All Star Week Changes
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by user Gmaddux04
With this years Home Run Derby already under a mound of scrutiny, it got me thinking-- does anyone have a better idea? This led me to consider the whole Break and changes that may result in a better product.
1. The Top 8 home run leaders face off in bracket. Who doesn't love a great March Madness style bracket? Seriously, unless that person came in injured, it should stipulate they have to "sacrifice" three hours of their lives to put on a good show for us fans. I'm talkin' to you, A-rod. With Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr, Prince Fielder, Gary Sheffield, Adam Dunn, Ryan Howard, Justin Morneau, and Carlos Pena all in the Top 8 for home runs this season, that's enough star power to keep us interested, isn't it? The villianous A-rod and Sheffield, the timeless Griffey, the new age Howard and Fielder? And then throw in a 1v8, 2v7 bracket system and you have intrigue.
2. The Break should be a week long. Too many deserved All-Stars and great players are having to sit out the game because of injury or time off. Trust me, they really do need it with a season that's nine months long. If most of them had those extra four days of the week to rest up we would see more of the players we want to see and cut back on these "snubbed but made it anyway" stories. It's not like four days could seriously impact a 162 game season anyway.
3. Home field advantage needs to go. The great debate is always "snubs" when July comes around every year. I don't understand this at all. The All-Star game is NOT a show of awesome players that a casual passerby would never recognize. This is not a novelty item (unlike the Home Run Derby, which was created fairly recently) and should not be treated like one. The reason we watch is to see the biggest stars in a nine-man lineup go up against the biggest name pitchers and the biggest closers. Your star truly should shine at the All-Star game. People like Mariano Rivera and Barry Bonds should always be on these teams until they retire or fall completely on their respective faces. With that said, it is now being treated like the "Best Player Exhibition" with the prize at the end having won home field advantage for your league. Apples to apples, this doesn't add up. We either need to give a boot to the old timers (the real All-Stars), or get rid of this stipulation for the whole thing to make any sense. My solution: give home field advantage to the team with the best overall record. Over a fairly lengthy season the team with the best record usually is the most deserving. So if the season ended today the championship would go through Fenway Park, and with the AL being the stronger league there's really no argument here to it being "unfair" in any way.
4. Add a skills competitions. A la the NHL. Their skills competitions are always a blast to watch, so why not try it out with baseball? This, of course, would also fall under the novelty competitions with the Derby, so perhaps make it an all-day event? Mix in a show of power like the Derby with other events, including a fielding contest, fastest base-rounding speed, gap hitting exercises and let's not forget, a "Who's got the fastest fastball?" competition. These invites could all be turned down, but when you're making a lucrative contract like most of these guys are, don't you at least owe us the afternoon to be on the field with the rest of the people we would like to see?
This really isn't to say there is anything wrong with what we have now, I just want to see what people would think about these pipe dream ideas.
