That was really an issue before the game “meant something”. The managers would try to use everyone on the bench, and that meant shuttling pitchers out there early and often.
Also, hitters letting the count go full before they consider swinging, stepping out to scratch their balls and stare blankly after every damn pitch, pitchers standing there staring (and scratching their own balls) instead of firing that ol’ pill in there, managers not letting pitchers get out of their own jams instead of bringing in the next reliever (who is usually no more effective) … fer chrissakes, guys, play ball, will ya?
I hope this isn’t too much of a hijack but…
I think that MLB should decide one way or the other about the All-Star game. Either make it nothing more than a feel-good showcase, and remove any home field consequences for the World Series, or leave the consequences and play the game properly. Leave the best players in there and play the game with the same guys you start with (obviously, with the exception of pitching changes and proper defensive or situational hitting substitutions).
The idea that every team must have a representative at the All-star game is stupid, and so is the need to get virtually every player into the game.
Just MHO.
Meh. I think the managers do a good job of balancing things. They don’t get everyone in there any more, which is the biggest improvement to make. They have a lot at stake, because guys like Manuel and Maddon have decent chances of making it back to the Series.
They hold out maybe one position player and a pitcher or two. It’s hardly made a significant difference. I agree that the home field thing should be removed, and I’d rather the every team thing be done away with as well.
You would find a lot of pitchers who suddenly needed the arm rest at break. No manager is willing to risk his best pitchers for a full outing. Then a lot of stars would sit on the bench. The fans would bitch. It is as good as it can get now.
I wonder how much of this was because of the White Sox jacket, to be honest. I’m a pretty big Obama supporter and it still kinda jolted me to see him wearing that!
Of course some of it is politics too - Bush got booed pretty significantly when he threw out an opening pitch here.
Those are not analagous situations.
–Cliffy
Are you saying they’re not analogous because Bush and Obama are not equally deserving of boos? Or because throwing out the first pitch at the All-Star game is different from the first pitch at Opening Day (which I think is what GWB did at old Busch in 2004)?
While I agree with the former it is clearly for political reasons. And the latter doesn’t really make much sense to me… if anything Bush would be less likely to receive boos because IIRC he was wearing Cardinals apparel on that day.
The National League did not use 3 position players and 4 pitchers. I believe the American League’s results were similar.
I consider it a positive that they have one from every team there. I don’t think it is important to play as many as they do. They could seriously reduce the pitching roster simply by having pitchers pitch 2 innings, rather than one. They could also require the starters to go five full innings (other than the pitchers) before substitution, except in the case of injury.
Heh. I remember a fake ad on HBO’s old Not Necessarily the News, showing about a minute of such footage, followed by the MLB logo and a breathless announcer shouting, “Baseball: Catch the excitement!” 
I guess I’m the only baseball fan in the world who
- Likes the rule that every team must have a representative, and
- Doesn’t mind that this decides World Series home field advantage. I don’t see how it’s any worse than deciding it based on whether you can evenly divide the year by 2.
FOX’s refusal to play our anthem remains an insulting disgrace, and I continue to refuse to watch the game. Sorry I missed it.
Having a rep from each team is a requirement, and does no harm. Getting players in & out of the game is completely up to the manager (yeah, sure, I bet he’s under some pressure to get everyone in. If the game indeed “means something”, then I’d play to win.)
So the current arrangement is just fine. It did provide us with one moment of drama – Ryan Howard was available to pinch hit in the 8th with the go ahead runs on base. Unfortunately, he looked completely clueless, as Nathan never bothered to throw him a strike, and got him out on 4 pitches.
And Fox has got to go. How much longer, o lord, do they own the rights to baseball?
I agree with all three of these points.
The first is pretty obvious - fans want to see a hometown player in the game. With so many spots available (33 now! per team!) there is no reason not to have one from each team. The second I just don’t care about. The game obviously doesn’t count for most of the players - Heath Bell doesn’t really care if the NL has to start the WS on the road. But it’s not like it’s a dramatic change of odds. And if it results in managers leaving some players on the bench then why not?
If there is going to be an MLB team in Canada, and a player from that team on the field (the starting pitcher no less!) then they should play the Canadian anthem.
Fox’s current contract extends through the 2013 season.
RickJay, I’m totally with you on those points.
You’re right about that.
But what would be better, in my opinion, is deciding it based on the performance of the two teams that are actually competing in the World Series. Whichever has the best regular-season record, or the best record in interleague play, or best record in their own division, or something like that.
It’s worse because it’s not fair or equitable. The AL has 4 of the top 6 payrolls in baseball and the Yankees, Angels and Red Sox basically collect All Stars every off-season. Also there are 2 more teams in the NL which mandates 2 additional fan selected players. The AL gets to customize (cherry pick) their lineup to a greater degree than the NL.
It’s fucking insane and considering the dollars that an NL team probably loses by having one fewer WS game it’s a shock to me that there isn’t louder dissent.
It’s probably not fair to base it on record or inter-league record either what with unbalanced schedules and inter-league “rivalry” games. Alternating years is the only system that really makes any sense.
You can probably write an entire novel on the impact of the DH as well but I’ll not start that rant.
Manager selected. Sorry.
Maybe we could really piss off some people, and use some normalized stat like VORP, adding up the VORP for each member of the team for the season, and awarding home field to the team with highest overall VORP? 