MLB All-Star Game: How would I change the game?
By Will Osgood
1. Undo mandatory All-Star slot for each team
OK, so traditionally each team is granted an automatic invitation to the All-Star Game by way of representation of one of its players. This year the Philadelphia Phillies—currently the laughingstock of baseball, only a few years removed from being one of the game’s most dominant teams—had to send a representative to the game.
Of course the Phillies did not get to choose who that player would be, the way the Electoral College works in the Presidential voting (though of course only one President is ultimately elected). Ultimately it was up to the players and San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy as to who would represent the Phillies.
As far as I’m concerned the voting process is a fine one. I have no issue with any of it. I have no problem with the rosters being expanded to 34, even including a designated hitter in the game for both league’s teams. In fact, I believe this change—made in 2010—to be a rather wise and effective decision.
And I may be in the minority here, but I see no issue with the fans voting the All-Star Game starters into the contest. This is after all a game, one which is for the fans. They should see who they want to see in the game.
If the All-Star voting had elected eight Kansas City Royals this year—as looked conceivable at one point midway through the fan balloting results in June—I’d have had zero issue with it. In fact, I would have likely been one of the few praising the system for that result.
What I would have had issue with is if the result meant the players and manager votes then essentially being thwarted to include undeserving players in the game because the remaining 26 slots had to be used on representatives from the other 14 teams in the American League.
Why should the fans be penalized with the final rosters including players they could care less about because they filled the ballots in order to get the starting nine they craved? The All-Star Game roster selection process shouldn’t be a give-and-take.
We obviously do not live in a perfect world, and life will always feature a certain amount of compromise. But The Midsummer Classic is one event—one night where we should get to experience some small dose of utopia.
Why did the Phillies have to send a player to Cincinnati? There were other worthy All-Stars available to Bruce Bochy—certainly at least three or four pitchers—to play with on July 14.
The answer is not to have a more competitive game. If you wanted a more competitive game, you’d load up the rosters with as many of the best players from the World Series contenders as possible, as are deserving.
As much of a baseball purist as I may be, this is not an adequate solution. The All-Star Game masquerades in present day as a competitive event, yet insists on antiquated bylaws from yesteryear of forcing at least one player from each team into the game.
But we’re not in an era where there are 10 teams, or fewer, in each league. There are now two evenly balanced, 15 team leagues. Naturally there will be one or two teams in each league who are terrible and possess no worthy All-Stars, yet this rule remains.
Next: Why does an exhibition carry any weight?