The All-Star Game - not just in MLB, but in all American sports leagues - is an exercise in futility. The selection process remains fascinating and riveting, especially as a hot talking point leading up to it and then after, when everyone takes time to question the decisions (Jeter over Peralta?). But that's really where most of the fun ends.
Let's not kid ourselves - even though the MLB has a semblance of purpose to the All-Star Game (winner gets home-field advantage in the World Series), they don't serve a purpose. Look at the All-Star rosters this year - almost a dozen guys sat out, either due to pitching on Sunday, injury, or some other reason. The best pitchers selected for the game missed it because they pitched for their teams this weekend. Doesn't it defeat the entire purpose when you select men to represent their teams and they don't show up? Or is this simply a symptom of the problem?
All-Star Games are mostly irrelevant. No one cares who wins or loses. No one suffers from losing and I imagine the only perk to winning is a bonus check. If anything, you're hoping a big-name star just doesn't get hurt playing a meaningless game (Miguel Cabrera). For that reason, many guys will find a way out of it if they can - minor injury, for example. It doesn't help that most players only see an inning of pitching (at most) or one or two at-bats for a position player. It's a showcase, like a slideshow that moves a little too fast. There isn't a sense of rivalry between the AL and NL, like one team feels a hit on their pride if they lose. I have no doubt the men are proud to be selected, and the younger guys probably enjoy the thrill of playing, but at the end of the day, for some of the veteran All-Stars, it's just a day off their teammates get that they don't.
The NHL has a similar problem with their All-Star Game, which also takes place mid-season. It's also a notorious fact that players do their best to worm out of that game, too. In fact, as recently as two or three years ago, some Red Wings players were suspended by the league for having flimsy excuses for missing the game. That alone shows the lengths the NHL will go to in order to try and preserve the game. But the bigger problem for them is that the fanbase really doesn't seem to care. I'm a big hockey fan; I almost entirely ignore the NHL All-Star Game. As a result, the NHL changed the format of it last season - they allowed the selection process to go on normally, but then had the fans chose two captains from among the selections. Those captains then picked their squads from the other All-Stars - doing away entirely with the Eastern vs. Western Conference concept. Now, I give the NHL points for novelty here. But I also can't help but scratch my head - is this supposed to make me care more? It doesn't. It confuses me. If I want to witness an NHL fantasy draft, I'll play fantasy hockey. But again, this just shows the desperation on the part of the league to keep the game churning.
The NFL does one thing right - it makes its All-Star Game (The Pro Bowl) into a player holiday. It used to come after this Super Bowl, but that only diminished its relevance. It ended up being a powderpuff game played in pads, defense optional. But it was played in Hawaii, so players showed up. And it happened at the end of the season (even if the voting started in Week 3 of the season), making it a sort of exclamation point on the season. Pro Bowl voting in the NFL continues through the midpoint of the season, giving the voters a larger body of work to use than MLB/NHL/NBA All-Star voters get. Recently, the NFL moved the Pro Bowl up to the week prior the Super Bowl - the off-week of football between Conference Championships and Super Bowl - and has it at the site of the Super Bowl. Pro Bowl players on the teams in the Super Bowl are given a pass and replaced (but they retain their Pro Bowl moniker for the year). I think this is brilliant. The Pro Bowl becomes more relevant because it's part of the Super Bowl festivites; it opens up the Super Bowl festivities, in fact, sort of becoming a kick-off for the week of hype prior to the game. No one is risking injury with games yet to be played (a major reason the MLB and NHL have so much attrition from their game). Fans are more likely to watch because the season isn't over yet - the Super Bowl really has a note of finality to it, which made the Pro Bowl feel more irrelevant happening afterwards. Do players still skip out? Yeah. Is it still more-or-less a powderpuff game? Yeah. But the handling of it makes more sense.
Some people think All-Star Games should be done away with completely. They've run their course. Just select players, give them the All-Star moniker for the year, and skip the rest. I can see the logic in that. Given the general ambivalence towards these games from fans and many players alike, I can definitely see the logic there. But at the same time, these games are important. They're tradition and they're meant to happen, to celebrate the best of the best. But when the best stop showing up, there's a problem. I don't know what's changed in the MLB since the '60s or '70s or '80s and now, to make it feel less relevant. Maybe it always did. But if it is a problem - and I think it is - it's the league's problem and maybe, just maybe, they should be talking to guys like Derek Jeter or Justin Verlander or Shane Victorino about it and asking them what can be done to make it a better experience for everyone involved.
The MLB All-Star Game, 2011 -
National League 5, American League 1
The NL took the game for the second year in a row. Prince Fielder is getting a lot of press for his 3-run HR that came in the 4th inning (first runs scored in the game) off of C.J. Wilson. I like that, since the Arizona crowd was booing him during the Derby and earlier in the game (since he made the Derby squad instead of Diamondback Justin Upton) and because he's Cecil's boy and I'll always have fond memories of Cecil Fielder running the bases in Tiger Stadium, when I was growing up. Adrian Gonzalez provided the only offense the AL got all game long with a solo HR off of Cliff Lee, also in the fourth.
Regular baseball games return tomorrow.
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