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  • June 15, 2008 10:50 AM ET

Should the MLB All-Star game be used to determine home field advantage in the World Series?

rstowe (270-75-18) vs Coletrain (302-88-22)
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I say no. All the other leagues use the best record to determine who gets home field advantage for their championship.

Baseball says that it is a financial/logistical decision that requires home field be determined well in advance. I'm throwing the BS flag on that! The NBA and NHL both have no idea who will get homefield/ice/court until after their conference championships, so why can't baseball do it the same way.

This was really a way to try to get ratings for the All-Star game (because players just don't have the animosity towards the other league that they did in the 60s and 70s so there's no drama).

Also, due to the way the all-star rosters are selected this makes having this game mean anything even a bigger cluster****.


I say yes.

I like the idea of the All-Star Game meaning something. The Pro Bowl is a complete joke and so are all other all star games basically. I like the idea of taking all these big stars, putting them on the same team, and seeing if they can win a big game when they know it might affect them later in the season. Without it, the All-Star Game is garbage. No need for it. Having the All-Star Game determine home-field advantage creates more interest in the event and helps make more parody in baseball.

Another thing is most of the time, the All Star Game is pretty good justice. The American League has been the better league the last several years when you look at their records head to head and it shows that in the All Star Game as the AL has won the past decade or so.

This brings up the discussion of how important is home-field advantage. My feeling is the 2 best teams in baseball should play great ball regardless of where they are playing. As for the voting goes, once again it increases interest in the event.

I like baseball thinking outside the box with this one and making it mean sometimes.


With the fans voting and the "every team must have an All-Star" this game should not mean anything. If they don't change the way the voting is done and the team requirements to actually ensure that the best of the best is at the game, the game should not mean anything besides being a showcase of the players.

This decision came about because of the tie in Milwaukee that one year. The managers used all their players before the game was over so they had no one left for extra innnings....so Selig in his inifinte wisdom decided that by making the game mean something the managers would manage the game like they would if it was a regular game (would also help TV ratings in theory) the problem is the managers don't have the best of the best in their league available to them either through injury or because of the every team has a rep rule.

There are better ways to determine home field - best record or even best interleague record for the league not by some "exhibition" game that has many flaws as to who makes the team.


"the game should not mean anything besides being a showcase of the players."

Then who would care about it? Not much. If the game doesn't carry any importance whatsoever, the managers don't care. The players don't care. And the fans don't care. It becomes a complete waste of time and money. I also have no problem with the rep rule or the fan voting. The fans usually get it mostly right. While yes sometimes they favor ridiculous players that have no business of going there, most of the time when it comes to fan voting it turns out fair. The rep rule is no big deal. Actually, that helps because teams that are small market or aren't doing so well but have a great player on their team can be represented and doesn't let 1 or more teams full up the whole roster.

"best interleague record for the league"

If you would go for that then what's wrong with the All-Star Game? It's the same principle only in a smaller quantity. The 2 leagues going head to head to see who's the winner and both have their best players on hand. I think it makes sense.


The players don't care about it (at least not like they used to)....the only thing the players care about is the bonus they may get for making the all-star team.

We're both Yankees fans....so you are fine with the Yankees losing home field advantage because some player from say the Mariners who only made the team because of the every team needs an All-Star comes up to bat in the bottom of the 9th, with men on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs down 1 run and strikes out but Hideki Matsui is sitting home although his numbers show he should be there over that Mariner? If you say you are fine with that, you would be lying. If the game means what it does, then Mariner should be home and Matsui should be at the plate in that scenario.

I personally don't want home field advantage decided by 2 players (one from each league) that didn't do anything that deserved to be there pitching/hitting while better players sit at home (who's teams are actually in the hunt for the playoffs not playing for which team gets the #1 draft pick the following year).


I know one thing: the players care about it a lot more the way it is now then if it didn't mean anything at all. Some players must care because they know it can be a big factor come October.

