There’s something to be said about the balloting that’s given much of the media a tongue in cheek feeling about the whole process, but I’ll get to that in a bit.
Up to this point has been an exciting year and one that’s been somewhat bizarre. No one last year would have believed you if you told them the Mets would be fighting neck and neck with the Nationals for the National League East. Nor that Houston would lead the American League West, While Boston is last in the American League East. And Detroit, despite Miguel Cabrera hitting close to .350, and another power bat showing itself in J.D Martinez with 25 homeruns and David price with a sub 3 ERA is chasing Minnesota and Kansas City. And the team with the best record -- is St. Louis who lost staff ace Adam Wainwright and power bat Matt Adams for the majority of the year.
The league seems to be twisting and turning like a shoe in a washing machine, and it’s been a lot of fun to watch! One of the most interesting things that has happened is all the players who have shown up with significant power who had previously been irrelevant. Some of the big names have been Joc Pederson, J.D. Martinez, and Manny Machado to name a few, all who are on pace to eclipse 30 home runs. Bryce Harper has also finally figured it all out which has led to a lot of success. But it’s not just the youngsters who seem to be clicking. Pujols is 2nd in homeruns, Teixiera has 22 at the moment I’m writing this, Donaldson has also already passed 20 homeruns, and Hanley Ramirez is on pace for a 30 homerun season. The power numbers this season have been fantastic and I will say, it’s been a lot of fun seeing new bats and old bats re-emerge.
Despite the controversial discussion of whether Pete Rose’s Hall of Fame induction would happen or not in the year of the Cincinnati All-Star game, that hasn’t been what people are rolling their eyes at. As the balloting ink finally dries, we’ve found that 4 of the 9 starters for the AL team are Royals.
I wouldn’t normally make a point of it, but it’s not getting the sort of attention it probably should be as most media outlets don’t want to risk insulting their readers. I’m not one of those writers. Kansas City fans, you’re a bunch of morons.
The way the starting lineups are chosen is fans vote in the most deserving players to play in the all star game. This is usually based a lot of batting stats but other factors come in to play such as defense and leadership when it’s to a high extent. People can vote via email up to 35 times. The winner of the all star game them gets home field advantage for the world series. Naturally fans are going to skew their choices to their favorite teams. Most notably in the past, have been the Cardinals who have elected questionable players in my mind. This year they gave a good deal of votes to Matt Holiday even though he’s been hurt, will be hurt for the game and wasn’t even that great to begin the year. Still, he has been a star in the past, and leadership plays a part, so most of us don’t mind too much. The Royals fan base however took every rational reason to select players and threw it out the window.
Now I won’t get into why most of them don’t deserve to be starters. The stats speak for themselves, and don’t tell me defense plays a part because there are some great defensive players who had way better offensive stats. Some have argued that “it just shows Kansas City has a great fan base” which is stupid. I’ve never wanted to watch an All Star game simply to watch my own players. It’s turning the game into a Prom queen contest.
I’m not even saying it should be better players to win the game for the home field advantage. That’s important, but not every team goes to world series and winning in baseball is so volatile that the AL may even win. The point of the game isn’t just to prove who has the best fans though. It’s to see what would happen when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force. To see Kershaw’s curveball go up against Mike Trout’s bat. It’s supposed to be the most exciting game, and instead Alcides Escobar being made to look stupid by Max Scherzer and Zach Greinke. The thing is, no one’s holding their breath when Lorenzo Cain or Omar Infante (who luckily was outvoted in the final weeks) to see if they will crush a 500 foot homerun. They could have some success, but it’s not very likely.
Either way, I’ll be watching the home run derby, and probably the game as well but unfortunately with less excitement then I’d planned.
-Alan Clark
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