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Atlanta Braves' Freeman, Markakis, Albies, Foltynewicz make NL All-Star squad

No other first baseman reached the status of 2 million votes, let alone Freeman's league-best tally of nearly 4 million endorsements.

ATLANTA—The great Chuck Woolery, of TV game-show fame from the 1970s and 80s, would be extremely proud of this 2 and 2 reset.

On Sunday night, Major League Baseball confirmed the starting slots of two Atlanta Braves for the July 17 All-Star Game, with Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis earning the fan-friendly nods at their respective positions.

And among the NL reserves, pitcher Mike Foltynewicz (6-5, 2.37 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 114-40 K-BB) and second baseman Ozzie Albies rounded out Atlanta's All-Star foursome.

Freeman had been a lead-pipe cinch to start for more than a month. No other first baseman, voting-wise, could touch the attainable 2-million mark, let alone reach Freeman's league-best tally of 4.04 million endorsements.

Here's why: Among his positional brethren in the National League, Freeman boasts top-3 numbers with RBI (59), runs (56), hits (108), doubles (24), batting average (.315), on-base percentage (.406), slugging rate (.542) and OPS (.948).

Four weeks ago, Markakis sprinted past Bryce Harper for the No. 1 outfield slot. During that span, former Brave Matt Kemp (now with the Dodgers) supplanted Harper as the No. 2 outfielder.

It didn't matter in the end, though, since Markakis, Harper and Kemp were prohibitive locks to secure the three starting slots in the outfield.

Here's one more thing to celebrate: Markakis now owns the MLB record for most hits (2,053) at the time of making his first All-Star Game.

It's pretty simple when reflecting on Foltynewicz's All-Star selection: Charting his 17 seasonal starts, the Illinois native notched 15 outings of two or fewer runs.

For good measure, Foltynewicz owns top-10 tallies among NL starting pitchers with ERA (4th), WHIP (8th), strikeouts (6th) and opponents' batting average (2nd).

The Senior Circuit starter? The Nationals' Max Scherzer (11-5, 2.33 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 177/32 K-BB) might have already clinched his fourth Cy Young trophy (two in AL, one in AL) in six seasons.

In the Braves' case, the ultimate suspense involved Albies' candidacy at second base.

The 21-year-old Albies (18 HR, 50 RBI, 69 runs, 29 doubles, 8 steals, .282 batting, .837 OPS) had seen his lead over Scooter Gennett (Reds) and Javier Baez (Cubs) diminish by nearly 30 percent in the last two weeks.

Unfortunately for Ozzie, this trend continued into the final push, with Chicago fans vaulting Baez into the starter role at the 11th hour.

There were three seemingly air-tight explanations to justify Albies' starting case:

a) Albies has emerged into a legitimate candidate for NL MVP, although he might encounter a split-vote scenario with Freeman.

b) Throughout the spring/summer, Braves fans have been consistently hitting (but not unduly stuffing) the ballot box.

c) Check out Albies' supreme tallies since June 22: Two homers, eight RBI, 16 runs, 30 hits, .433 batting average, .457 OBP and 1.099 OPS.

But alas, Albies must humbly settle for being a late-innings backup in his All-Star debut.

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