Why I Am Rooting For The NL in The All-Star Game (And You Should Too)

November 2, 2008:

“Hello everyone, this is Joe Buck along with Tim McCarver and this is it! The bottom of the 9^th inning, Game 7 in what may very well be the greatest World Series finale ever. The score is an amazing 13-13 in a very cold and very windy night at Wrigley Field.” 

“They call the wind Mariah.” 

“That’s true Tim. Two teams battling it out, one, the Boston Red Sox, who broke a curse and now wants to lay claim to the title of “Dynasty.” The other, the Chicago Cubs, trying to break the curse that has bedeviled them for 100 years. Oh my!” 

“ ‘My Fair Lady.’” 

“Good point, Tim. The Chicago Cubs have come back in this Series after trailing three games to one. They have come back in this game after trailing 8-2, 10-7, and 13-11.

"The two teams have combined for an incredible nine homers and 27 hits. Every time the Red Sox have had this game in their grasp, something amazing has happened.

"Perhaps the most incredible moment, in spite of all the homers, came in the bottom of the 7^th inning after Ernie Banks led this crowd in a singing of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” A fly ball off the bat of Kosuke Fukudome was drifting foul down the left field line and into the stands and then the wind took hold of it and the ball flew back into fair territory and bounced off the head of Manny Ramirez and dropped into fair territory for a game tying double. It was the reverse of the curse of Steve Bartman.” 

“D’oh!” 

“That is it in a nutshell, Tim. Now as Tim Wakefield, the eighth Red Sox pitcher, and third Sox starting pitcher to be used in this game, prepares for his second inning of relief, up to the plate steps Geovany Soto. And wouldn’t you know it, they are playing the theme to ‘Rocky’ here at Wrigley Field.” 

“I could go for some rocky road ice cream around now, Joe.” 

“Why don’t you do that, Tim? Why don’t you do that?”

This is the World Series we need and one way to help us get it is by the NL winning an All-Star Game that counts. We have to simply accept the fact that as a league, the American is dominant.

AL teams are inherently stronger at the plate than their NL rivals because of the DH anomaly. While both leagues have excellent pitchers, the AL staffs seem to be deeper. And the proof is that the American League has taken 11 of the last 16 World Series. The AL has won 10 straight All-Star Games, if we give a mulligan to the tie year. And, of course, the AL has by far dominated interleague play.

When we look at recent World Series, we have not seen total AL dominance but we have seen one-sided contests.

The Selig development of the All-Star Game counting is a decision that has displeased just about everyone with the exception of the folks at Fox who cover both the All-Star Game and Series.

"I'm not a big fan of the home-field advantage thing. I don't think most players are," Atlanta pitcher Tom Glavine said in a recent AP article. "I just think that in an effort to continue the goodwill that was going on between the players and the owners, this is something that we agreed to do because Fox really wanted it. So it was kind of an olive branch thing.”

Mike Lowell of the Sox agrees, "If it means so much to win the All-Star game, then you should just have your best nine players play all nine innings," he said. 

Theoretically, home team advantage exists in the Series, but it hasn't since the All-Star Game counted. In 2002, the home team won five of seven games and in 2001, the home teams were 7-0, and in the last five years AL teams have gone 8-2 in Games 1 and 2 of the Series in their own ballpark.

But while there are those who claim that getting that 2-0 start in games may be the biggest home field advantage, I just don't think home field advantage impacted the Marlins or the Cardinals when they each won or made a difference when the Sox (White or Red) won.

I just think that the vastly superior team has won in each Series and not because of home field advantage. They won because they were superior home AND away. The fact that there have been but three losses by the winners in the last five years has made for some lousy World Series. 

On the other hand, we do need to acknowledge the power of the home field historically. Even though the home team has produced only three of the last five champions (all since the All-Star determiner), home field advantage has produced 18 of the last 22 championships and home teams have won the last eight Game 7s in the World Series.

If there is such a huge value to the home field, then it should be given to the team that has the best regular season record. This would have meant in the last five years, when all the AL teams had the home field because of the All-Star Game, under this formula, the only year that it might have made a difference was in 2004 when the Cardinals would have started off at home against the Red Sox, but I personally don’t think anything was going to stop the Red Sox that year.

Last year, Boston had the best record and they won; in 2006, the superior Cardinals beat Detroit, even though the Tigers had the best record. In 2005, the White Sox won with the best record, and the Marlins beat the Yanks in 2003 overcoming the best record and home field advantage.

But the likelihood is not good for any change to All-Star Game gimmick in the near future. It’s part of the labor contract through 2011 and this logically does not appear to be an issue that will produce labor strife in the future. Particularly, with the current costs associated with travel. Locations for those opening games are narrowed starting the moment the All-Star Game is complete and plans are made for hotels and flights well in advance

So, we have to deal with the hand that we have been dealt and I would love a good World Series this year. So, while I would like to see Mariano Rivera get the save at this final All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium, I’m rooting for the National League and hoping for a great World Series this season. And I think you should too, it’s the smart thing to do.

“Get Smart stars Steve Carrell.”

Good point, Tim.

Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com (www.Billy-Ball.com) and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs—Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller, published by ACTA Sports, and available worldwide. Autographed first editions are available by contacting, [e-mail] or order directly from Acta Sports or from your favorite bookstore.