Should the All Star game winner get home field World Series advantage?

[AutographCollector]

Link: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-all-starlink&prov=ap&type=lgns

*My thoughts* Absolutely not! Why have some players who are playing the ASG who's team stinks and will not make the post season care if their team wins or not. Think they care if the NL or AL has home field advantage for the WS? Probably not.

By BEN WALKER, AP Baseball Writer 8 hours, 59 minutes ago

NEW YORK (AP)— A few years ago, Paul Konerko found out exactly how much it meant to win the All-Star game.

He played on the American League side that won the exhibition in 2005. That gave the AL the home-field edge in the World Series—his Chicago White Sox then took advantage, opening with a pair of tight victories at U.S. Cellular Field on their way to sweeping Houston.

So what about it, slugger? That link between the summer showcase and the Fall Classic is a pretty nifty idea, right?

“I think it’s totally ludicrous,” Konerko said.

The three-time All-Star first baseman has plenty of company. Ask most anyone in the majors and they’d prefer to change the concept that began in 2003 as a two-year experiment.
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“I would hope that we’ll move on eventually to a better way,” Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.

Maybe that means the team with best record hosts the World Series opener. Perhaps the club with the top interleague mark gets the edge. Or the league that posts the best AL vs. NL record draws the honor.

“Obviously, you’ve got to have some way,” Houston outfielder Lance Berkman said. “I do know that the notion that guys will play harder, or not as hard, is a fallacy.”

The AL has won five straight All-Star games since players and owners OK’d the plan. The result? AL teams have gone 8-2 in Games 1 and 2 of the Series.

Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia will try to extend the streak Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.

“I think it’s huge. Last year it was big for us,” said Pedroia, whose leadoff home run in the Series opener sent the Red Sox toward their sweep over Colorado.

All-Star results historically run in cycles—right now, the Americans are 10-0-1 since Todd Worrell, Mark Wohlers and Ricky Bottalico helped shut them out in 1996 at Veterans Stadium.

Tom Glavine pitched for that winning NL team, too.

“I’m not a big fan of the home-field advantage thing. I don’t think most players are,” the Atlanta lefty said. “I just think that in an effort to continue the goodwill that was going on between the players and the owners, this is something that we agreed to do because Fox really wanted it. So it was kind of an olive branch thing.

“We agreed to do it, but I don’t think any of us agrees with it per se,” the 10-time All-Star said. “We’re basically doing it because other people want us to. And so we do. In a perfect world, we would all love the team with the best record to have home-field advantage. But we keep being told that we can’t do that. I’m not quite sure why.”

Logistics, mainly. This way, possible sites are whittled down well before the pennant races heat up. No need to scramble for hotel rooms and flights on one day’s notice.

Overall, how much does it mean to open in October? Consider this: The team that owns the home field has won 18 of the last 22 championships.

Want more? Home teams have won the last eight Game 7s in the World Series.

No matter, the link is part of the labor contract through 2011. Any change, even back to the alternating system that existed for nearly a century, requires the approval of the players’ union and management, and that’s not likely.

“I know there are many players who would prefer that home-field advantage for the World Series be determined as it was prior to change. But from 1903 to the year of the change, there were numerous instances in which a discernibly inferior team had the advantage, simply because it was its league’s turn to get it,” said Gene Orza, the union’s No. 2 official.

“At least this way, the outcome of an actual game determines it. There may be other ways, too, but I’m not sure why a return to the old format would be better,” he said.

Major League Baseball chief operating officer Bob DuPuy saw it the same way.

“We are satisfied with the current system, which gives the All-Star game much more significance than it had prior to institution of the current plan,” he said. “Clearly there has been a renewed emphasis on winning the game over the past few years and we believe the play and managerial strategy reflects that. I would not expect any change in the current system.”

Said AL manager Terry Francona of the Boston Red Sox: “If we win, I love it.”

Commissioner Bud Selig and Fox television certainly like it. Playing up the “This Time it Counts” theme, the All-Star game bounced back the last two years after drawing record low ratings in 2004 and 2005.

Count Boston third baseman Mike Lowell among those who would scrap the idea.

