Max Muncy has surged to the top of National League third basemen in the first All-Star balloting update, and he did it with more than 900,000 votes. At 35, he is also tracking toward a 6.3-WAR season, a level that would put him in rare company for a player carrying the position this deep into a career.
“The truth is, it just means I’m healthy,” Muncy said Monday afternoon before the Dodgers hosted the Rays. “For me, when you start getting older, and you’re finding it harder and harder to stay healthy, that always raises the question marks in your mind,” he said. “So, it’s a big thing to just have been healthy so far this year.”
Max Muncy and the votes
Every other National League third baseman had fewer than 400,000 votes in the update as of Monday, which leaves Muncy with a wide edge in the race for a starting spot. He is not just leading the ballot at the position; he is separating from the field while posting the kind of production that has kept his name at the front of the voting.
His line backs it up. Muncy leads all qualified National League third basemen in home runs, on-base percentage, slugging, OPS and FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement. He has played in 68 of the Dodgers’ 74 games, and his 148 OPS+ is the second-highest mark of his career behind his 161 OPS+ in 2018.
Dodgers in the third-base drought
The larger stake sits with the Dodgers. They have not had an All-Star starter at third base since Ron Cey in 1977, so a Muncy finish would end a 49-year drought for the position. That is the historical line running through this ballot surge, not a side note.
His path there has not been clean. Oblique and knee injuries limited him to 100 games in 2025, and the year before he missed three months with an oblique and rib issue. He also began wearing prescription glasses at the plate in late April, and from the start of May through the end of the season he produced an OPS over.900.
Dave Roberts on consistency
Dave Roberts tied the production to the offseason work behind it. “He put in a lot of work with his body this offseason to put himself in a good spot, and that's helped the consistency of the swing mechanics,” he said. The numbers fit that explanation: Muncy is on pace for a 6.3-WAR season while giving the Dodgers a middle-of-the-order bat at a position where he has outperformed the rest of the National League.
The next turn is simple. If Muncy keeps this lead, the voting will point toward a starting job and a return to the All-Star Game spotlight that matches the season he has built. If the ballots tighten, the race changes quickly; for now, the 35-year-old has both the production and the vote total to make the drought end look real.
