All Star Game

Tonight is the Major League All Star game, and for the third year in a row we will be constantly reminded that the winning league will receive home field advantage in the World Series.

Naturally both managers (Phil Garner of Houston and Ozzie Guillen of the White Sox) are saying the right things; that they want to manage the game to win, rather than try to get all of their players in for an appearance. While I like that they say they have the attitude of winning in mind, I'm not quite ready to believe it (come to think of it I actually do believe Guillen).

Whether the American League continues to demonstrate its recent dominance over the National League, or the NL squad puts to rest the AL bandwagon remains to be seen. I would bet on the AL winning but when it comes down to it, does anyone really care?

We all know that homefield advantage in the World Series should be determined by regular season record (just like every other sport except for the NFL and its neutral site). A recent ESPN poll showed that 77% of those polled believed the home field advantage in the World Series should be determined by overall record. A paltry 14% thought the All Star game result was a good idea, and a measly 8% were too old fashioned to give up on the alternating year concept.

They say it is the fans game, so why don't the fans get their way in determining the impact of the result? Why do the players that the fans want to see not have to show up? Those players who back out of the game should forfeit their All Star bonus! Until baseball decides to revoke the fans' right to vote for the starters, and the fans don't always get it right (see Ken Griffey Jr. on occasion), the players that get the most votes should have to attend. The game will never really live up to the bragging rights contest it used to have because we now have too many interleague games. It used to be hat the teams really want to win the game and would go all out. Not every player would play and that was ok! It is because of this attitude that managers seem to have that they should get everybody in that has caused the all star game to seriously drop off in appeal. The best of the best should play and whoever gives you the best chance to win at any particular moment should play.

In any event, enjoy the All Star game, whoever you root for. I'm a National League guy so hopefully Ryan Howard can knock in a go ahead homerun and Tom Gordon will pick up the save in the late innings.