I expected it, but in the end, a 'strange' result came out. On the 23rd, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced the final tally of the 2025 professional baseball All-Star voting (July 12, Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark), and there was still a phenomenon of fan favoritism towards specific team players. Of course, it is entirely natural for fan enthusiasm to concentrate on players from the teams they support based on team performance.

It is unavoidable that the All-Star voting has turned into a 'popularity contest.' Even so, despite the KBO selecting the 'Best 12' based on a total score combining fan votes (70%) and player votes (30%) in order to mitigate the distortion of public sentiment, there are some results that raise eyebrows, leaving certain players understandably disappointed.

If there was the biggest surprise in this year's voting, it would be that LG Twins' fourth batter Moon Bo-gyeong (25) ranked fourth in the 'Namnam (Hanwha, LG, KIA, NC, Kiwoom) All-Star' third base category. In fact, Moon Bo-gyeong has been outstanding compared to Kim Do-young (KIA Tigers), who received the most votes in the sector, and Song Seong-mun (Kiwoom Heroes, second place), despite being out with a long injury, as well as Roh Si-hwan (Hanwha Eagles, third place).

Moon Bo-gyeong currently holds an eighth batting average (.296), is tied for sixth in home runs (13), and is third in RBIs (55), significantly contributing to LG maintaining its top position as a key hitter. He received 113 votes in the player voting, far more than Kim Do-young (70 votes), but was pushed to fourth place in the fan voting. That he, having hit the most runs in the team, is far from the 'Best 12' is difficult to understand.

In the designated hitter category of the 'Namnam All-Star,' rising rookie Moon Hyun-bin (21, Hanwha Eagles) ranked first in fan voting but was suppressed by veteran Choi Hyung-woo (42, KIA) in the player voting (166 to 90), failing to make the 'Best 12' by a mere total score difference of 0.27 (Choi Hyung-woo 32.98, Moon Hyun-bin 32.71), which is understandable.

The strange results are more prevalent in the 'Dream (Samsung, Lotte, SSG, KT, Doosan) All-Star.' Yang Eui-ji (Doosan Bears) received the most votes in the player voting with 155, but was significantly outperformed by Kang Min-ho (Samsung Lions, 139) in the fan voting, which can be seen as an obvious result based on team performance. However, the fact that batting leader Kim Sung-yoon (Samsung) placed fifth in the outfielder sector behind Koo Ja-wook and Kim Ji-chan (both Samsung), and Yoon Dong-hee and Reyes (both Lotte) is concerning. Similarly, the emerging power hitter Ahn Hyun-min (22, KT Wiz) received an overwhelming 221 votes in player voting but was left in second place behind Jeon Jun-woo (Lotte, 71 votes), which also stemmed from differences in passionate fan support.

The All-Star voting generally aligns with the sentiments of the players and fans. As in previous years, it is perhaps not surprising that Doosan, KT, and Kiwoom, who have lower team performance, failed to produce a single 'Best 12.' However, having a player sidelined due solely to enthusiastic fan support and replaced with another without even being able to participate in the 'Best 12' demonstrates the limitations of the All-Star voting.