Nationals Park in Washington DC will be hosting the 88th All-Star Game on July 17th, and MLB has released the final All-Star ballot update before the voting closes Thursday afternoon at 4 PM Eastern. A lot of debate happens on whether the All-Star voting process is truly based on talent, or sheer popularity of the players (sometimes it’s both). Regardless of which argument we can make, there is no doubt that all the players are among the elite. With the official announcement of the teams coming July 8th, we can make most of the predictions of who is going to start, as only a couple of tight races remain. Let’s start with who we know will be in the starting lineup based on the votes:Starting with the AL, we have:1B Jose Abreu* (Chicago White Sox .269/.325/.469)2B Jose Altuve (Houston Astros .338/.403/.478)3B Jose Ramirez (Cleveland Indians .298/.402/.612)SS Manny Machado* (Baltimore Orioles .310/.377/.564)C Wilson Ramos (Tampa Bay Rays .290/.336/.459)OF Mookie Betts (Boston Red Sox .337/.430/.679)OF Mike Trout (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim .313/.456/.633)OF Aaron Judge (New York Yankees .279/.401/.583)DH J.D. Martinez (Boston Red Sox .324/.391/.634).For the first time ever, we are going to give our official “Gomez Guess”. Gomez Guess will be a prediction and purely the opinion of me.Gomez Guess for AL Starting Pitcher…Luis Severino. Not a big surprise, as he leads the league in ERA and Wins, he is also in the top 6 in strikeouts with 138. Now, you may be wondering about the * next to some of the players’ names. Jose Abreu and Manny Machado are only in the lead by about 300,000 and 100,000 votes, respectively. Right behind Abreu is Yuli Gurriel from Houston, and behind Manny Machado is Carlos Correa, also from Houston. So, although we are predicting Abreu and Machado to be the starters, that could change come July 11th.The NL starting lineup might look something like this:1B Freddie Freeman (Atlanta Braves .311/.401/.537)2B Ozzie Albies** (Atlanta Braves .272/.314/.501)3B Nolan Arenado (Colorado Rockies .310/.397/.597)SS Brandon Crawford (San Francisco Giants .311/.375/.502)C Buster Posey* (San Francisco Giants .295/.372/.430)OF Nick Markakis (Atlanta Braves .324/.389/.489)OF Matt Kemp (Los Angeles Dodgers .323/.359/.565)OF Bryce Harper (Washington Nationals .217/.365/.483).Ozzie Albies has an uphill battle, fighting off two players. Albies has a 200,000-vote lead over Scooter Gennett from Cincinnati and a 300,000-vote lead over Javier Baez from the Cubs. Buster Posey currently has a 100,000-vote lead on Wilson Contreras from the Cubs. Second Base is going to be an exciting race that will come down to the wire on Thursday.Gomez Guess for NL Starting Pitcher…Max Scherzer. Also not a huge surprise, as he is in the top 3 in the pitchers Triple Crown (ERA, Wins, SO). Love or hate the voting system, this is where we are at right now for the 2018 All-Star game. Do you agree or disagree with the Gomez Guess? Who are you mad about potentially making the team? Let us know in the comments below!All stat and voting numbers provided by MLB.com. Photo Credit: Andrew HarnikPhoto Credit: MLBPhoto Credit: Kevin DietschFor advertising and sponsorship opportunities with The Game Changer Sports Network please contact Jake at Jake.Jollymore@Gmail.com