“If it means so much to win the All-Star game, then you should just have your best nine players play all nine innings,” he said.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen would give the edge to the team with the best interleague record.

“It would be more fun, I think. Because one game is hard,” he said. “And now I’ll have a call from the commissioner. It’s my opinion, sir. It’s my opinion. I’m not telling you to do that.”

Anything but the current system, Konerko said.

“There’s going to be a guy there that will be on a last-place team that will have no bearing on the playoffs, and he could come in and either give up a home run or make an error in the field that could result in changing the game,” he said. “He’s just going there to enjoy the game, and in the middle of October, he’s going to get questions about a play he made that settled home-field advantage. I just don’t think that’s right.”

To St. Louis slugger Albert Pujols, the whole debate is silly.

“Who cares?” he said. “You’re in the World Series.”

AP Sports Writers Andrew Seligman and Rick Gano in Chicago and R.B. Fallstrom in St. Louis and AP freelance writer Amy Jinkner-Lloyd in Atlanta contributed to this story.

[blacksilverfan12]

I don't mind, mostly because I was dissapointed after the tie in 2002. So, I'm glad there's a winner now, even if it's an exhibition game

[Darren]

Home field should go to the team that has the better record. Baseball is a sport where home field matters. All the fields differ in terms of outfield dimensions, foul territory, and height of fences. If home field went to the team with the better record, teams like the 1995 Indians, 1996 Braves, 2000 Mets, 2001 Yankees, and 2004 Cardinals may have had better chances of winning.

[Mattingly]

I don't see why if a closer blows the game, that a 95-game win WC team from the other league gets HFA over a 105-game win best team in baseball. To me, if you want HFA, you should have to work on it as a team, not reap the benefits of others in your league. Makes the game a bit lazy, I believe, regardless of whether it popularizes it or not.

[Solair Wright]

I think it should be best team gets HFA, not the rigged format they had since 2003. I will say this, the All-Star Game is rigged for and against each league. When American bats, the strikeout zone is smaller. When National bats, the strikeout zone is wider. This was the case a few years ago in an ASG. One thing they should fix is the laughingstock of a format, and Selig is too stubborn to fix it, leaving it rigged in favour of the American League.

I...don't get it. :shrug:

[Knick9]

I want all of you to read extra carefully on what Tom Glavine had to say.

Trust me, his words are what make this article go. :lookitup

[Westlake]

"Logistics, mainly. This way, possible sites are whittled down well before the pennant races heat up. No need to scramble for hotel rooms and flights on one day’s notice."

That doesn't even make sense. Who cares if it's "whittled down"? You're still going to have to wait to find out exactly where it is whether the All-Star game determines home-field advantage or not.

[Williamsburg2599]

As the Onion brilliantly put it:
"Game will determine if American League representative will win World Series at home or on the road."

http://www.theonion.com/content/infograph/all_star_game_gimmicks

[Florida White Sox]

Of course not.

The team with the best record should get home field advantage.

That way, it wouldn't matter if the undeserving player that was voted into the All-Star Game by the "homer" fans goes 0-3 and misplays a fly ball.

[Yankees2k6]

What a stupid idea, it should be given to who got the best record in interleague play between the leagues, or like all other pro sports leagues, the team who got the best record.

[SamtheBravesFan]

As the Onion brilliantly put it:
"Game will determine if American League representative will win World Series at home or on the road."

http://www.theonion.com/content/infograph/all_star_game_gimmicks

That's not even that funny. The AL has won 3 out of 5 with that system. It would be funnier if the AL has won every World Series since then, but they haven't, so the humor has less impact for me. :P

[NYMets523]

I don't mind, mostly because I was dissapointed after the tie in 2002. So, I'm glad there's a winner now, even if it's an exhibition game

Who cares if there's a winner or not? There have been what? 2 ties in the history of the ASG? It's not as if there was going to be 2 or 3 more years of ties.

Lowell's point has a lot of weight. If this is supposed to mean something, why do we have fans voting and possibly putting a guy past his prime like Griffey in the starting lineup? Why do we have to have 1 rep from every team who may not even belong? The managers should assemble the 25 best players he can and have the best pitcher start and go as deep as he can. Instead, it's a showcase for every player (with a couple exceptions).

