Thursday, July 8, 2010

All Star changes due?

Perhaps it's time for the baseball all-star game to change its rules.
After seeing an American League roster controlled by teams from New York and Boston and remembering the mandate that every team has to have one player on board, it makes it kind of silly to subject this exercise to a fan vote every year.
So -- here are some thoughts. The boss, Kevin Denke, had the best one. Get rid of the one-player-per-team rule. No one on the East Coast (the slant is in that direction, obviously) cares about the Seattle Mariners, nor should they. If the East Coast bean counters and fans want to see the Yankees-Sox take on the rest of the majors, have at it. I'm sure the ratings would be great. But don't masquerade it as an all-star game.
Thirty-four players a team? That's absurd, unless you plan to play 15 innings minimum so everyone can play. Everyone from the 25th player on down won't play, even if the game does go 15 innings.
The Eastern Division is stronger than the West in both the NL and AL. No problem there. The East Coast is where the fan base is. No problem there either. But to continue this exercise of an all-star game where fans' votes count doesn't hold water.

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