2022 All-Stars by Sign

I haven’t been paying a lot of attention to the All-Star voting this year, as I’ve been a bit preoccupied with my reverse-chronological dive into baseball’s past. See, I was approaching the beginning of the 1970s – which, going backwards, is actually the END of the 1970s, for my purposes – and I thought it would be good timing if I finished building Fantasy Astrology databases for the entire decade by the All-Star break. I did accomplish my goal, but the posts about the last (i.e. earliest) couple of years of the decade won’t trickle out until after the Midsummer Classic.

But now that we have a break in the MLB action for a few days, I’m going to pause and take stock of how the season is going at the symbolic midpoint. And what better lens through which to view the 2022 season than the 2022 All-Stars? I ran the numbers of which astrological signs are best represented among All-Stars, and the results might shock you! Starting with just the fan-elected starters, two Negative signs are tied with the highest representation: Taurus and Cancer.

Fantasy points up to date through the All-Star Break

Taurus outfielder Aaron Judge got the most votes in the American League in the first round of voting, allowing him to skip the asinine “phase two” or whatever they call it. The tall Yankee leads the majors in homers at the break, and he’s on pace to potentially make history. He’ll be joined in the AL starting lineup by Astros second baseman Jose Altuve – I guess baseball fans have a short memory for stuff like trash can banging and buzzer wearing.

In the National League, catcher Willson Contreras will represent the Bulls, and the Cubs, at least until he is traded. (Contreras was #1 on MLB Trade Rumor’s list of Top 50 Trade Candidates a week ago.) On a fun family note, Willson will be starting alongside his brother William – a Capricorn who plays for the Braves – who was named as an injury replacement for NL DH Bryce Harper. The fourth and final Taurus player to start the All-Star Game will be Giants outfielder Joc Pederson, who has exceeded all expectations of his one-year $6 million deal.

Red in the B/T column means the player is injured and will not participate

The highest-profile Cancer Crab to start the 2022 All-Star Game has to be the defending MVP Shohei Ohtani. The Angels’ two-way star narrowly beat out another Cancer DH, Yordan Alvarez, in the second round showdown, but there’s no question who is the more impressive athlete overall. Ohtani will be joined in the AL starting lineup by White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson, who is eighth in the league in batting, and a perfect 11-0 in stolen base attempts.

Both starting All-Star shortstops represent the Crabs, as Trea Turner of the Dodgers will start for the National League. To his right on the diamond will be his sign-mate Manny Machado, the Padres third baseman, but the similarities don’t end there: Turner and Machado both play in the NL West, and were both midseason trade targets by Los Angeles in different seasons.

So, that does it for the starters. When taking reserves and injury replacements into account, we have three signs with nine players. These include two Fire Signs (Aries and Sagittarius) and an Earth Sign (Capricorn). Out of those three signs, there is only one fan-elected starter: Sagittarian Ronald Acuna Jr., who led the National League in first round votes. At first glance, Cancer would have joined them in a four-way tie, but I counted Ohtani twice: once as a fan-elected batter and once as a league-selected pitcher. As it stands, Cancer is in a three-way tie with Taurus and Virgo for second place, with each sign sending eight players to Los Angeles.

Aquarius leads the “second division” (i.e. bottom half) with seven players, and then we have three signs tied with six players each. Rather than listing them all, I’ll just mention the remaining two signs: Leo has just three All-Star representatives, while Gemini brings up the rear with… ZERO! That’s right, not a single Gemini major leaguer will be involved in the All-Star festivities this year, neither in the All-Star Game nor the Home Run Derby. I guess it’s no mystery who’s going to bring up the rear in the 2022 FABL standings…