2019 All-Star Game (Creative Commons: IDSportsPhoto)
The rosters for the 2024 MLB All-Star Game were released today. Garrett Crochet and Shota Imanaga were both named to their respective leagues’ rosters. That’s nice but other than that. I really don’t care about the game. I can’t remember when I stopped caring but it’s been quite a few years.
When I was a kid, there were no interleague games, and the players had some pride regarding their league and some actually wanted to win the game. Now some players prefer to take a few days off in lieu of playing.
When I was young, the all-star game was must see TV for me. Now I’d rather watch a White Sox-Marlins game. Here are a couple of things that bug me about the game.
When did this event turn into a little league game?
Now managers have to get every player into the game. Why? Will playing an extra four inning wear these guys out? Does every guy on the roster have to get into the game, or get their feelings hurt? The game has no flow. It must be exhausting for managers to keep up with who has played, how many innings they played, and who’s left.
Actually, playing the game this way can stigmatize a player. Now if you’re the only guy the doesn’t get in a game you seem like a loser. And the non-playing guy could get mad at the manager.
But the nice thing about it, I believe every player, whether he played in the game or not, gets taken out by the manager to Dairy Queen for ice cream.
The Bud Selig Moment
I believe the 2002 All-Star Game encapsulated what is wrong with the game. You might remember that game ended in a tie. Why? Because the game went into extra innings and the teams had run out of pitchers since everybody had to pitch. When the game went into extra innings the managers had already blown through their pitchers.
I remember then commissioner, Bud Selig, being told of the situation. Bud made the executive decision that the game would be called a tie if the score was still tied after 11 innings.
Being MLB commissioner and being told the all-star pitchers were all used up? Priceless.
The overcorrection
Bud Selig and MLB were embarrassed by the outcome of the 2002 All-Star Game and then did what they do best. Overcorrect. The following year it was decreed that the winning of the all-star game would get the home field advantage in the World Series. It would take a while to list all the problems inherent in that arrangement. I doubt the last man on a roster who was only there because the sorry team he was on had to have a representative at the game was inspired by that arrangement.
How poorly thought out was that idea? MLB did away with it only 15 years later.
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