Ever since that infamous Milwaukee night in 2002 when the midsummer classic ended in a tie, fans, sportswriters and casual observers alike have viewed the MLB All-Star Game with an intense level of scrutiny. That showcase, which ended in after 11 innings with neither team carrying the crown of victor, prompted then-commissioner Bud Selig to enact a rule making the All Star Game “count” for World Series home field for the victorious league. The idea was to incentivize winning the game, but has made a lot of people very angry and is widely regarded as a bad move. Everyone dreams of playing commissioner for a day (my first act would be to ban the DH, an argument for another day) and there are more than a few changes the baseball community may embrace to improve upon both the All-Star Game and even some of the festivities surrounding it.
To get it out of the way first, the simplest solution is to revert the matchup back to not counting or affecting the regular season and playoffs in anyway. Bob Ryan sums it up best in his piece from last year, pointing out very rightly that a glorified showcase should not have major implications on baseball’s hallowed postseason. The MLB All-Star game truly used to mean something, but it’s been some time since it lost its luster. With the expansion of interleague play, there’s no longer a fascination to see the league’s best square off against each other. Along the same lines the team rosters’ expansion over the years from 18 in the first All-Star Game in 1933 to 34 players today has watered down the level of “specialness” surrounding the event. Then, there are even stories of players deliberately rejecting Selig’s manufactured “integrity” of the match a la Adam Wainwright in 2014.
Look MLB, just start calling this what it is- a showcase. Without the absurdity of “This One Counts”, the league could blow up ASG weekend into whatever monstrosity it desires. Continue to expand fan voting and interaction. In fact, if it means nothing, one could completely remove manager selections entirely with no negative consequence. The MLB even already has rules allowing All-Star pitchers to skip pitching the game if they start the day before the All-Star break; players and teams are never, ever, ever going to prioritize the ASG over the regular season, especially those with postseason aspirations. Just let it go Commissioner Manfred. Please.
Sadly the MLB community can be stubborn one (seriously, just look at controversies surrounding unanimous Hall of Fame voting) and change might be hard to enact. So it’s best to stick with the premise that the World Series advantage rule is not going to be amended anytime in the near future. Still, there are more than a few changes that could bring the sexy back to the All Star Game:
Remove the team representation rule: I may sound pretty “old man yelling at cloud” but it’s pretty laughable that the “everyone is winner”, participation trophy attitudes of society have infiltrated sports at the professional level. Do we really need players from what are essentially glorified AAA teams like the Braves, Twins and Athletics potentially affecting the outcome of determining the best team in baseball? The All-Star Game is (was?) a representation of players’ ability and merit to be considered an “All-Star”, and now that sadly is being eroded. By having this equal representation it not only gives a false value to players nowhere near All-Star caliber (replete with benefits and added incentives), but also could potentially take away from other deserving major leaguers. Those who dislike baseball often cite the over-bloated contracts given to athletes whose uniforms are basically pajamas as major issues. Symbolically cutting All-Star status down to only the elite talents would not only abet these qualms, but make the ASG that much more competitive and entertaining.
Cut down the roster size: This “fix” goes virtually hand-in-hand with my stance on eliminating team representation. I understand that it’s not 1933 anymore and we live in a culture of inclusion, but 34 players on a roster already seems high and is downright laughable considering the active-roster maximum for MLB teams is 25 players per game. If this to be taken as a “real” game with “real” meaning, shouldn’t the MLB stick to its very (non-sarcastically air-quoted) real rules? Instead, we have starters pitching one or two innings at most if at all, and managers have to deal with player rotation more than actual strategy. I’m going to go ahead and show-horn this excellent Roberto Clemente article because as it mentions Clemente played in the 1961 ASG and stayed in until the 10th inning! And oh yeah Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson grabbed the bench during that one. That’s giving fans value for their money. Baseball like most sports is superstar driven and these expanded rosters gives way to fans being robbed of seeing more of the Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, and even the Yoenis Céspedes’s (Céspedii?) of the world. Please, please MLB, just give me more than 1 or 2 innings of Chris Sale vs. Clayton Kershaw instead of jamming players in left and right faster than the average scorer can keep up with.
The player re-entry rule: This is going to be a bit of a changeup, but I want to focus on a lesser known and less often discussed rule buried in the league’s ASG laws. Since 2010, one player is allowed re-entry in the event of injury as well as re-entry being permissible for catchers. It would be an intriguing wrinkle to see this taken a step further—allow one or two players to be substituted once at anytime during the game with no consequence. It would be a neat wild card and an extra strategy that ASG managers would have to consider. Wouldn’t it be exciting to be able to blitz a team with Mike Trout coming off the bench with two outs and the bases loaded in the 3rd and then swap him in again during crunch time? It’s a bit tacky, but again the idea here is to think outside the box in fixing the midsummer classic and one were there is a slight amount of precedent for.
As I alluded to in my introduction, I also think that the other events surrounding the All-Star break could be in need for a little tweaking so let’s conclude by taking a peak at:
Home Run Derby: Due to the perfect chronological point of the ASG after the NBA and NHL are done, but before king football, the derby is one of the most-watched events of the summer season. Admittedly with that knowledge, it doesn’t need much changing, but from the league brought you the International Team concept from 2005 (seriously Jason Bay??) why not spice things up? People love throwbacks and vintage so let’s go back to the original rules, 2 innings of 5 outs each batter and set up two brackets between hitters and pitchers(!!!). There’s been a lot of buzz about pitchers participating in the Derby and it really wouldn’t be a bad idea. We’d all feast are eyes upon this (the 2016 ASG is at Petco Park) and although slightly outdated know we have an incredible stat from Ace of MLB: Over Madison Bumgarner, Bryce Harper, and Mike Trout’s last 190 PA’s, each had 11 HRs. For the record to assuage the “well what if the pitcher’s are just getting lucky?” arguments, I looked up MadBum’s 11 bombs using the same method as a previous article of mine and 8 of the 11 would’ve been homeruns in all 30 ballparks.
The All-Star Futures Game: I honestly don’t really know what this is and have never watched it. Instead, let’s do a skills challenge! Have Aaron Hicks and Yasiel Puig launch balls at small targets at each base. Include a timed sprint from home to first to see just who is the fastest batter out of the box. Something short and attention grabbing for the casual observer to view before the main event would be an upgrade over a full baseball game.
Aside from the established events above, I’ll finish up with a final set of miscellaneous suggestions:
- Bat-flipping has been one of the focal points of “Make Baseball Fun Again.” Why not have a social media campaign to judge the best bat-flip in conjunction with the Home Run Derby?
- Weird structural components of Petco Park? Let’s put up some padding and targets and have players take part in a little old-fashioned shootout.
- Mascot Showdowns- Involve fans on all forms of social media to determine which green fuzzy thing is best, Wally or the Philly Phanatic? Or what if Wally and the Philly Phanatic went at it UFC/WWF style? Would people watch the Toothbrushes of the Rockies in a relay race against the Milwaukee Sausages (watch out Jean Segura!)? I would! And I bet the younger generation of baseball fans would relish anything involving adorable, over-sized costumes.
The MLB will probably do none of these things, but a guy can dream. In the meantime you can always ramble on down to MLB Communications on Twitter to check on your favorite player, go have your say, or stick around and check out more excellent Off the Bench content (I warned you I’d be shameless).
-Jesse Hartman
