Why Does the MLB All Star Game Still Count?

Dan Smith by Scribe Written on June 30, 2009
PHILADELPHIA - OCTOBER 27:  Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig listens to a question from the media after explaining the rules involved with suspending game five of the 2008 MLB World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays till 8:00 pm (EST) on October 28 at the earliest of the Philadelphia Phillies at a press conference on October 27, 2008 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

When it first counted, I thought it was a decent idea. Baseball had a terrible way to give home field advantage for The World Series, they alternated giving leagues the home field every year. Giving the winner of The All-Star Game home field in The World Series was, in my mind, an upgrade from the other system.

Then the National League forgot how to win the Mid-Summer Classic. The old way turned out to be better, because the NL team actually had home field advantage on occasion then.   

The NFL is again the leader of the sporting leagues with their neutral site Super Bowl showcasing one American city a year. The NBA and the NHL play in series format, so neutral sites would not work over seven games, so the team with the better record gets the home site advantage.

That is what MLB, using a series to decide a championship, needs to do—make it about regular season records. They play 162 games, shouldn't those count for something?

It is always about ulterior motives, and the national pastime, under the reign of Bud Selig, has become riddles with hidden agendas. FOX wants to have the ratings the Baseball All-Star Game had before all of the choices presented by cable television.

Each of the big channels hate the advant of cable, satellite, and the Internet because all of those have plunged their ratings when compared to previous eras.

My lasting image of Bud Selig is from the press conferecne last year during the World Series when all of the rain was causing problems with the scedule of games. 

Bud Selig came off as an old man in that press conference, shielding his eyes from the lights, holding his ear out to hear the questions and the long pauses before all of his answers. This is the leader of baseball?

Panic usually causes the worst course of action, so when FOX panicked about their ratings that caused Bud to panic about the TV deal. Then all of a sudden, the All-Star Game's winner was the home team in The World Series.

Some things seem so obvious that only hidden agendas could keep them from coming to reality. A College Football Playoff System seems to be the most glaring. Allowing the baseball team with the best record to host the World Series might be No. 2 on that list.

I shouldn't be so harsh. In 1994 there was no World Series at all ,so every year that there actually is one is a successful season for the embattled commissioner of baseball.  There is talk of a neutral site World Series idea, let's hope Bud doesn't hit the panic button on that one.

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written on June 30, 2009 Opinion

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