We need a new commissioner to change this. Bud never will because he only did it because the ASG was a disaster in his home park.

[blacksilverfan12]

Who cares if there's a winner or not? There have been what? 2 ties in the history of the ASG? It's not as if there was going to be 2 or 3 more years of ties.

Lowell's point has a lot of weight. If this is supposed to mean something, why do we have fans voting and possibly putting a guy past his prime like Griffey in the starting lineup? Why do we have to have 1 rep from every team who may not even belong? The managers should assemble the 25 best players he can and have the best pitcher start and go as deep as he can. Instead, it's a showcase for every player (with a couple exceptions).

We need a new commissioner to change this. Bud never will because he only did it because the ASG was a disaster in his home park.

I know, it's not one of the most important things in baseball. If I was commissioner, there would be a lot more important things

[ipitch]

I think it should be best team gets HFA, not the rigged format they had since 2003. I will say this, the All-Star Game is rigged for and against each league. When American bats, the strikeout zone is smaller. When National bats, the strikeout zone is wider. This was the case a few years ago in an ASG.

If you say so! :rolleyes:

[Milwaukee T]

This was just one in a long string of bad moves made by Bud. This was a knee jerk reaction to try and compinsate for him destroying the 2002 All-Star Game.

NOTE: It was actually Joe Torre that forced Bud's hand in that game, but Bud could have found some other path to take.

The home field advantage should be based upon the on field activity of the two teams involved, not by what someone from the Padres or Mariners do on one night in July.

[spark240]

You can't compare W-L records directly between teams in different leagues, or different divisions, because they play different schedules. A 100-win team may or may not be "better" than a 95-win team in the other league--in fact, that's why we have a World Series, to find that out.

Even so, regular-season team W-L is still the best, most fair means to determine WS home field, simply because it's better than any alternative. (Comparing cumulative interleague results from all teams in each league is no more sensible than going by ASG result.)

I don't buy the "logistics" argument, referring to "hotel rooms and flights." Under the current system, after the season is over, there are four potential sites for the WS opener, each of the four playoff teams from the ASG-winning league. Under a simple team-to-team W-L comparison, there are no more than seven (excluding the worst record among the eight total playoff teams) and possibly fewer than that (if the worst record on one side of the bracket is better than two or more of the other side). After the first round of playoffs, this shrinks to a maximum of only three potential sites (two in the current system), and there's still almost two weeks before the WS opener. If one league's LCS contenders both have better records those in the other league (as was the case last year and the year before) then the level of logistical uncertainity at this point is exactly the same by either method.

The idea was just a poorly conceived response to Selig's personal embarrassment about the tie game, plus a desire to have a new marketing angle for the ASG break, as if the childish Home Run Derby and the unfortunate U.S.-against-World Futures Game weren't enough.

[Knick9]

I'm gonna have a field day here...

Okay, so after 2002, Bud Selig decided that the All-Star would determine HFA throughout the World Series. I don't think it's hard to figure out how much of a failure this idea has been.

This is clearly because of Bud's inability to respond appropiately to situations that have much more simple resolutions to them than what he believes. Bud has a huge knack for making things much harder than what they really are. Perhaps he assumed when the crowd at Milwaukee (it is his hometown after all) booed almost endlessly at his decision for a tie, he felt like he needed to make a major overhaul with the whole meaning of the exhibition game itself.

Should I note that the fans didn't boo because there wasn't any reward to the winner of the game at the time, and that they supposedly wanted something for teams to shoot for? Uh, no, they booed because calling it a tie wasn't the right decision. That's it. Nothing else. They enjoyed the fact that it was just a simple exhibition and there wasn't any tie-ins like the "this time, it counts" crap we have now.

I do believe Bud saw this as an oppurtunity for a cash grab as well for marketing purposes. Let me ask you this, did the fans, in any way, ask for something like this to be done? Did the fans want this game to determine HFA for the World Series? No. Bud didn't ask them if it was a good idea to do that, and he never bothered to do so. He did this going on only what he and his buddies wanted. Bad move, sir, especially for a guy who can be full of himself because he is the head hancho of MLB.

