The Joke that is the MLB All Star Game

In the past 10 years, the MLB All Star game has gone from an exciting exhibition showcasing the game’s brightest stars to an over-hyped bore-fest featuring players that the average fan have probably never heard of.

Many will blame the tie in 2002 for the change in the attitude towards the All Star Game,others will blame Commissioner Bud Selig’s overreaction to that tie by making the following All Star Game determine home-field advantage in the World Series. However, what most don’t realize is that the winner of the All-Star Game (the AL in every year but 2010), would’ve had home field advantage anyway based upon a better record in every year except 2004. Although I agree both ideas were stupid and should have been avoided, there is a multitude of reasons why the MLB All Star Game is now garbage.
It is often noted that every team has to have a representative. This means even the lowly Astros, Orioles, Royals, and Padres will be sending a player to this year’s game. This also means that the AL roster has 14 guaranteed spots, while the NL has 16 guaranteed spots, giving the AL a clear advantage, offering less spots to players from terrible teams, and allowing more Yankees, Red Sox, etc. to be selected by the players and the managers. Normally a competitive advantage in an exhibition would be irrelevant, but “This one matters” now, so it the game has something riding on it, it should be fair.

This season there were 84 All Stars named, the most ever. This is due to the addition of more spots on the roster, player injuries, and many players not even caring about the game.

For just a 9-inning game, each squad has 35 players. 35 PLAYERS?!?! Why are there so many players, when you can only carry 25 in a regular season game? Fans want to see Adrian Gonzalez, Jose Bautista, Josh Hamilton and Prince Fielder play more than half of the game. Fans want to see closer Brian Wilson facing David Ortiz in the 9th inning of a tight ballgame. What they don’t want to see is Tyler Clippard facing Michael Cuddyer, or Alexi Ogando facing Starlin Castro. These matchups are a bore, and will turn fans off the TV.

And then there is the over-managing. So many pitchers mean many pitching changes, which means many calls to the bullpen, which means many commercials. BORING. This also means many crazy double-switches, and star players being substituted after only one at-bat.

Now we add in that players are simply deciding not to come. Reasons such as “soreness”, “exhaustion”, and “fatigue” really mean, “I don’t care”.
It’s sad to see Derek Jeter miss the All Star Game this season, after coming back from injury to get his 3000th hit in dramatic fashion at Yankee Stadium last weekend. His popularity would be at an all-time high and the All Star Weekend would have been a continuation of the celebration of Jeter’s career. Instead, Jeter chose to skip out on the festivities and not even reward the fans who somehow voted him ahead of more deserving candidates such as Asdrubal Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta, and seemingly every other AL shortstop. Why have a fan vote if the most popular players are allowed to just opt not to play.

Now there are always injuries, and that is not the fault of the MLB. Stars like Jose Reyes and Alex Rodriguez have recently went on the DL, but still these players should make an appearance and acknowledge the fans. This season, many star pitchers also pitched on the Sunday prior to the All-Star break, making them ineligible to pitch in the game and thus requiring a replacement. Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia is one of these pitchers, and despite being named to the team, he had already booked a trip to the Caribbean and will not be appearing in Arizona. Simply being unable to pitch is not an excuse to not come.

Fans want to see the best players, even if they just show their faces. Sure the game is not the same as when there was no inter-league play, or even before the times where every team could be seen on TV or internet and the ASG was the only time fans could see some of these players. However, the game is still for the fans, is still fun, and many people want to watch.

Therefore, we need to stop continually expanding the roster. It’s very annoying to hear about players being snubbed from the team when 10 percent of players in the league are being dubbed “all stars”. It’s very similar to NCAA Basketball analysts complaining about a team not receiving an invite into March Madness. There are 68 openings, if you can’t prove you belong, then you probably don’t. But that debate is for another time.

The All-Star game will still continue to generate fan interest, and Bud Selig is not killing the game of baseball. But we just need to make things simpler. The best players need to play, and play the whole game. Lesser players can be invited, but they do not have to be given playing time. Players will play for pride and put on a show for the fans, because that is all the ASG is, a show.

Let’s go back to the way it used to be and stop diluting it.