I've probably said this before but the All-Star Game is evergreen so why not say it again
- I think every team should have a rep. As a kid I was interested in MY guy. Yes I wanted to see stars but I saw plenty of them. They're all over the All-Star Game! Sorry your second, third or fourth best guy didn't make it. As an adult I respect that kid and kid's wishes.
- I think the All-Star Game shouldn't mean anything more than it does. The "this time it counts" era was stupid.
- I think the leagues should go back to not playing each other which would heighten the ASG but that ship has sailed and can no longer be seen from shore (rumor has it it hit an iceberg and sunk) so I accept the ASG isn't going to mean as much. Chase those regular season dollars though and general loss of media attention!
- I think all the starters - even pitchers - should play the first 3 innings. Ok if a pitcher is laboring to get him out sooner - you do have a stacked pen. But none of this 3Ks first inning pull the pitcher nonsense.
- I think the manager should try to get one guy from every team an appearance. You should try to get every sub an AB and every starter coming in should go 2 IP. That will help with the next thing.
- I think the HR Derby extra inning thing is stupid and was completely ok ending the game in a tie if needed. Though it should be like a 13 inning limit or something letting you put guys back in after the 9th. It's an exhibition, let's get a winner but we don't have to be too serious about it. The pitchers? Look if you can't figure out how to have two starters left after 9 to just throw 2 innings a piece I don't know how you got to be a manager in the first place.
- I still think the Future's Game alone on Sunday night makes ALL THE SENSE IN THE WORLD and random Saturday - what are you paying attention to the actual games on? - is the dumbest thing baseball does and it does a lot of dumb things.
- I 100% think they should wear their own team uniforms for the game. This was iconic. The amount of money they squeeze from ASG merch has to be tiny, but they'd sell balls and strike calls to a sponsor for a nickel if they could.
- I think it has to start at the time it does. Sorry East Coasters that get tired early, but the pitch clock makes it move along much better. I suppose you could put it on Sunday and start it earlier. But on Tuesday? Nah.
7 comments:
Mostly agree, though I don't think the ASG is important enough to motivate the choice to have or not have interleague games. I'm open to the extra mystique during the world series being worth it, but even then I'm not sure I'd go back. Playing everyone is better competition, and it's good that fans get a chance to see all the stars from around the league. But I certainly agree that this is never getting changed back, so it's moot.
Also, adjacent to your point about the stupid HR derby tiebreaker, I also hate the stupid zombie runner rule, and think the best outcome, if teams and players understandably can't abide the play forever risk of the old rules, is to just have ties after 12 innings or whatever in the regular season too.
@SMS:
Better than the zombie runner rule would be four outs per side in the 10th inning, five outs per side in the 12th, and so forth. This, at least, would involve increasingly interesting strategic decisions. Should the visitors play for one run, or many? How should the defensive team husband its pitchers?
Amen on the uniforms. Aside from the ASG uniforms being tacky and a cynical ploy to sell merch, it makes the players less distinctive. When a fly ball went to center early in the game, it took me a second to go "Oh that's Aaron Judge out there." If he'd been in a Yankees uniform it would have been immediate.
@Harper: I agree with most of your comments. Players should definitely wear their own uniforms. It was difficult to identify the players. It will never be like the "old days" when the ASG was a chance to see players, many bound for the HOF, that you rarely, if ever saw. No inter-league play, no ESPN or Internet highlights. And, for better or worse, the players were mostly well known even if well past their prime.
One other idea: maybe implement drug or sobriety testing for whomever is going to sing the National Anthem.
"That could be anyone".
Just joking I had trouble picking out several guys quickly I would have known by sight in their unis.
SMS - not that I don't want interleague just for the ASG. That would be silly. I just don't like it in general. I think playing every team dilutes the natural division rivalries and occasional league rivalries that pop up. Say the Yankees playing the Phillies is neat, but not at the cost of playing the Orioles more or the Astros more.
In regards to "fairness", which is used as a reason sometimes, unless you play a perfectly balanced schedule and put everyone into one 32 team block - you aren't trying to be as fair as you can be. Once it's unfair make it the most fun you can.
Like all the other semi-old farts on here I agree with most of your points, especially with wearing your team's uniform. I prefer the old white/greys of my youth but it would also be kind of funny for everyone to wear their city connects (I guess then you'd have to make the teams black unis vs non-black unis).
One thing I like a lot is mic'ing up players, but it's much more effective when we're listening in on them interacting with each other (like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHvpjyyyQe4). The Joe Davis and Big Papi mini-interviews are dumb. I'd love it if they mic'd up everybody and you could choose which stream you wanted to follow online, maybe I'll follow Soto for the 1st inning and Tarik Skubal for the second, etc.
I’m not a “semi-old” fart. I’m a “definitely-old” fart, so consider that. I realize and reluctantly accept that MLB regards the ASG as mainly a marketing opportunity. Glitz piled on glitz.
But still, last night seemed like Judge, Harper, Skenes, Soto and . . . some other guys. Why, so everybody can see the superstars? We can see them on any highlight reel. If the all-stars are supposed be the best from each team, I’d like to see them for more than one at-bat. Instead, sometimes it seemed like “the Bryce Harper Show.”
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