Neither item is bad on its own and they’re both understandable. The problem is that they conflict with the “make the game meaningful” concept. If the game matters, they should have the best players on the field instead of emptying the benches. If I have to win a baseball game and I have Albert Pujols (I know he’s not an All-Star this year), he’s playing nine innings. I’m not taking him out after three so Ryan Howard and Joey Votto’s fans are happy. And if Roy Halladay is on my team, he’s probably going at least six innings. None of the players are bums, but they’re not all equally good either.
The home field advantage is real and helpful in the W.S. Baseball actually is playing for something. Other sports All Star Games pale in comparison. The NFLs is so bad, it is barely publicized and is poorly attended. NBA is a series of dunks with defenders acting as spectators. The NHL game is played at half speed with no defense. You can get hurt playing hard.
It is difficult to make the games meaningful since they do not count in the standings. Baseball has found a way to do that.
No, they really haven’t made the game matter. They’ve added a consequence that doesn’t connect to the actual game. Home field advantage is significant, but it doesn’t matter to many of the players (including a lot of the ones who are playing at the end of the game) because they won’t be in the playoffs anyway. It’s difficult to make an exhibition game consequential, so I think it would be better if baseball stopped telling us the game matters and then undercutting their own premise by playing the game like an exhibition.
I still say that if the home field is going to go to the team that won the championship in the “better league”, then there are better ways to determine that. Winning percentage in interleague play is better, in my view, because they include a much larger sample of games and the games themselves are being managed by guys whose #1 priority is winning the game- not trying to work players into the lineup. If it’s going to mean something, then don’t let the fans pick the names they happen to know. Let the managers pick the teams and let them manage the game to win and if 10 guys on each team don’t get in the game, tough.
So half way through the season, most players have quit caring and are playing for ego and paychecks? Check the standings, a lot of teams are in the hunt. Most all stars have hope at the halfway point.
At least 22 out of 30 games have a chance for the playoffs.
My idea is that the Home Run Derby should matter as well. Starting next year, the winner of the Derby should get home field advantage for the All Star Game on the following night, and whose winner still gets home field advantage for the World Series. 
Only if the Future’s Game decides who gets to bat last for the Home Run Derby.
Fine by me, as long as the top 4 Home Run leaders for each league in the pre-season get to represent their respective leagues in the Home Run Derby. This would give the players incentive to play hard, and not slack off, in the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues.
I think they need to focus more on the Futures Game. Play it on Tuesday, and do the HR Derby either before it, or between innings.
The only way to really motivate the players is to pay them. That’s not a cynical crack, it’s a statement of fact.
If a player is selected to the ASG and shows up for the entire game, pay him $100,000. Give the MVP half a million. That’s a significant enough motivator that few (if any) would skip the game, and you can be sure guys will be playing hard for an extra $400,000. Of course to make this fair, selection for backups would have to be widened to a greater pool than just the manager. Every team chips in $250,000, or just take the ~$6.5 million out of last year’s luxury tax before distribution to the lower-payroll teams.
After watching last night’s Home Run Derby and watching the effortless way Cano, Gonzalez and the others were belting the ball 400+ feet, I got to wondering if they were using regulation balls or whether they were using juiced-up balls to make the event more interesting. Does anyone know?
I still love the roster announcements.
A few years ago, the conventional wisdom was that baseball had lost African-Americans as both fans and players. There are quite a few on the All-Star rosters tonight.
Ugh, the tribute to the victims of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting was unexpected and sad.
How are there so many Mariners there and only two Indians? 
I am all excited for the game today. I think because Asdrubal’s been my guy since the day he came up and I am happy for him to get some national recognition (of course due to Jeter pussing out) and nervous that he do well.
My second favorite player on our team, Chris Perez, is there too. He’s so cool. Well no, he’s a big beardy dork. But it was cool to see him in the roster announcement.
Nice AB Cabrera.
If only Buck didn’t suck so badly at it. That was an All-Star screwup in the AL announcments, looks like he just turned a few pages at once in his script.
As usual, Fox dissed O Canada again in favor of promoting its own shows.
I wonder if there will be any action tonight. The two starters are pretty sick.
Although Weaver just walked Kemp so…
I know that the DH is now a permanent rule for the All-Star game. My question is, who was the last pitcher to get a hit in an All-Star game?
Damn, I hope Bautista didn’t hurt his leg against the wall.
African-Americans are a much smaller percentage of the MLB total than they were a couple of decades ago. I’m trying to think which active All-Stars are African-American - there’s Weeks, Fielder, Granderson, Phillips, McCutchen… a lot of other guys be counted as black if you saw them on the street, but they’re Latino. There’s a huge Dominican contingent in particular.
Sick catch by Bautista on the McCann foul ball.