If you ask for my opinion, I believe the correct way to determine HFA for the World Series would be this...the team that has the best W-L record at the end of the season, that team's league gets HFA. It is just not that hard to understand.

[uberpsycho]

A coin flip would be fairer than this abomination of they have of the AS game decided home field.

Honestly they could have the two managers of the AL/NL champions of the previous year call heads or tails and flip a coin right before the playoffs start. It makes absolutely no sense to put home field advantage on a glorified exhibition game where the MLB actively tells fans to vote for the players on the team you root for. Not because they actually deserve the nod.

[dgarza]

A coin flip would be fairer than this abomination of they have of the AS game decided home field.

A coin flip is even better than "the team with the best record."

Maybe the team with the worse record should be HFA just to even the playing field. The team with the best record may already have 1 advantage (supposedly being a better team), why give that team 2 advantages?

[Knick9]

I respectfully disagree. I think a coin flip would be a bit pointless and anti-climatic if you think about it. That's just me, though.

Coin Flip <---- All-Star Game

Coin Flip ----> Best Overall Record

[SamtheBravesFan]

Maybe the team with the worse record should be HFA just to even the playing field. The team with the best record may already have 1 advantage (supposedly being a better team), why give that team 2 advantages?

If you do that, then that could lead to deliberately tanking games just to get advantage in the World Series.

[NewEnglandAmazins]

ESPN's First Take (http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/poll/index) poll had over 40% of voters in favor of the All-Star Game deciding the World Series HFA. I'm shocked at that result because, 19 of the last 23 World Series were won by the team with home field advantage.

[Cajun Cubbie]

I can see it now with tonight's game going into extra-innings, Selig is pondering some more brillant moves to really motivate these players that this game means something...

ASG winner gets HFA plus automatically wins Game 1 of WS, possibly Game 2 as well.


If the ASG somehow still ends in a tie Selig might...
-allow fans to come out the stands and play if teams run out of payers
-expand the ASG to a 50-man roster
-allow the old-timers/celebrity game to decide HFA
-let the HR Derby winner decide HFA
-let fans determine HFA by voting online for only $9.99

[dgarza]

If you do that, then that could lead to deliberately tanking games just to get advantage in the World Series.
Which takes me back to the coin flip.

[nymetsgiantspolo]

NO... and I think was exhibit A in why it shouldn't be... Kazmir had no business being in the game....

[blacksilverfan12]

Tonight's been changing my mind on this whole idea. I like the idea because I don't want to see another tie. However, after tonight, I'm starting to think it's not such a good idea

[giantsrule]

i like the idea of the ASG deciding HFA, it gives the players a reason to actually play, unlike the probowl or nba ASG, where they arent really giving it their all...

[Mattingly]

I think it should be best team gets HFA, not the rigged format they had since 2003. I will say this, the All-Star Game is rigged for and against each league. When American bats, the strikeout zone is smaller. When National bats, the strikeout zone is wider. This was the case a few years ago in an ASG. One thing they should fix is the laughingstock of a format, and Selig is too stubborn to fix it, leaving it rigged in favour of the American League.

I...don't get it. :shrug:
Have I been daydreaming this whole time? Since when has the strike zone been different? You said 2003. I never knew that they were different. I figured they were using the exact same everything, including a DH for both leagues, since we're in an AL park. In an NL park, the pitcher is merely substituted (double-switch), doesn't waste an AB that a position player could use.

[dgarza]

i like the idea of the ASG deciding HFA, it gives the players a reason to actually play, unlike the probowl or nba ASG, where they arent really giving it their all...Well...it may give some of the players incentive, but maybe know they are on sinking ships.

[freshprince85]

This ist some of the worst things that ever happened in professional sports. The HFA has to go to the team with the best record -.-

[Captain Cold Nose]

This ist some of the worst things that ever happened in professional sports. The HFA has to go to the team with the best record -.-

It wasn't before, it was rotating between leagues previously. At least now it's based on something that happned on the field.

