KC Royals: All-Star Game or All-Star Fraud
By Paul York
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Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
I’ve made my point, and that is I think fans are actually ruining the All-Star Game. I believe if you’re willing to expose a flaw in something, you’d better be ready with a fix as well. I submit two solutions:
1. Cut the ties between the All-Star Game and the World Series. This was an incredibly poor decision by MLB, and on no level does it make sense. The All-Star game is an EXHIBITION.
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You know what else are exhibitions? Spring Training games. In other words they mean nothing.
The All-Star Game is a rung slightly above Spring Training games in a sense, simply because there are contractual bonuses involved. You make an All-Star appearance, or earn a spot on the team, you get a monetary bonus. Otherwise, they mean the same.
What happens in All-Star Games? Guys make their appearances, and want to do well, I’m sure, but mainly just don’t want to get hurt. Winning is not paramount. If it was, Mike Trout would play all nine innings, as would the rest of best at their respective positions. That’s not how it unfolds though. Starters play a few innings, and then its a constant influx of substitutions in an effort to get as many people as possible into the game… like little league.
Going this route means MLB can keep fan voting alive, though I’ll caution you the ‘now it counts’ current format was implemented because fan interest was waning. Part of that was due, in my opinion, to stuffing ballot boxes.
Next: Option 2