Welcome to The Opener, where every weekday morning during the regular season you’ll get a fresh, topical story to start your day from one of SI.com’s MLB writers.
MLB released the first update on phase one of fan voting for the 2022 All-Star Game on Tuesday. It’s always interesting to me to see how much the breakout performers from the first couple months of the season are being noticed and rewarded by fans—and which disappointing superstars are being given the benefit of the doubt. This process used to drag on for quite a while, but phase one ends next Thursday, so this first batch of votes will carry significant weight in deciding which players will make up the starting lineups on July 19 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.