All Star Lame

Quick post - I watched the All Star Game last night, and felt extremely disappointed in the game. The fans weren't given the true stars of the game. In reality - the AL missed out on several of their top pitchers, which ended up being the difference in the game. David Price, CC Sabathia, Scott Shields, Justin Verlander all couldn't play because they pitched over the weekend. Beckett got hurt while warming up as well.

I'm all in favor of saving their arms and not pitching on two days rest. BUT if the MLB wants to claim "this time it counts" to determine home field advantage, isn't it imperative that the teams field the best possible players at every position? Yet that wasn't what we had. We had some of the best, but not the very best.

I don't know what the correct solution is. Ideally, get rid of the "this time it counts" BS for home field in the World Series and instead make it count towards which league gets home field in next year's all star game (or the next one that hasn't been planned, which I'm sure is a few years down the road.) That would make sense, until I learned last night that the MLB was instituting the DH rule in every All Star Game, even if it is in a NL park. What kind of amateur hour is Bud Selig running? The rules are the rules. They can't be changed to allow an extra 6 All Stars to make the team.

Speaking of an extra 6 All Stars, there wer 84 All Stars selected. 84. That's more than the September 40 man roster on each team. Those dugouts must of been packed. I don't want to take this away from any of the 84, but it seems outrageous. We shouldn't dilute the numbers to make more All Stars, to allow for every team to have an All Star. I'll be honest - I've been a little out of touch with baseball this year. I haven't had enough time to keep up with every team, watch Baseball Tonight, etc. But I had not heard of half of the players in the game last night. It's a great opportunity for the MLB to showcase it's younger stars to turn them into faces of franchises, but this is absurd.

In the end, I can't believe that home field advantage for the World Series was determined from this game. A game where the NL didn't see the AL's best pitchers. How can something so important be taken so trivially. And the players who didn't show up, acting like they were too tired to appreciate the fans and the game. It's disrespectful to the history of the game. What a disgrace.