All star game - do you care?

[mikelink45]

As someone who really does not like the baseball All-star game I am curious - do you care?

I find it boring.

Most All-star pitchers find an excuse not to be there which leads to the Misiorowski  controversy. 

We  choose all-stars and many times they play less than the extra picks.

By the time we eliminate all the players who opt out we still have 34 players on each roster. This includes 20 position players and 12 pitchers, plus any "legends" selections.  68 players! The site Heavy reported - "Wheeler isn’t alone. He joins a growing list of stars opting out of the All-Star Game this year: Julio Rodríguez, José Ramírez, Alex Bregman, Jeremy Peña, and even Jacob deGrom are among those sitting out."

Even the replacement for the opt outs is opting out - MLB.Com - "Paredes, who made the All-Star team last year with the Rays shortly before being traded to the Cubs, was added to the American League All-Star team Wednesday as a replacement for Guardians third baseman José Ramírez, who was voted as the AL starter at third and chose to instead focus on recovery and the second half of the season."

It is no longer Ted Williams winning the game with a  HR - he would be out by that time. "The American League All-Stars were trailing the National League, 5-4, with two outs and two men on base in the bottom of the ninth inning when Red Sox star Ted Williams stepped to the plate in the ninth Midsummer Classic." "Williams finished the game 2-for-4 with a home run, double, walk and four RBI."

Sorry but I have tuned out since the days of two all-star games in a year. There has to be something better.

Agree or disagree?

[The Great Hambino]

I like it for what it is - an exhibition where you get to see a good number of fun star hitter vs star pitcher matchups.  I'm old enough to barely remember the time before interleague play where it was the only time some of those matchups got showcased.  But if the opportunity to see Ohtani/Soto/ et.al. come to Target Field every other year results in the ASG losing a little luster, I'm perfectly happy with that trade-off.

It's certainly flawed because the MLB community can't decide what it wants the game to be.  On the one hand, it gets treated like Little League where every team gets an entrant and everyone who wants to gets to play in the game.  On the other hand, it's given too much consideration for things like legacy, Hall of Fame candidacy, etc.  It can't be both of those things.  If Christopher Sanchez goes on to have a borderline-HOF career, some numbskull writer will indirectly hold the inclusion of Misiorowski against him.  But it still holds value to me as a fun little snapshot of the state of the game in a given year.

At least they've rectified its two worst transgressions: it no longer decides home-field for the World Series, and they're back to wearing their own unis.  Those were two ideas that were so bad it's hard to understand why anyone ever thought they'd be good.

After watching all the opt-outs from pitchers that were pitching over the weekend, it got me thinking:  now that it's a full 4 day break instead of 3 like it used to be, would it make more sense to play the game on Wednesday instead of Tuesday?  Would that open it up for more prior-weekend pitchers to be available?  Or would it cause more problems than it solves by shortening the turnaround on the back end?

[Parfigliano]

Only thing I'm interested in is the use of the ABS instead of an ump. 

Progress!!!!

[Vanimal46]

At least the baseball all star game requires them to still play the game the way it is intended. Can’t say that about NBA or NHL which is a mockery. Football’s all star game was so awful they stopped playing it all together. 

I don’t care about any of the all star games, and at the same time I don’t think there’s anything the leagues can do to make them better. If kids get excited about all of their favorite players in one place, that’s what it’s all about. 

[mnfireman]

1 hour ago, Parfigliano said:

Only thing I'm interested in is the use of the ABS instead of an ump. 

Progress!!!!

Was going to say this myself!!

[RpR]

When managers lost influence and fans had more, it lost any interested I may have had in it.

[chpettit19]

I love it. For what it is. It's not perfect, but it's many of the best baseball players on planet earth playing the game I love. Sure, guys make it who shouldn't every year because of opt outs and every team getting a rep, but such is life. It's good for the game to have a rep from every team to give more people a reason to watch and build a better national fan base. I would've been super disappointed as a kid to not have a Twin in the game.

But the game gives us 1 place, once a year where you can see the game's best pitchers face the best hitters. You can see Pedro carve up Larkin, Walker, Sosa, McGwire, and Bagwell. Or Ripken slide over to SS one last time before going yard. Ichiro hit an inside-the-park homer. Torii rob Bonds and then have Bonds pick him up like he's a child. 

