Off-Topic: Major League Baseball All-Star Game & World Series
Count the Confidential as hating the old system, where the leagues alternated hosting the World Series. Under that system, a 100-win team from the A.L. or N.L. might be visiting an 86-win team from the opposite league just because it was an odd or even year. The decision to link the hosting of the World Series to the All-Star game was an improvement. That being said, the Confidential understands that some have serious opposition to a triviality like the All-Star game impacting which team gets to host the World Series. So the Confidential posits these alternatives.
- Option 1: Let the team with the best record host the World Series. But let the winning league from the All-Star game determine whether a DH applies or not. If the American League wins the All-Star game, the World Series uses a DH. If the National League wins the All-Star game, the World Series would not use a DH. This would give teams a few months to prepare for that eventuality too. A National League team might trade for Jim Thome, just to get ready for the World Series. An American League team might add yet another reliever or utility player to get ready for the World Series. And so on. Meanwhile, the best team for the entire season would get the privilege of being the home team for the World Series–a fair reward.
- Option 2: Let the team with the best record host the World Series. To make the All-Star game meaningful, let the winner of the All-Star game determine who is going to host the All-Star game in 4 years. Kind of like the announcements of the Olympic hosts, the All-Star game would determine which city would get to host an All-Star game down the road. Suppose the next team up for the A.L. is Detroit. And the next team up for the N.L. is San Francisco. The 2013 All-Star game would determine which of those cities would get the nod in 2017. Fans in Detroit and San Francisco would certainly take an interest in the All-Star game. In fact, if each league had a list of the next cities up for an All-Star game, even the other teams on the list would have a vesting interest to care. After all, if Minnesota was after Detroit, an A.L. win would move Minnesota up the list so that the 2014 game would decide Minnesota’s fate. And so on.
- Option 3: Just let the team with the best record host the World Series. Return the All-Star game to a merely fun event that takes place in July. Nobody will watch anymore, but virtually nobody does anyway.
As you can see, the Confidential would really like to see a change to allow the team with the best overall record to host the World Series. MLB is smart enough to come up with adequate tiebreakers. Frankly, the Confidential likes Options 1 and 2 almost equally.
What do you think?
The Confidential 