As for your hypothetical situation, that's an extremely specific situation. Would that frustrate me a little? Yes, of course it would. But I wouldn't make a huge deal over it. Give credit to the pitcher that got the hitter out. And it probably wouldn't matter anyway since our Yanks can't get out of the first round. lol

You bring up a good point, but big teams that are in the playoff hunt get enough reps in the game already because the fans flood the rosters with the big names on the big teams. One player from the Pirates or Mariners shouldn't kill your team. I think it's a very clever, creative way of thinking by MLB to add some dynamics to what would be a pointless event. It creates more publicity and the fans get into it more. I like it.

Comments (24) Add A Comment

June 15, 2008  11:10 AM ET
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This should be fun...

June 15, 2008  11:29 AM ET
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"mean sometimes."

*something

June 15, 2008  11:30 AM ET
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I don't like it. Let the team with the best record get the home field advantage. All star games aren't suppose to mean anything, IMO. They're suppose to be rewards for the best player and for the fans to see the best in the league play. Not to determine something as significant as home field for the championship game(s).

June 15, 2008  11:31 AM ET
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"Interesting."
LOL

June 15, 2008  11:34 AM ET
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I think its a good idea. Pretty interesting. Gives the all stars something to play for

June 15, 2008  11:38 AM ET
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Raiderfanatic> That's a very interesting opinion you have. However, your vote should be based on the arguments presented by the participants...not your personal IMO and therefore, is it too much to ask that you restrain yourself from the vote button until this thing at least heats up a bit?
Both these guys are good at laying out a TD...why don't you watch and learn something...AND VOTE ON THE ARGUMENTS!

June 15, 2008  11:38 AM ET
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They should be playing for the fans, IMO. If it wasn't for the fans, they wouldn't be there. They wouldn't be making millions of dollars playing a game.

June 15, 2008  11:48 AM ET
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Good luck Cole....I don't think we've ever TDed against each other.

June 15, 2008  11:53 AM ET
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Braun-ded:
If it was something that I didn't have a strong opinion on, then I would wait and read what the participants have to say. But I already have an opinion on this topic and nothing either poster says would change my mind on it. I didn't vote early to disrespect anyone, just so you know.

June 15, 2008  12:01 PM ET
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Same to you Rstowe. I think we might have faced each other once...not certain.

June 15, 2008  12:07 PM ET
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Great TD Coletrain.

June 15, 2008  12:10 PM ET
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This is our 1st TD against each other Coletrain.

June 15, 2008  12:23 PM ET
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Ah..well we should do this again.

Fun TD.

June 15, 2008  12:30 PM ET
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Yankees suck!

June 15, 2008  12:44 PM ET
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Not as much as you.

ZING!

June 15, 2008  12:52 PM ET
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I was going to vote to the right till i read the arguements. I think 2 years ago i saw the NL coach "motivating" his players in the dressing room. He did not "motivate" them. He just treated the game like it was a joke. He had no structure gameplan whatsoever.

June 15, 2008  01:43 PM ET
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Tha MLB all star game was reduced in significance by the moronic decision for inter-league play. If Bud Selig didn't wear his buttocks for a hat, he would realize that baseball isn't the NFL and that some taditions should remain traditions. The decision to base home field advantage on the all star game was simply a mistake attempting to offshoot the results of a prior mistake. What most fans know is the biggest mistake is the one making the mistakes. Bud Selig is an owner, not a commissioner. Unfortunately, commissioners like Landis and Kuhn are too few and the kiss-the-backpocket-of-the-owners variety are far too plentiful!!!

June 15, 2008  01:50 PM ET
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Tough choice... but I think that an All-Star Game should be treated as an exhibition, not as something which decides the ultimate fate of who gets home-field advantage in the championship... great arguments all around, but I have to go left overall on this one...

June 15, 2008  01:50 PM ET
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It should decide home-field advantage. The ratings of the All-Star Game would go far down without it.

 
June 15, 2008  02:05 PM ET
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Vote to the Left.
He captured what I was thinking. Right did a great job on a tough subject. Had Left been unable to articulate his argument and left me asking questions or wishing he had said something he didn't...I would have gone the other way.
Good TD arguments IMO from both.

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