Owning the National League’s best record, the Milwaukee Brewers had three players selected to the All-Star team that was revealed Sunday – new outfielders Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich and flame-throwing reliever Josh Hader. But the club is trying very hard to get one more, announcing a "We Believe in Jesus. Do you?" campaign to get Jesus Aguilar voted into the All-Star Game, starting now.
On Sunday, Aguilar was named one of five candidates for the Camping World All-Star Final Vote, and it’ll be a four-day voting frenzy with fans trying to get their favorite one selected for the last spot on the squad.
Brew Crew supporters can help send Aguilar to his first career All-Star game by voting online at Brewers.com/Vote. There is no limit on the number of times that fans can vote before polling ends on Wednesday, July 11 at 3 p.m.
Aguilar launched his campaign by blasting two titanic home runs in the Brewers’ 10-3 win over the Braves on Sunday, the big first baseman’s 21st and 22nd homers, which tied him for the most in the NL. In 79 games played, Aguilar is batting .306 and ranks among the league leaders in slugging percentage (.633), RBI (63), OPS (1.001) and home runs.
According to the Brewers, players and uniformed staff adopted the "We Believe in Jesus" tagline last month, and the organization is now carrying it forward with the voting campaign.
"We Believe in Jesus, both as an All-Star candidate and as one of the game’s elite players of 2018," said manager Craig Counsell. "I see it as our responsibility as players, coaches, and staff to do everything in our power to get Jesus elected to the Final Man spot. In the end, though, we need the fans to get this done. Their support this year has been incredible.
"Jesus is up against players from some of baseball’s largest markets, but history is on our side. We’ve done it before, and we’ll do it again."
There is precedent for the Brewers succeeding in turning out the 11th-hour vote. In 2003 and 2008, fans elected Geoff Jenkins and Corey Hart, respectively, to the Final Man spot, ahead of players from cities like New York, San Francisco and Philadelphia.
To help "energize the regional market," the club said in a news release, the Brewers and Twins partnered to co-promote Aguilar in the National League and the Twins’ Eddie Rosario in the American League for this year’s Final Man balloting.
If voted in, Aguilar will join teammates Cain, Yelich and Hader, who were selected to participate in the midsummer classic. The 89th Major League All-Star Game will be held on Tuesday, July 17 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.
The Brewers are making it easy and fun to vote by offering several polling stations over the next couple of days. Tune into the team's social media accounts to find out when and where those are.
They believe in Jesus. Do you?
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
