Baseball: Ohtani leads AL votes for 1st time to land All-Star spot

Shohei Ohtani received the most votes among American League players for the first time as the Los Angeles Angels two-way star earned an automatic starting spot in the All-Star Game on July 11 in Seattle.

Ohtani received 2,646,307 votes during the Phase 1 ballot, Major League Baseball said Thursday, and will be the starting designated hitter for the AL as he makes his third straight All-Star appearance.

“I would like to thank all the fans that voted for me, this is a huge honor,” Ohtani, who leads the majors with 24 home runs, said in a statement. “I will use this as motivation and will continu...