixed leagues.

Plenty of talented players remain available in over 50 percent of Yahoo Sports leagues. Most of them, however, have already received recognition here in previous weeks.

Rajai Davis, Matt Adams, Trevor Bauer and Jonathan Gray deserve more attention. The red-hot Justin Turner is right on the ownership cutoff point. In a competitive league, someone should have added Trayce Thompson weeks ago.

With so many risers already highlighted, this list features fallers looking to earn forgiveness from those who dropped them earlier this season. Those players deserve second chances, and the other guys justify a first look.

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MLB teams can’t count on prospects flying in from the minor leagues to save the day. 

Last year’s influx of talent spoiled baseball fans. Kris Bryant, Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor and Noah Syndergaard wasted no time assimilating to the big leagues, instead offering All-Star production from Day 1. Welcoming such an exceptional crop of future stars isn’t the norm.

Few rookies have successfully jumped from the minors to majors this season. Nomar Mazara and Michael Fulmer haven’t shined enough to offset the struggles from marquee prospects Byron Buxton, Jose Berrios and Julio Urias.

None of the following pitchers will dominate like Thor, and the position players won’t vault into MVP candidates next season. Yet as long as franchises and fans keep expectations in line, these prospects will mix solid immediate gains with the promise of long-term stardom.

All beckoning for a promotion—and a couple recently receiving one—with tremendous minor-league results, these players should get an MLB audition this season.

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