Here is the June All-Star team

The Major League Baseball regular season is six months long, which allows us to break the season into six convenient chunks. Each of these chunks is equal to one another, even if it doesn’t seem that way at the time; it always feels, in the moment, that the first and last months count more.

But throughout the season, we will be putting together an All-Star team for each month. As we wrap up this thrilling month of baseball, here’s an All-Star pick from each league, at each position, for June.

Catcher

NL: Buster Posey, Giants
AL: Gary Sánchez, Yankees

In case you were wondering if Posey was going to fade as the season went along, he has a .432 OBP in June. Also, unlike previous seasons, he’s playing every game at catcher. For all the problems that the Yankees had in the month of June, Sánchez was absolutely not one of them: He put up a 1.035 OPS for the month.

First base

NL: Brandon Belt, Giants
AL: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays

Suffice it to say, Vlad Jr. has not slowed down in June: It was actually his best month of the year. He put up an absurd .477 OBP. That is downright Bondsian. It was another down month for NL first basemen -- it’s a shockingly thin position these days -- but Belt was at the center of another terrific month for the Giants.

Second base

NL: Jake Cronenworth, Padres
AL: Jonathan Schoop, Tigers

You know what you will notice on this list? A lot of NL West hitters. Cronenworth is low-key pivotal to everything the Padres have going on. Meanwhile, the Tigers just had the best month of their season, thanks to their pitching and Schoop, who had 10 homers on the month. Shoutout to Jose Altuve, who has officially put his nightmarish 2020 behind him. This was the first month of his career in which he reached double digits in home runs.

Shortstop

NL: Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres
AL: Carlos Correa, Astros

Wander Franco made most of the headlines among American League shortstops this month, but Correa may have been the best of a whole bunch of slugging Astros. He looks like the star the Astros have been waiting for him to truly become. Oh, and Tatis Jr. was Tatis Jr.

Third base

NL: Justin Turner, Dodgers
AL: Josh Donaldson, Twins

Donaldson might not necessarily be the most popular hitter among a large segment of the pitching population, but when he was healthy in June, he brought his ritualistic rain. It was a down month for NL third basemen, but Turner put up a .429 OBP for a Dodgers team that, yep, is hot again.

Outfield

NL: Kyle Schwarber, Nationals; Tommy Pham, Padres; Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves
AL: Cedric Mullins, Orioles; Joey Gallo, Rangers; Michael Brantley, Astros

Schwarber has homered twice since I began typing this sentence: His explosion has returned the Nationals to some semblance of contention. Pham had almost been written off last year, but as always, when he’s healthy, he hits the ball hard. Acuña had a perfectly average month for him, which is to say he was outstanding. He also stole 10 bases.

Mullins is anything but a fluke: Is he almost wasted on the Orioles right now? Gallo has shaken off a lousy start to re-establish himself as the Rangers’ best home run hitter after Adolis García’s monster May. Oh, and Brantley hit .418 for June. There sure were a lot of Astros hitters on this list, weren’t there?

Designated hitter

AL: Shohei Ohtani, Angels

Ohtani, in addition to the whole pitching thing, had a 1.327 OPS in June. He slugged .900!

Starting pitchers

NL: Jacob deGrom, Mets; Walker Buehler, Dodgers; Freddy Peralta, Brewers; Austin Gomber, Rockies
AL: Framber Valdez, Astros; Robbie Ray, Blue Jays; Sean Manaea, A’s; Kyle Gibson, Rangers

The Brewers didn’t have any hitters make the June All-Star team, but they’re packed with pitchers, starting with Peralta, who was actually better than the two dominant starters ahead of him in the rotation right now. Valdez has turned out to be fantastic for the Astros, and Manaea is the ace the A’s desperately need. Also, look at Gomber’s numbers for the month: 3-0, 1.29 ERA. Also, deGrom, of course.

Relief pitchers

NL: Josh Hader, Brewers; Brad Hand, Nationals
AL: Nick Sandlin, Cleveland; Lou Trivino, A’s

So, so many pitchers to pick from here. Hader didn’t give up a single run, which is why he’s on the list. Of course, neither did Kenley Jansen, and he couldn’t even crack the top two. These are high times to be a dominant reliever in baseball.