Fixing The MLB All-Star Game: Our Time To Whine

Let the whining begin. Oh, you know the routine, every year, 'official' sports writers just say the fans don't get it and the dang fans just keep voting in old favorites, instead of this year's wunderkind or players who "deserve it more."

Guess what? We buy the tickets, build the stadiums, support the advertisers, and support the TV networks who broadcast the games. We, the fans, pay for the game.

If we want to vote for proven or popular players year after year after year, we have the right to do so.

But the voting does need tweaking and not in the way most 'official' sport writers want it changed, which is to just let the 'official' baseball beat writers and game managers, coaches and players vote.

Nope. Here are the ways to change the all-star game to make it must-see:

1. Get rid of the AL vs. NL scenario. Does any baseball fan really dwell on whether the AL or the NL will win the all-star game? No, baseball fans want to see all the great players even if some are in the twilight of their careers. Don't separate the balloting into AL and NL rosters.

What's the point except for the trumped up and obviously idiotic rule to reward World Series home field advantage to the All-Star game winning league? That's just unfair and stupid.

Allow fans to vote for a roster of players without separating the players into AL and NL rosters.

2. Let's get it on. If 'official' baseball writers and other insiders, like managers, coaches, and players, think they know more about baseball than fans, let the fans choose their starting lineup by popular vote.

The players may be NL or AL players. The players who get the most votes at each position via fan balloting are  the starters for the fans. Then the insiders get to vote. (Why do the fans get to choose their players first? Because we pay for the game.) It's the fans' roster versus the 'insiders' roster. Bring it on....

3. Changing the issue of home field advantage should be easy. Use the tie breaker rules from a variety of sports. Start with overall record. Then head-to-head, road record, etc., etc. It would be easy to come up with rules for deciding who has home field advantage in the World Series.

There are lots of issues to be tweaked but voting for players shouldn't be limited to whether they play in the AL or NL. Year after year, deserving players are eliminated from All-Star consideration because they play a position which has a lot of great players in the same position in the same league that year.

That is why I propose the fans versus the 'insiders' all-star game. The All-Star game should start with voting for the best 22 players at each position no matter whether they play in the American or National league. 

The 11 players with the most votes from the fans at each position start and play for the fan team. (The 11 player roster would include eight field position players plus three pitchers.) The 11 players with the second-most votes from the fans at each position are  "free-agent" all-stars.

The 'insiders' can choose to take some or all of the 11 "free-agent" all-stars voted in by the fans or they can choose a player they vote in as more deserving. If the 'insiders' don't choose a fan-designated "free-agent" all-star, that player automatically stays on the fan team.

Can you imagine the TV "free-agent" selection show, in which the 'insiders' decide whether to select one of the 11 "free-agent all-stars" selected by the fan voting or select another player? Oh, this would be a great reason to tune into the all-star game coverage a few hours early!

Of course, the idea needs reworking. More pitchers, more players needed.

(Why 22 players selected by the fans? Eight position players for each team and three pitchers for each team.)