The MLB All-Star Game is one of the biggest attractions in summer sports, and possibly in all sports. It, along with the Home Run Derby, makes for some great fun and excitement. The very first All-Star Game was held on July 6, 1933, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois. It’s a time when baseball’s biggest stars ascend upon American cities in attempt to find out which league is better. It’s often referred to as the “Midsummer Classic”, and for good reason. It’s the biggest Major League event of the summer. However, lately it seems as if having the “best” players on the field has become a secondary objective. And it’s disappointingly turned into MLB’s popularity contest.
The Midsummer Classic: MLB’s Popularity Contest
Every year around the start of June, teams start campaigning for and advertising their best players in an attempt to get them into the starting lineup for the mid summer showdown. In 1970, the MLB agreed to put the voting back in the hands of the fans. So every year, the polls open, and every year, someone winds up getting screwed.
The Weight of the Game
Since the voting has been in the hands of the fans, it seems that each season a couple of guys end up riding the bench when they should be starting. The All-Star Game has become a popularity contest, and it’s time to change that. MLB’s All-Star Game has a unique quality that sets it apart from other all-pro contests: it means something. It carries weight, and potentially heavy weight. The winning league earns home field advantage in the World Series for its representing organization.
No other all-star game carries any similar incentive to win. Take the NBA‘s version, for example. It’s a no-defense game. Everyone attends to see LeBron James throw down a windmill dunk andSteph Curry nail twnety three pointers. Its a showcase and, to be honest, a joke. The NFL‘s Pro Bowl faces the same issues. It carries no weight, and it’s flat out boring. But the MLB All-Star Game means everything come October. It has intrigue, especially if you’re rooting for a team that might be in that Fall Classic.
The Popularity Contest
Because Midsummer Classic carries so much weight, its time to give the voting for the starting nine back to a party that will ensure that it really is an “All-Star Game”. If the game didn’t mean anything, and if it was just for kicks and giggles, it wouldn’t matter who voted. But it could possibly determine who wins that seasons World Series. A fan of the Chicago Cubs, for example, should want the National League to win so that they have the advantage come October. A Boston Red Sox fan should want the American League to win. Having home field advantage in the World Series is a big deal.
As it stands, the Chicago Cubs have the four infield spots locked up in the National League, as well as Dexter Fowler leading the voting in right field. Kris Bryant leads at third, Addison Russell leads at shortstop, Ben Zobrist at second, and Anthony Rizzo at first. Honestly, with the possible exception of Zobrist, none of them actually deserve it. The Chicago Cubs are a fantastic team as a whole, but if the All-Star Game is about having the best of the best at every position (as it should be) those Cubs players shouldn’t start. None are the absolute best at their positions, statistically speaking.
Nolan Arenado of the Colorado Rockies deserves votes over Bryant. Arenado is making a strong case for Most Valuable Player, hitting .298 with twenty-one long balls and sixty-three RBI. Bryant is only hitting .268, and has eighteen home runs and fifty RBI. It’s not even close statistically, yet Bryant is the leading vote-getter for the third base spot because he’s more popular. Bryant is a very good player, but he isn’t the best third baseman in the National League (at least for the first half).
Wil Myers of the San Diego Padres is hitting .286 with seventeen home runs and fifty runs batted in. Rizzo, the leading vote-getter at first base for the National League, is hitting .279 with seventeen home runs and fifty-four RBI. Sure, its closer than the Arenado-Bryant situation, but Myers means more to his team. If not for Myers, the Padres would be even more irrelevant than they already are. Thus, Myers should get the votes.
The NL shortstop situation is perhaps the most perplexing. Russell is the leader right now, and is hitting .245 with with seven homers and forty RBI. That’s it. But there’s a guy playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers, by the name of Corey Seager, who is hitting .297 with sixteen home runs and thirty-eight RBI. Yet Russell is the leader. It makes ZERO sense. There are many more deserving candidates at the shortstop position that might not make it to San Diego, all because of popularity. Bryce Harper leads the voting in center field. Yes, he was the NL MVP last year. Is he deserving of a starting spot? His statistics say no. The same goes for Fowler. He’s a good guy who means a lot to the Cubs, but he doesn’t deserve a starting spot.
Determining Who’s Worthy
The All Star Game carries a ton of weight, and so should feature the best of the best at every position. Unless MLB takes out the World Series factor (it should’t, as it keeps the game relevant), then someone else needs to make these big decisions. Year-in and year-out, good players get left out; it’s time that ended. It’s time for a true “All-Star” game.
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