Final All-Star starting spot in AL outfield down to wire

With only days remaining in All-Star Game voting, Oakland's Yoenis Cespedes will try to hang on to his narrow grasp on a starting spot in the American League lineup.

Last year's Home Run Derby champion was in third place among outfielders when the final update of AL fan votes was provided by Major League Baseball on Monday. But with 1,941,553 votes, Cespedes was barely 12,000 votes ahead of Toronto's Melky Cabrera.

Voting closes Thursday night, and the rosters, both starters and reserves, for the July 15 game at Target Field will be revealed at 6 p.m. Sunday on ESPN.

No other race is nearly as close as Cespedes-Cabrera. Next closest is catcher, but leader Matt Wieters is out for the season because of injury. Oakland's Derek Norris trailed the Baltimore catcher by less than 200,000 votes.

Retiring Yankees captain Derek Jeter was about 600,000 votes ahead of Alexei Ramirez of the White Sox to start at shortstop.

The top two outfielders in the AL, Blue Jays' Jose Bautista and the Angels' Mike Trout, are the only two players in the league with at least 4 million votes.

AL ALL-STAR VOTE LEADERS

1. Matt Wieters, Orioles: 2,103,385

2. Derek Norris, Athletics: 1,924,049

3. Brian McCann, Yankees: 1,624,214

4. Kurt Suzuki, Twins: 1,025,717

5. A.J. Pierzynski, Red Sox: 925,996

1. Miguel Cabrera, Tigers: 3,323,380

2. Jose Abreu, White Sox: 1,801,592

3. Chris Davis, Orioles: 1,292,412

4. Albert Pujols, Angels: 1,190,751

5. Mark Teixeira, Yankees: 877,468

1. Robinson Cano, Mariners: 2,474,924

2. Ian Kinsler, Tigers: 1,603,185

3. Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox: 1,477,800

4. Jose Altuve, Astros: 1,312,805

5. Brian Dozier, Twins: 994,447

1. Josh Donaldson, Athletics: 2,943,332

2. Adrian Beltre, Rangers: 1,730,748

3. Evan Longoria, Rays: 1,457,752

4. Manny Machado, Orioles: 1,409,804

5. Brett Lawrie, Blue Jays: 865,684

1. Derek Jeter, Yankees: 2,924,686

2. Alexei Ramirez, White Sox: 2,325,527

3. J.J. Hardy, Orioles: 1,534,547

4. Jose Reyes, Blue Jays: 1,008,063

5. Jed Lowrie, Athletics: 732,766

1. Jose Bautista, Blue Jays: 4,460,245

2. Mike Trout, Angels: 4,085,647

3. Yoenis Cespedes, Athletics: 1,941,553

4. Melky Cabrera, Blue Jays: 1,929,506

5. Adam Jones, Orioles: 1,853,268

7. Jacoby Ellsbury, Yankees: 1,501,306

8. Nick Markakis, Orioles: 1,382,329

9. Carlos Beltran, Yankees: 1,292,920

10. Torii Hunter, Tigers: 1,167,642

11. Coco Crisp, Athletics: 911,522

13. Josh Hamilton, Angels: 860,919

14. Alex Rios, Rangers: 838,404

15. Shin-Soo Choo, Rangers: 764,340

DESIGNATED HITTER

1. Nelson Cruz, Orioles: 2,944,267

3. Victor Martinez, Tigers: 1,822,927

4. Edwin Encarnacion, Blue Jays: 1,590,498