Opinion

Contrary to popular opinion, the fan-voting portion of filling out MLB All-Star rosters isn't the only part of the process that falls victim to popularity contests and the numbers a player has put up in the past.

Sometimes, even those players selected by their peers and each All-Star team's respective manager raise an eyebrow or two.

It happens each and every year, and 2013 is no different, though I must admit that there are very few selections I'd consider to be egregious errors.

The question of whether or not Yasiel Puig will be in the All-Star Game was finally answered on Saturday—no.

OK, maybe it's premature to say that Puig won't play in the Midsummer Classic, but he needs your help. He was named to the Final Vote for the NL reserves, and it's up to the fans to decide if he makes it or not.

Selection for the MLB All-Star Game is always a somewhat contentious affair, and this year was no different.

Since the starters are completely left up to the fans, there are always some picks that raise a few eyebrows. For the most part, though, the fans did a pretty good job.

Here are the starters for both teams, per MLB Public Relations.

The 2013 MLB All-Star Game starting lineup revealing is set for 6:30 ET on Saturday. Some of the races are very close until the end, including the battle between Carlos Gonzalez, Justin Upton and Bryce Harper for two National League outfield spots. Gonzalez and Upton are two similar talents, and here we're going to take a look at what makes them tick.

Batting

With the All-Star rosters to be announced on Saturday evening at 6:30 EDT, I decided to take a look at three of the closest races in the National League and pick who I believe deserve to earn the starting spot. 

When the month of July rolls around in the MLB, the time comes for teams to first decided whether they'll be buyers or sellers leading up to the deadline and then what needs to be addressed if they are in fact buyers.

For some teams, their weaknesses will be solved by in-house players coming back from injury or top prospects being called up to make a second-half impact. For others, however, what they do at the trade deadline could mean the difference between sitting at home come October and contending for a title.

With the American League and National League All-Stars set to be announced on Saturday evening, there is plenty of speculation about who will and won't make the cut.

While the final voting tallies for starters have remained under wraps, it's not too difficult to predict who will make the teams through that manner.

Homer Bailey is basically Nolan Ryan.

OK, maybe that's a bit of a stretch. But the Cincinnati Reds right-hander and the Ryan Express now have something pretty cool in common, and it also serves as clarification for a certain something else: the fact that Bailey is a lot better than you might think he is.

Introducing Porter Fischer, the latest key witness for Major League Baseball in the league's ongoing investigation into the Biogenesis performance-enhancing drugs scandal.

No amount of idiocy will go unturned. 

Welcome to the weekly installment of “MLB Idiot of the Week”, where the biggest dum-dums of the week are presented for your consideration.

Voting is really quite simple: MLB Lead Writer Zachary Rymer and MLB Contributor Gabe Zaldivar will set up some easy pins in the form of knucklehead candidates, and you knock them on down.