MLB Players collective opinion on "whether it should count"

In all seriousness, I hate the format. Always have.

the NL team should not be awarded home field advantage because Ryan Zimmerman hit an RBI single in the 9th against Andrew Bailey or any other rediculous combination you can think of. The ASG should be recognition for the best players in the game, and a spotlight for the fans who want to see them. I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t want Aramis Ramirez (if participating) trying to bowl over a catcher to score just for hopes of home field advantage. It’s not a realistic notion that “this one counts”. The players’ involved have a priority to their respective clubs, first and foremost.

a tug of war between central and north americans.

But this has been a failure.

if both teams going into the world series have the same record.

end of story.

and I don’t like best record method, either.

If a team in one league happens to be in a weak division and fattens up on those teams en route to a WS berth, and a team in the other league ends up being the WC and runs the gauntlet in the playoffs and earns their way into the WS that way, I don’t feel the best record should decide the home team.

Honestly, I liked it when the WS rotated back and forth every year between leagues. Everyone knows up front who the home team is and there’s no BS way to decide it. No matter which way you try to award the home field, there will most likely be an argument that can be made not to do in a certain manner.

To me, the ASG scenario is the absolute worst way to decide.

Baseball puts up $5 million. The union puts up another $5 million and some sponsor puts up another $5 million.

Top three vote-getters on each side pick their favorite charities. Winning team donates $9 million ($3 million each) to those charities. Losing team donates $6 million ($2 million each)

Baseball looks good. Some worthy charities get money. Players still feel some pressure to play and managers still feel some pressure to try to win.

Then you go to best record to determine home-field.

before MLB came up with the ASG plan? I don’t think it was based on overall record, wasn’t it simply switched back and forth each year (NL/AL would get it every other year)?

When it is right, the baseball ASG can be the best of its kind. To me, the problem of competitiveness isn’t resolved by dictating the WS rule. The competitiveness problem is created by the bloated rosters that cause crazy substitutions, inflated salaries that cause players and GM’s to think it is not worth the risk of playing, and of course uninformed fan voting that put undeserving players on the team. Fix those issues, and you’ll have the most interesting game of the year.

My fondest all star memory is Rose bowling over Fosse at home after Cub Jimmy Hickman lined a single to center. I guarantee you none of those guys needed any motivation for “making it count”.

best record IN THE PLAYOFFS?

That way, it doesn’t matter if you had a weak division. It’s the number of games you win/lose in the playoffs.

…but I’ve never been as cynical about the All-Star Game as I am this year. I just can’t bring myself to care much about it.

In any case, I applaud the results of that poll – the ASG shouldn’t count because it’s not played like a real baseball game. Real games don’t feature the manager constantly substituting players so everyone gets some on-field face time. The teams that get to the World Series should have the say in home field advantage – not some overhyped exhibition game.