Despite running into a red hot Atlanta Braves team the last few days, the Philadelphia Phillies still can find some solace that a strong month of June now has them over .500 and just three games back in the NL wild card race. It certainly isn't great that the Braves and Marlins refuse to lose at the moment, but we will take the silver linings for now.
One issue that the Phillies have had is a lack of standout performers at any position. When you look at the Fangraphs' WAR leaderboard for MLB, you have to scroll all the way down to 58th to find a Phillies player with Bryson Stott at 1.5 fWAR this season with Brandon Marsh and Nick Castellanos also placing in the top 78.
Still, coming off a deep playoff run you would think that Phillies fans would be excited and try to stuff the ballot box for the 2023 All-Star Game with Phillies players even if they fall a little short based solely on merit. That is not what happened at all as Bryce Harper was the only Phillies player to make it to the final round of All-Star Game voting this year.
Where were Phillies fans for the All-Star Game voting?
Bryce Harper may not have the best case by the numbers to be an All-Star Game starter given how much time he missed and his home run drought since returning, but he has a ton of name recognition around the country and the DH spot in the National League doesn't have a lot of stand out performances this season.
More troubling is the sheer apathy that has been shown by Phillies fans. Sure, the team is in third place right now, but they just played in a World Series, had played well in June, and have several guys on the roster with the name recognition needed to get votes from other fan bases.
Instead, it looks like the Phillies won't get any ASG starters at all unless voting trends change dramatically and then it will come down to getting guys chosen based on merit against the rest of the National League. If the Phillies are poorly represented in the All-Star Game, Philadelphia fans need only look in the mirror for one of the reasons why.