You can now vote your favorite Royals into the All-Star Game, but there’s a twist this year

#VoteOmar

The Royals may be in the cellar for now, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a star or two in their lineup. And we know Royals fans can certainly push their favorite boys in blue into the All-Star starting lineup if given the chance. Starting today, fans can begin All-Star voting online by going to www.mlb.com/all-star/ballot and picking who should go to the 2019 MLB All-Star Game in Cleveland.

MLB will shake up the voting procedure a bit this year, although fans will still determine the starters. An online vote during the “primary” that runs through June 21 will elect the the top three at each position to advance to an online run-off election to be held on June 26-27. Starters will be announced the evening of the 27th, with complete rosters announced June 30.

There are two ways to vote, as explained by MLB.com:

1) On MLB platforms, including MLB.com, all 30 club sites and the MLB At Bat and MLB Ballpark mobile apps.

2) On Google Search (in the U.S. and Canada only), fans can most efficiently vote for any player on the ballot by entering “Vote” and a player’s name (for example, “Vote Mike Trout”), taking you directly to that player’s section of the ballot. Alternately, fans can go directly to the Google ballot or enter searches such as “MLB All-Star Ballot” or “MLB vote” or “MLB All-Star vote” in the search bar. These searches will trigger a full All-Star ballot within the search results.

Fans can vote five times per 24-hour period on the MLB platforms. Using the Google search, fans can fill out one complete ballot and vote for every position, or vote for up to 17 unique players per day - even if they’re at the same position. There will no longer be a final vote, so all reserves and pitchers will be chosen by a combination of player ballots and the Commissioner’s Office.

On the ballot for the Royals are catcher Martín Maldonado, first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, second baseman Whit Merrifield, shortstop Adalberto Mondesi, third baseman Hunter Dozier, and outfielders Alex Gordon, Billy Hamilton, and Jorge Soler. The Royals are the only American League team without a designated hitter listed.

Having Merrifield at second base rather than the outfield could give him a big boost towards making the All-Star team. Over the 2018-2019 seasons, Merrifield leads all American League second basemen in WAR with 6.8, ahead of Jose Altuve (5.6) and Jed Lowrie (4.9). So GET WHIT IN!

Of course, you can vote in all the Royals - heck, even put Chris Owings as a write-in. LOL, just kidding, let’s not get crazy here.

The 2019 MLB All-Star Game will be played Tuesday, July 9 at Cleveland’s Progressive Field.