This is some of the worst things ever? Segregation and labor strife and violence and gambling and drug and point shaving scandals and this is the worst ever?

[NYMets523]

It wasn't before, it was rotating between leagues previously.

I absolutely despise this argument. So what? Did it have to be that way or the ASG determining it? Is it too radical of an idea to comprehend and use? No other sport has their All-Star game equivalent who has home field advantage in their finals.

[Brock]

I agree, Kazmir should have been sitting on the couch watching it.

Great game though, I sat through the whole thing till the end. I'm hurting today!!

[Captain Cold Nose]

I absolutely despise this argument. So what? Did it have to be that way or the ASG determining it? Is it too radical of an idea to comprehend and use? No other sport has their All-Star game equivalent who has home field advantage in their finals.

It wasn't really an argument, I'm just saying it at least is more conclusive and as fair as what was going on previously. I'm not a fan of either approach.

Baseball is funny. Just a general comment, not directed toward you. It's set up to be unique from other leagues in a lot of ways, it holds on to tradition unlike any other. But the one change most everyone is crying out for puts them in line completely with everyone else. These traditions are held so very dearly and any change is horrible, but get rid of this one thing and be like everyone else.

Baseball is funny.

[EdTarbusz]

After six years I still wonder why anyone cares if the All Star Game is tie. I would bet that the home field advantage angle was dreamed up by Fox to try to raise the ratings of the ASG.

[spark240]

I agree, Kazmir should have been sitting on the couch watching it.

I absolutely disagree. Every player on the roster should be fully available to the manager. If he's there but not really available, that's as much a mockery of the game as anything else that's been mentioned.

[Captain Cold Nose]

After six years I still wonder why anyone cares if the All Star Game is tie. I would bet that the home field advantage angle was dreamed up by Fox to try to raise the ratings of the ASG.

11% this year.

[digglahhh]

If Joe Nathan gives up a game winning homer to Hanley Ramirez, the the Cubs get to play game 7 against the Red Sox in Wrigley Field, what's not to like about this idea?...

I'd be fine with it rotating.

The way it is now, there's too much inconsistency, if it's a celebration of the game, it should have no meaning attached to it. If it is played for to determine who gets an advantage down the line, then the representative from every team and fan voting should be dumped.

People don't get record deals on the basis of the general public calling up and voting for them, what kind of flop would an attempt to market that idea be...

[NewEnglandAmazins]

How about letting Interleague Games decide World Series HFA? I would use Win Percentage versus common opponents to determine HFA:
Example (2007)

[bryanac625]

I'm not sure how to make this game matter to today's players. Why not let the proceeds from ASG go to charity?

[NewEnglandAmazins]

Excerpt from the 2008 Town Hall Meeting with Commissioner Bud Selig

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080715&content_id=3138315&vkey=allstar2008&fext=.jsp

Q. Our next e mail, would you consider determining home field in the World Series based upon interleague records? For example, the league with more wins gets the home field advantage?

COMMISSIONER SELIG: Well, we just talked about that again. Let me tell you, look, I love the way we do it now. Number one, broadcast partners like it. That's good. That's good for baseball. That's good for baseball fans. I like it.

Look, when you have a World Series, let's say this type of event, you have New York and Chicago. You need six or seven or 8,000 hotel rooms. You can't call in a city on October 20th, and say, "Hey, we got to have 8,000 hotel rooms." There's just nothing practical. It's just silly.

Now, beforehand, we had a rule where you got the game one year and you got the game next year. There was nothing scientific about it. The game had lost its luster, players didn't want to play, managers didn't want to manage. The whole thing, I had a lot of former players, Ron Santo and Hank Aaron come to mind immediately. Both speak to me and said, when we played, we'd run the other guy over, we wanted to win the game.

Since then, this game is now played with intensity, managed. Last year, it went right to the last pitch. If I remember, Aaron Rowland flyed out with the bases loaded in the top half of the ninth inning. It was a wonderful game.

So right now you're going to see intensity tonight that is wonderful.

