The All-Star Game Thread

Darnell's Son

Darnell's Son

He's a machine.
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Hopefully I'm not stepping on any toes getting this bad boy started early. With the Red Sox featuring 5 Red Sox, there will probably be a lot of interest in this year's game compared to the average year's - at least until they pull the starters.

Dave McCullough wrote a piece today about the All-Star Game and how the home-field advantage rule sucks. This one features Pedro unlike all the others you may have read this week.

Last September, iayork wrote about Bogaerts fulfilling his potential and the relation between his age and the players' peaks.

This May, iayork wrote about the adjustments that JBJ made and has obviously kept up with this season.

Snod wrote a two-part article comparing and contrasting Mookie with Andrew McCutheon last year.

At the beginning of the season, iayork wrote about the improvements Mookie had made and continues to make.

Cuzitt wrote about Mookie's three-home run game in his series on Red Sox three-homer games.

Iayork also wrote about Wright's knuckleball last year using his charts to display the movements of the unpredictable pitch.

And last but not least abs wrote about the retirement of David Ortiz and what he means to us.

But, so we don't leave on a somber note, the SoSH Editors put together an appreciation of Big Papi's home runs last season including graphics from iayork and gifs of several of his most memorable blasts.

Enjoy, and go Red Sox...I mean American League!
 
E5 Yaz

E5 Yaz

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Darnell's Son said:
Hopefully I'm not stepping on any toes getting this bad boy started early. With the Red Sox featuring 5 Red Sox, there will probably be a lot of interest in this year's game compared to the average year's - at least until they pull the starters.
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I'm sure King Solomon approves
 
judyb

judyb

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Could someone please explain to me why which league wins the All Star Game getting HFA in the WS drives people so nuts when alternating years didn't. It's silly, but I don't see how this is any more random for the teams involved in any particular year than whether it happens to be an odd or even year. Or, did that bug people, too, and I just didn't notice?
 
E5 Yaz

E5 Yaz

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judyb said:
Could someone please explain to me why which league wins the All Star Game getting HFA in the WS drives people so nuts when alternating years didn't. It's silly, but I don't see how this is any more random for the teams involved in any particular year than whether it happens to be an odd or even year. Or, did that bug people, too, and I just didn't notice?
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Your premise is absolutely correct. I think what bothers those who are have determined this to be a bad thing is that when the HFA rule came into being, it was after a confusing ASG where no one from the commissioner on down looked as though they knew what to do. The "solution" had a duct-tape feel to it and it was accompanied by a hackneyed slogan "This time it matters" that became easily mocked. It also came about at a time where some all-stars would leave the park, and sometimes the city, when they were out of the game for good. Adding "meaning" to the ASG was the equivalent of killing an ant with a sledgehammer.

Throw in the change in culture that gave media and fans an expanding outlet to express hot takes and Like buttons and something to kvetch over during a lull, and you have an argumentative shit show.

There are logistical impossibilities involved, of course, to having the WS team with the better record getting the extra home game. But I wonder whether -- if MLB wants the leagues to maintain a rivalry -- it is possible to award home field to the league that has the better overall interleague record during the season. Otherwise, the former way of alternating between the leagues, while not perfect, seems unobjectionable.
 
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E5 Yaz

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DeadlySplitter said:
What? what are these?
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Using last season as a quick example: The Royals won the AL title on Oct. 23; the World Series began on Oct. 27. Now, 3 days might seem like a lot to handle travel, accommodations, logistics for all the teams, league personnel, networks, ticket holders, hotels, security, etc ... but that was knowing where the series would start, because the AL won the all-star game.

And ... KC beat Toronto in 6 games. A seventh game would have taken a day off that schedule.

Consider a scenario where both LCS go seven games and leave but two days in between. And add to that the idea that the Series could have started in four different cities (NY, Toronto, Chicago, KC) -- depending on which two teams make the Series, and which has the better record. And then add to that the possibility that the teams which make the WS had the same regular season record. How does home field get decided ... particularly when there's but 48 hours to get everything set?

Knowing which league hosts the WS prevents much of this confusion, because logistics depend only on which team wins the LCS.

And then there's the weather ...
 
E5 Yaz

E5 Yaz

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DeadlySplitter said:
If the NBA & NHL can do championship home field depending on record, so can MLB. No excuses.
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Sure ... if you want to play WS games in stadiums that seat 33% of the fans that MLB stadiums do. And play all games in all preliminary series indoors, so weather never affects the schedule. And work with a small amount of TV cameras. And limit team traveling parties -- including player rosters (and, therefore, their families) to just over half the size that MLB teams now employ.

Then they're pretty much the same thing
 
mauidano

mauidano

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Papi is the center of attention and loving every minute of it. He totally gets what's happening and his role in it. Good for him. Hope he goes deep tonight!
 
Bergs

Bergs

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I love the All-Star game and I don't care who knows it.
 
E5 Yaz

E5 Yaz

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NYT: Because the National League is hosting in four straight years, the American League gets to wear white uniforms and bat last. And that means San Diego's players had to vacate their own clubhouse and move to the visitors' locker room on the third-base side.
 
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