Texas Rangers: Lance Lynn Snubbed in Inaugural All-MLB Team

The MLB announced the first ever All-MLB team on Tuesday and Texas Rangers starter Lance Lynn, surprisingly, didn’t make the cut.

After being snubbed in his bid to be an All-Star in 2019, the disappointment continued for Texas Rangers righty Lance Lynn who was surprisingly left off the inaugural All-MLB team vote. The All-MLB team consisted of a first and second team comprised of four infielders, three outfielders, five starters, a catcher, a DH and two relievers per team. Saving you the time of doing that math, that means a total of ten starters were named to the All-MLB teams and none were named Lance Lynn.

A quick refresh on Lance Lynn in 2019. He was an animal. Lynn finished third in baseball among qualified pitchers with a 6.8 fWAR and third in bWAR at 7.6 just behind rotation-mate Mike Minor. Between those two metrics alone we can see that Lynn was among the most valuable starters in baseball last season with little deviation between FanGraphs and Baseball Reference’s measurements.

Looking at the All-MLB first team I can find some solace in Lance Lynn not cracking that group. Despite the fact that he outperformed all but DeGrom and Cole in fWAR which is the measurement I usually follow, the other trio has solid claim to their spots. Ignoring the postseason as this team was based on regular season only, Strasburg, Scherzer and Verlander all put together outstanding seasons with Verlander walking away with the AL Cy Young.

But when you jump down to the second team, the questions really start to be asked on what these votes were based on. Beyond WAR which is heavily in Lynn’s favor, the righty finished 7th in baseball with a 3.13 FIP, 7th in strikeouts at 246, t-8th in wins with 16 on a team with a losing record and 9th in HR/9 rate. Every guy that made the team had a good year but it feels shortsighted to not include Lynn on this list after he was among the best in baseball the entire season.

Alright rant over. In no way was this meant to take away from the guys who made this team. The MLB is trying to market players better and mentioned that this was one way they were hoping to do that. It’s just frustrating to see Lynn get minimal recognition for the outstanding year he had on the mound.