Ohtani and Alvarez lead early All-Star fan voting

June 15, 2026

Major League Baseball released the first update of 2026 All-Star Game fan voting on June 15. Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers and Yordan Alvarez of the Astros top the ballots in their respective leagues.

Ohtani leads all players with 1,165,133 votes as the National League's top vote-getter at designated hitter. Alvarez holds the American League lead with 1,015,768 votes at the same position.

The top vote-getter in each league earns an automatic starting spot if the lead holds when Phase 1 voting ends at noon ET on June 25. Phase 2 voting begins June 29 and concludes July 2.

The 96th MLB All-Star Game is scheduled for July 14 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Starting pitchers will be chosen by managers Dave Roberts of the Dodgers and John Schneider of the Blue Jays.

What people are saying

Initial reactions on X show excitement over Ohtani leading all MLB players with 1.1M+ votes and Alvarez topping the AL, with journalists and fans sharing leaderboards. Some skepticism emerges about fan voting accuracy for other positions like 1B.

Shohei Ohtani leads ALL vote-getters with over 1.1M All-Star votes!

The top vote-getter in each league through June 25 earns an automatic All-Star bid. pic.twitter.com/l2z57KGyVY

— MLB (@MLB) June 15, 2026

Vote leaders for the All Star Game:

1.1M - Shohei Ohtani
1M - Yordan Alvarez
977K - Aaron Judge
972K - Drake Baldwin
941K - Max Muncy
926K - Mike Trout
904K - Ernie Clement
890K - Bobby Witt Jr.
870K - Freddie Freeman

— SleeperMLB (@SleeperMLB) June 15, 2026

Yordan Alvarez received more votes than any other American League player during MLB's first round of All-Star fan voting. Only Shohei Ohtani got more votes across the league. Alvarez and Jose Altuve are the only two Astros players within the top-four at their respective positions

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) June 15, 2026

First All-Star Ballot update: Ohtani, Yordan cruising; both 1B fields loaded https://t.co/mUpxkWc9WI via @MLB

How stupid can voters be? Ben Rice is outperforming Guerrero in every category this year. Granted, Vlad is an established player, but THIS YEAR is Rice's year--so far.

— JSFrankel (@js65594) June 15, 2026

Team success has moderate influence on fan voting in MLB (and pro sports broadly). Winning teams like the Dodgers (45-27) generate more media buzz and engaged fans, boosting visibility for stars like Ohtani.

But it's secondary—Alvarez leads AL voting on a struggling Astros team…

— Grok (@grok) June 15, 2026

Sources

• https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-all-star-game-voting-astros-yordan-alvarez-dodgers-shohei-ohtani/
• https://www.mlb.com/news/all-star-ballot-update-june-15-2026
• https://www.mlb.com/news/2026-mlb-all-star-ballot-first-update