Baseball’s All Star Game—Big Flash, Small Bang Share
05 July 2010
It is almost the mid-point of the MLB season, so that
means it is time for the All-Star Game coming up on July
13th. The All-Star Game is referred to as the
“Midsummer Classic,” but lately it has been a classic case
of Major League Baseball trying to make a buck off of a
boring game. The All-Star Game is just that—at this
point in the season, every Major League Baseball player gets
three days off unless they are designated as an “All Star,”
or one of the best in the league at their position.
Fans, managers, sportswriters, and players combine to fill
out the rosters in each league of the 34 players who will
play in the All-Star Game during the middle of the three day
break in baseball’s regular season.
Why am I so hostile toward the All-Star Game? For one,
you have to go back to 1996 to find an All-Star Game in
which the National League was the winning team. The
American League has simply dominated over the past decade
and a half due to their stronger lineup of hitters. So
if you want to make a quick buck off of a friend at work, a
safe bet would be to take the American League in this
summer’s affair too.
The second reason I could do without the All-Star Game is
all of the drama regarding who is in and who is out.
Do a quick Google search of “Major League Baseball All Star
Game 2010,” and you will get links to all sorts of articles
listing the “snubs” from this year’s squad. Since the
fans vote for the starters in each league, they typically
vote for their favorite players who have habitually been
strong players, even if they are not having a good year this
year. That is how you get a player like Joey Votto,
the first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds, left off of the
All Star Roster. Votto is among the league leaders in
batting average and home runs, but he’ll be taking three
days off like most of his fellow major leaguers instead of
going to the All Star Game. When you have a roster
with a finite amount of people on it and those people are
determined by voting, there is always going to be drama
involved—the MLB All Star Game is no different.
Lastly, a few years back MLB basically acknowledged that the
game did not “matter” by making a rule change to pique fans’
interest in the contest. Since 2003, the league that
wins the All Star Game is awarded home field advantage in
the World Series. This decision was backed by a huge
advertising campaign blaring the message “this time it
counts!” It has certainly counted for the American
League as they have maintained home field advantage for
every year since the decision was made. Previously,
the home field advantage rotated between each league from
year to year. The problem with the game “counting” is
that managers want to get all of their players in the game,
as it would be pretty disappointing to go to the All Star
Game but not get a chance to play. So instead of
leaving their best players in for the whole game, managers
are forced to balance their line ups to get everyone in the
game. Imagine coaching a team and your boss tells you
that you need to win the game, but you have to make sure
everyone plays. Not a good combination.
So the week prior to the All Star Game, most fans will be
talking about who was snubbed and left off the roster more
so than what players they look forward to seeing in the
game. As mentioned, Joey Votto is a huge snub from the
Cincinnati Reds as he is in the top five in the National
League in home runs, RBIs, and batting average.
Another notable snub is Los Angeles Angels pitcher Jered
Weaver. Weaver leads the American League in strikeouts
and the game is being played in his home stadium—hard to
believe that he was left off of the roster.
Lastly, the Home Run Derby has been held on the day before
the All Star Game since 1985. Four players are
selected from each league to try to hit as many pitches as
they can for home runs over a couple of rounds of play.
The Derby can be exciting when a player is hitting well, but
it can be pretty long and only true fans really pay much
attention to it. So the bottom line on the All Star
Game—a tradition sustained by the lifeblood of
commercialization.
One Liner: “There isn’t much
else Joey Votto could have done to be an All Star except for
maybe coming in and pitching a few games too.”
(Refers to the most acknowledged All Star snub,
Cincinnati Reds first baseman, who has put together a
tremendous year but was left off of the All Star roster).
Update: 12 July 2010
Well at least some folks are reading this webpage and
responding accordingly. Late last week, the final
roster spot for the American and National League all star
teams were determined by a final fan vote. Joey Votto,
arguably the most deserving "snub" from the initial roster,
was added to the NL team. Yankee right fielder Nick
Swisher was also added to the AL roster. This vote
leaves Angels pitcher Jered Weaver as the most acknowledged
"snub."
One liner: "The only
reason Swisher was picked over Weaver is because he plays
for the Yankees." (Quote alludes to the
fact that the Yankees, playing in baseball's biggest media
market, have a natural advantage in fan balloting when it
comes to the All Star game over teams like the Los Angeles
Angels that actually play in Anaheim)
Send comments to: Leroy@notasportsguy.com
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The Basics
Baseball Regular Season:
Major League Baseball (MLB) is divided into two leagues, the
American League (AL) and the National League (NL).
Each league is further divided into three divisions, west,
central, and east. The regular season lasts from early
April through early October. While NL teams mostly
play other NL teams and vice versa with the AL, there are
occasional times in the regular season that NL teams will
play AL teams. During the regular season, each team
plays 162 games. These games determine who will
go to the playoffs—each division winner and one “wild card”
team from each league.
Baseball is a statistics crazy game—true fans will quote
batting averages, fielding percentages, slugging
percentages, and just about any stat that you could think of
for their favorite teams or players. We’ll explain the
ones that you need to know throughout the season.
Terminology:
Win (for a pitcher): A pitcher
must complete five innings of pitching and his team must be
leading when he exits for him to get a win. A pitcher
with 15 wins in a season is doing well; 20 wins is the
recognized plateau of excellence.
ERA: Earned Run Average. A
statistic which measures how many runs a pitcher averages
surrendering to opposing teams based on pitching nine
innings. For instance, a pitcher with an ERA of 2.00
would on average give up 2 runs over the course of 9
innings. ERA’s are always measured to the hundredths.
An ERA of under 3.00 is considered good. An ERA under
2.00 is excellent and only a handful of pitchers are able to
sustain an ERA under 2.00 for an entire season.
Pinch Hit: when a player that did
not start the game comes in to bat for a player that did
start the game.
Batting Average: How often a player
gets a hit. Batting average is calculated by dividing
the number of hits by total chances to hit. If a
player walks or is hit by a pitch, such actions are not
counted as a chance to hit in calculating the batting
average. A .300 batting average (getting a hit 30% of
the time) is considered to be above average for a MLB
player.
Mendoza Line: A euphemism for a .200
batting average. The term came from a reference to
Mario Mendoza, a light hitting infielder in the 1970s that
usually batted around .200. A player that is hitting
around the Mendoza Line is lucky to still have a job in the
Major Leagues.
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