Even as the Atlanta Braves offense has struggled this month, Matt Olson's bat is one of two reasons why the offense has not been catastrophically bad in June. For the entire season, Olson has been one of the best position players in MLB, but with the way All-Star voting is panning out, he won't be rewarded with a start at the Midsummer Classic.
A recent hot streak by Freddie Freeman, coupled with overwhelming fan support for the Dodgers first baseman, is putting Olson on track to lose the starting job to his predecessor yet again.
Matt Olson on track to be snubbed once again for All-Star starting nod
Since Olson joined the Braves and Freeman joined the Dodgers in 2022, the two first basemen have consistently competed for the title of best first baseman in the National League. While Olson didn't make the All-Star team in 2022 or 2024, he was the backup to Freeman in 2023 and 2025. Freeman, to his credit, has made the All-Star roster every season in a Dodgers uniform, and has started two of those games.
Through the first two months of the season, Olson looked like he'd be the natural option to start in Philadelphia at the Midsummer Classic. He had double the home runs as Freeman, a wRC+ that was 10 points higher, and 0.5 more fWAR.
Once the fan voting began, however, Freeman not only went on a tear, slashing .330/.417/.540 so far in June, but he also garnered the majority of the support during phase one of voting. Olson's June has been nothing to scoff at, as he's slashed .318/.359/.494 for the month, but this run by Freeman has tied them for fWAR on the season at 2.7
Olson and Freeman were the top two vote getters from the first phase, but the last update showed Freeman with a sizable lead over the Braves slugger. Still, Braves fans had hope that once the second phase began, Braves Country could rally around their current star first baseman so send him as a starter to the 2026 All-Star Game on their rival's turf.
Unfortunately, that likely won't be the case. When MLB provided an update on the second phase of voting, Olson trailed Freeman by 18 percentage points. Olson will need a massive boost over the next few days. If not, he will once again find himself on the bench this All-Star Game, or worse, entirely excluded from the roster.
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