The MLB All Star Game is tonight live from Arizona. Here are a few thoughts on how to make this silly game meaningful again, or at least to help the experience some.
- How to make it more meaningful? Make it meaningless again! There is no reason why it should determine home field advantage in the World Series. That is just a stupid idea. They just need to go back to making it about the stars playing for more money or something. Or playing for pride. Here is an idea- The winning team's players gets double their All Star bonus, plus a charity of their choice gets like $500,000 or something.
- Stop the fan vote. I am sorry, but the fans have shit for brains. Can't put it any plainer. For example, I know that he has done a lot over his career, and I know that he isn't even playing tonight, but you tell me how Derek Jeter deserves to be an All-Star this year. Really, the fan voting just leads to the Yankees/Soxs taking on the Phillies/Cardinals/Mets. 6 or 7 teams get all the representatives, and the other teams are left out in the cold. Which brings me to step 3-
- Keep the rule that all teams have to be represented. For example, if managers were picking rosters and teams did not have to have at least one representative, Tyler Clippard would not be in the roster. Same with the fans. But he will lead the league with relief strikeouts and holds by the end of the year, so he is certainly worthy of being an All Star.
- Make it so that a player has to have played at least 70 games to be eligible for an All Star selection. We will call this the Pablo Sandoval rule. He was selected to replace Jose Reyes by his manager and NL All Star manager, Bruce Bochy. The problem is that Sandoval has only played 50 games this year. In no way is he deserving. An infielder with similar numbers, such as Michael Morse or Danny Espinosa from my Washington Nationals, have played more than 70 games and deserve that roster spot.
- Move the game to Wednesday. Pitchers that have thrown on Sunday aren't eligible to play the following Tuesday. So, most of the good pitchers, like Justin Verlander, cannot participate. Hurts your star power. Move it to Wednesday, which would be their throwing day anyway. They can come in, toss an inning, make an appearance and then hit the showers.
- I really liked the NHL All Star game format this year. Naming captains and then drafting the team from the appointed All Stars was a great idea. If Prince Fielder and David Ortiz were drafting for their teams, there would be some drama. No more AL vs NL. Instead, you have guys from teams that never play each other facing each other. You have Papi and Jeter on the same roster. You get to see a 1-2 punch of Verlander and Halladay in the first few innings. Love the idea. This is what should happen.
Just a few ideas there. I might come up with more soon, but I think this is a good start.
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