Cubs got sobering reality check from early National League All-Star ballot update

June is already halfway through, which means there's less than a month left until the MLB All-Star break. However, what should've been a point of excitement to take stock of a competitive year for the Chicago Cubs has turned into anything but. Fans on the North Side are all too eager to create buzz for their players when things are going well, but after a nightmare stretch going 7-22 after their two ten-game winning streaks, the interest has unsurprisingly waned. It's hard to think about voting for All-Stars when the team isn't performing to that standard.

Still, Chicago fans are notoriously loyal, and the Cubs are still very much in playoff contention, even if it's not the no-doubt run everyone expected. So it's nonetheless jarring to see nobody on the team even remotely close to the top vote-getters in the first National League All-Star ballot update. Even Pete Crow-Armstrong, who has turned his season around and is playing like his superstar first half last year with a .277/.351/.493 slash line and 3.9 fWAR as of Tuesday, behind only Bobby Whit Jr. in value for position players, is sitting in 14th place among all outfielders.

The fan vote is always more of a measure of enthusiasm than results, so if anything, it's a reflection of how far the vibes have fallen into the toilet since the Cubs' red-hot April/early May. That's not to say they have many deserving candidates. To a lesser degree, it also shows their lack of national impact, as most voters recognize them as unworthy of their attention. Despite trying to improve on a 92-win season and prove themselves as part of the class of the NL, they're once again on the periphery of the larger baseball conversation.

Among all Cubs players, the highest-ranked at their position right now is Carson Kelly in sixth place. Even he has only a fraction of the votes that the top two guys, Will Smith and Drake Baldwin, have, though. Perhaps most surprising are Michael Busch and Ian Happ, the former of whom has mostly recovered from a slow start to the year and the latter of whom, until a more recent skid, had been enjoying a career year. Busch hasn't even cracked triple digits among first basemen and Happ didn't make the top-20 at all.

For the most part, these lists are dominated by the Dodgers, Braves, and Phillies, two of the best and most exciting teams in the sport, and another talented group that's turned it completely around under Don Mattingly after a rough start. The Cubs aren't close to that level of energy, even after winning four of their last five to get to 38-35. They'll have to do a lot more to convince fans that they aren't the team that was outmatched night after night by the Rockies and Giants and is still haunted by runners-in-scoring-position woes.

The Chicago Cubs will have more than one All-Star... right?

Obviously, no Cubs getting through the fan vote doesn't guarantee they'll be unrepresented at the Midsummer Classic. Every team has to have at least one, and there's no doubt that one will be PCA. Past him, though, the chances aren't great that Northsiders will have anyone else to look forward to.

Ben Brown has the next most obvious shot to make the cut. He's been a godsend all year for an injury-riddled Cubs pitching staff, sporting a 1.74 and 2.36 FIP in 62 innings. As a starter, he's taken it to another level, with a 1.49 ERA and 2.14 FIP. However, given how crowded the field is, between Jacob Misiorowski, Christopher Sanchez, Chase Burns, Chris Sale, and more, who have also spent the entire season in their respective rotations, he's probably going to have to keep shoving it to punch his ticket to the All-Star Game. Busch and Happ are much longer shots and likely need to go on some insane heaters to beat out their stiff competition.

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