The Los Angeles Dodgers are merrily sitting 7.5 games up from the San Diego Padres atop the National League West division, but the Friars seem to be annoyed at another area that L.A. is currently leading: All-Star Game voting.

Padres announcer Mark Grant recently came after All-Star Max Muncy while campaigning Friars fans to vote for former Dodgers third baseman Manny Machado for the Midsummer Classic.

“Let’s call it the way it is,” Grant said Sunday. “Manny Machado is a better third baseman than Max Muncy, alright.”

Both of the hot corners are in Phase 2 of All-Star voting. Machado amassed 2,495,554 votes, leading National League third basemen, with Muncy finishing right behind him with a total of 1,665,829.

Over the course of both careers, Machado has had more impressive statistics while playing three additional seasons. He leads Muncy in career batting average and slugging percentage, but Muncy has the edge when it comes to on-base percentage and OPS.

Both have a career OPS+ of 124, over 20 percent higher than the league average, while Machado has a pair of Gold Glove honors, Silver Slugger awards, and six All-Star nods to Muncy’s two.

As for 2025, things get a little more interesting.

Max Muncy has a better bWAR (2.9) than Machado (2.5), more RBIs (55) than his San Diego counterpart (47), and both are tied with 13 home runs on the year.

Machado has the edge in hits, batting average, slugging percentage, and four more stolen bases than Muncy, but the Dodgers’ third baseman has a higher on-base percentage, OPS, and OPS+ in five fewer games than Machado.

Defensively, both are grading out as below-average defenders, with Machado ranking in the 11th percentile in terms of Outs Above Average and Muncy ranking in just the fifth percentile.

To so confidently assert that Machado is better, when there is an air-tight case to be made pointing to the opposite, doesn’t just show a lack of professionalism behind the microphone, but discredits a remarkable season that has been put together by Muncy, especially after such a slow start.

In terms of total statistics across both careers, the answer is Machado, but Muncy still has two World Series trophies that the Padres third baseman — nor his team — is yet to acquire.

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Photo Credit: Jonathan Hui-USA TODAY Sports