Not every year is great, and there could be some tweaks made to improve it, but I love it. For the same reason I love the WBC, give me anything that involves a large number of the best players on the planet in one place playing the best game in the world.

[T.O.]

Too much hype, not a serious game but AL has won 15 of last 20 and Buxton hit the winning HR in 22. That was fun.

I enjoy for what it is.

[Tlaker]

It is what it is…. this year it serves as a platform to promote other FOX endeavors like movies and tv shows.

 I just want to puke when listening to Arod and Ortiz …. and feel embarrassed for Jeter. FOX always and I mean always overhypes and over exaggerates everything that they broadcast.

 I know MLB goes along with whatever FOX wants to do…. but it just sucks 

[Hubie29]

Won't watch it. Like other sports all star games, doesn't mean much. It lost most of its luster after they started interleague play. When I was a kid, I loved it though. 

[Tlaker]

It is sad what this game has become….too much money means the best don’t want to be bothered 

[Mike Sixel]

I've never understood why so many sports fans care about these things. Or what managers say. Or anything that isn't the game. 

[Hubie29]

16 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

I've never understood why so many sports fans care about these things. Or what managers say. Or anything that isn't the game. 

Like in game dugout chats? Can't stand them, like most interviews.

[MMMordabito]

Joe Ryan was a beast. 

He struck out two and popped one.

Please put Byron Buxton in.

[Longdistancetwins]

Well then you just missed Joe Ryan impressing everyone…

[Longdistancetwins]

The Buck! Doubles and scores!

[gil4]

I'm not a fan of the HR derby tiebreaker.  I would rather have had the ghost runner. I would rather have had bases loaded with ghost runners.

Maybe I'm just grumpy because it's past my bedtime.  It's really past the bedtime of the kids on the east coast, so I guess it's good they found a way to end it fast..  

[Blyleven2011]

I watch the game , is it the same as it once was , no it is not , players used to put on a show for the fans , it seems for the past decade or so the players put on a show for themselves  ( correct me if im wrong )  ...

I used to like going to the games and punching out the ballots , now we have to go online to do it , it just doesn't feel like your participating in that part of game ( correct me if im wrong )

I watch it because of quality pitching , alot of the pitchers in 2025 Allstar  game were number 1 draft choices and are very good pitchers  , a few weren't but they performed well         ( ryan experience )  ... drafting pitchers in round 1 doesn't always work out but there was plenty of them tonight on both sides ...

Usually the games have been low scoring and the pitchers dominate  , national league went up 6-0 by hitting a couple of pitchers and American league came back against a couple of pitchers and tied it in the ninth  ( good game pitching , hitting and defense ) , it ended in a tie ...

but won by the swing off so on record the national league won it ...

I watch it because I have a passion for baseball  ...

Thanks Mike , the allstar game can be boring , but tonights game wasn't ...

If wallner was in the allstar game he would have been taping his hat for sure ...

[The Great Hambino]

Re: the swing-off ending

They were out of pitchers and it's better than a tie.  Sure, why not

The players in both dugouts seemed really into it.  Makes it easier as a fan to enjoy it when the players are.

Also, they made it seem like Kyle Stowers found out at the same time as everyone else that he was in it, which I thought was funny

[notoriousgod71]

I am glad I didn't stay up to watch the finish. I would have absolutely lost it if I realized there was another home run derby to determine the winner. My God. You'd have had plenty of pitchers of you used guys for more than a batter.

[chpettit19]

3 hours ago, The Great Hambino said:

Re: the swing-off ending

They were out of pitchers and it's better than a tie.  Sure, why not

The players in both dugouts seemed really into it.  Makes it easier as a fan to enjoy it when the players are.

Also, they made it seem like Kyle Stowers found out at the same time as everyone else that he was in it, which I thought was funny

He did find out at the same time as everyone else. It was supposed to be Eugenio Suarez but he didn't do it because of the hit by pitch on the finger earlier so they added Stowers at the last second.

[Wellimam]

Totally agree. Too many opt-outs, no real intensity, and it feels pointless. I'd rather see skills comps or something fun with actual effort.