So when Ben Sheets comes to the mound for the National League and pitching -- I got two Brewer fans sitting over there, so I have to give them a little plug -- when Ben Sheets comes and takes the mound and Lee from Cleveland who's having a magnificent year for the American League, this ballpark will be electric with excitement. This is the thrill of a lifetime for these people.

And because the game means something. We didn't have a better system before.

SETH EVERETT: So it's more so to give the greater value to the All Star Game as opposed to demeaning the interleague records?

COMMISSIONER SELIG: The interleague record is, how exciting is that. I had a writer say that to me today. Let's say it's 70 60, nobody would know that. Then when it was all over...

This, at least the fan can watch the game knowing that his or her league will be affected by what happens on the field. I like the idea. And we'll do this for another four years.

[StanTheMan]

The choices as I see them.... from best choice to worst choice.....


Cumulative Interlieage Record for the season. Winning league gets HFA.

Of the two WS teams, the team that has WON the WS more recently gets home field -- reward them for their more recent success. If neitherr team has ever won it, the team who GOT to the WS more recently gets HFA.

All Star Game Winner, but WITHOUT the ridiculous fan voting. Fukudome a top 3 NL oufielder and a starter? Please......

Alternate HFA every year.

[Seattle1]

Home field should go to the team that has the better record.

I agree with this statement.

[SamtheBravesFan]

Of the two WS teams, the team that has WON the WS more recently gets home field -- reward them for their more recent success. If neitherr team has ever won it, the team who GOT to the WS more recently gets HFA.


What if the Nationals and Rangers are in the World Series at the same time? What would happen then? ;)

[west coast orange and black]

knick9: I want all of you to read extra carefully on what Tom Glavine had to say.

glavine kinda casually mentioned fox network, as did selig when explaining the the current system of all-star game outcome determining world series home field advantage.

[west coast orange and black]

ideas:
pitchers who pitched two days earlier (on sunday) get to go but are not eligible to pitch.

add a pitcher for each who pitched two days earlier (and is therefore ineligible).

[SamtheBravesFan]

knick9: I want all of you to read extra carefully on what Tom Glavine had to say.

glavine kinda casually mentioned fox network, as did selig when explaining the the current system of all-star game outcome determining world series home field advantage.

That is all we need to know then. This stupid rule is here for the endless quest for ratings.

[StanTheMan]

What if the Nationals and Rangers are in the World Series at the same time? What would happen then? ;)

The world would end!! Obviously there are a few scenarios that cause problems with my idea. Rays, Rangers, Nats, Mariners... but you could resort to interleague play record, or whichever league won the WS the year prior, something like that.

I really like the idea of rewarding the team which won the WS most recently with HFA.

[NewEnglandAmazins]

The world would end!! Obviously there are a few scenarios that cause problems with my idea. Rays, Rangers, Nats, Mariners... but you could resort to interleague play record, or whichever league won the WS the year prior, something like that.

I really like the idea of rewarding the team which won the WS most recently with HFA.

What do you think of using the Win Percentage versus common opponents to determine HFA? The better Win% would get HFA.

[StanTheMan]

What do you think of using the Win Percentage versus common opponents to determine HFA? The better Win% would get HFA.


That is good, and follows along with my thinking, but I worry that it is an idea that would be difficult for most fans to follow.... common opponents, win %, not stats 90% of the fans can follow easily, perhaps.

[Mild Sauce]

It's hard to find anyone that agrees with the homefield rule. It's stupid to say the very least. Yeah, it adds pressure to the all-star game, but look at this past year, the most competitive person in that game, the one that put the most into it was Derek Jeter, who'll likely be sitting at home during the postseason (although anything can happen). However, this just goes to show that it's not the world series thing that makes the difference. Like what Glavine said, it's basically some thing that Fox came up with to improve their ratings. Stupid if you ask me, baseball should change something that could alter it's entire history to build TV ratings? That's just nuts to me. On top of that, I think that your home field advantage in something like the world series should be something that's only impacted by those on your team, no one else.

[MyDogSparty]

It's hard to find anyone that agrees with the homefield rule.

:waving I like it the way it is.