Matt Olson looked like the clear answer at first base for a while. Now, the All-Star voting is threatening to push him aside again.
The Braves first baseman has been one of the few steady bats in Atlanta’s offense this month, and over the full season he’s been among the best position players in MLB. But with the latest voting update, Olson is in danger of missing out on a starting spot at the Midsummer Classic.
Freddie Freeman’s surge is the big reason. The Dodgers first baseman has caught fire in June, slashing .330/.417/.540 so far this month, and he’s also riding the kind of fan support that can swing these races fast. Olson has held up his end too, hitting .318/.359/.494 in June, but Freeman’s push has erased Olson’s edge and left the two tied for fWAR on the season at 2.7.
This has become a familiar matchup since Olson joined the Braves and Freeman landed with the Dodgers in 2022. The two have been jockeying for status as the National League’s top first baseman ever since.
Olson missed the All-Star team in 2022 and 2024, then served as Freeman’s backup in 2023 and 2025. Freeman, meanwhile, has made the All-Star roster every year in a Dodgers uniform and has started two of those games.
Early in the season, Olson seemed like the one with the stronger case to start in Philadelphia. Through the first two months, he had twice as many home runs as Freeman, a wRC+ that was 10 points higher, and a 0.5 fWAR advantage.
But the voting has shifted. Olson and Freeman finished as the top two vote-getters in the first phase, and Freeman already held a comfortable lead in the last update. Braves fans were hoping the second phase would close the gap and give Olson a path to start the 2026 All-Star Game on rival turf.
That hope has taken a hit. MLB’s latest second-phase update has Freeman ahead of Olson by 18 percentage points, leaving Olson needing a huge late push if he’s going to catch him. If that doesn’t happen, Olson could once again be stuck on the bench for the All-Star Game - or left off the roster altogether.
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