FROM THE PRESS BOX – It’s going to be short and sweet this week, folks.
The MLB All-Star Game is Tuesday and that’s the focus of my lone hawt taek this week.
The All-Star Game should count toward home-field advantage in the World Series. Look, I get it. Most people think that home-field advantage should be awarded to the team with the best record. And that opinion has a ton of merit.
However, if you’re going to have the All-Star Game, why not make it worth something again? Maybe players would vote in the correct guys if the game was actually worth something. Oh, and maybe it’ll actually be entertaining if players actually care about the outcome.
Only eight teams make the postseason. Making the game matter again, more teams can play a role, even if it’s small, when it comes to the playoffs.
But if the game is going to matter, the rule that every team must have a representative should be eliminated. The All-Star Game should feature the best players no matter what.
Jose Berrios is a great young player, but he made it in over Blake Snell as the lone Minnesota Twin. That’s a disgrace.
You go down the list and find J.A. Happ on the American League roster, too. He has a 4.29 ERA. That’s not nearly good enough to make the All-Star Game.
That stuff is the disgrace. I get the fact that Major League Baseball wants everyone involved, but if you want to put out the best product possible you have to have the best athletes on the field.
Speaking of best athletes, how about this roster for the Home Run Derby? There are two Chicago Cubs and just one player from the AL. How did that happen?
I get that guys like Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres and J.D. Martinez either declined their invites or just flat out said they didn’t want to participate from the beginning, but how is it that the only player you could get from the AL was Alex Bregman? Nothing against Bregman but he doesn’t really scream home run hitter.
Aside from Bryce Harper trying to take the crown in front of the home crowd, this just isn’t much of a draw.
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Enjoying Riding The Rails so far? Here’s Episode 14, which takes you inside the inner workings of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders’ clubhouse. Episode 15, featuring Tyler Austin, drops Monday evening.
