Judge, Ohtani get top All-Star votes; second round voting underway

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani and the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge were the first players picked for the July 15 All-Star Game, elected as starters by fans on Thursday.

Judge led the major leagues with 4,012,983 votes in the first round of fan balloting and the outfielder was picked for his seventh American League start in eight All-Star Games. He also was the leading vote-getter during the first phase in 2022 and last year.

Ohtani topped the NL and was second in the big leagues with 3,967,668 votes, becoming the first designated hitter to start in five straight All-Star Games.

The pair were selected under rules that began in 2022 and give starting spots to the top vote-getter in each league in the first phase of online voting. Two finalists at every other position advanced to the second phase, which runs until July 2. Votes from the first phase do not carry over.


(AP Photo Michael Swensen)