Does the All Star Game have ANY meaning today?

Tuesday July 14, 2009

Is it apropos that Heath Bell took the loss in the All Star Game, while Trevor Hoffman, whose team is still in the running for a playoff spot, pitched well?

Is it a sign of things to come for the Padres and the National League?

Or does the All Star Game really not matter at all?

I am putting my money on number 3. The All Star game really is not important.

It isn't a chance to showcase the best talent in the league, because frankly many of the top players are not in the game. The fans pick most of the players and the managers are handcuffed by a rule that says every team has to have representationso they often have to take a player that is marginal or that really doesn't belong just because the rest of his team sucks. There are players that are popular but not having particularly good seasons in the All Star game nearly every year.

And the game is more like a Little League game where everybody has to play. To heck with that. If the game means something you are out there to win, not to make sure al the little boys get a chance to play.

Trying artificially to make it mean something by having it determine home field advantage in the World Series is a crock because the pitchers go a maximum of 3 innings (most a single inning) and the starting 8 go maybe 2 at bats.

If we want the All Star Game to mean something:

• Take the best players period. Not one from each team. Just the best. If a team like Washington or Oakland or San Diego does not have a player who is among the 25 or so best players in the league then they don't get a representative on the All Star team.
  
  Winning isn't about equal representation, it is about putting the best players on the field. And the game mwans nothing if you are not doing all you can to win the game.
  
  
• If you want the fan vote to mean something then 1 vote per fan.
  Not which teams fans can stuff the ballot box better. I know a guy that got a full case of ballots, and then punched the tabs for the Dodgers players with an industrial drill press. That one man must have turned it at least 5,000 ballots.
  
  On a Red Sox message board one fan admitted to creating more than 100 email addresses on Gmail so he could vote for Red Sox players 2500+ times. How does it make it fan favorites when you can do that? Fact is it ruins the whole process.
  
  
• Have your starting pitcher go as deep into the game as he is effective just like a regular game that actually DOES mean something
  
  
• Have your entire starting 8 go an absolute minimum of 3 at bats. If they are the best 8 players in the league, don't you think they should get the lions share of the chances to win the game with their bats?

But none of that will ever happen and the All Star game will continue to be a mid-summer joke.

I have had my say. Now what do you think?

Come on now, Don't be shy. Step right up and tell us all what you think!