Well, not literally, the teams have already played Game Number 81. But it’s still close enough, and the usual time to take a break and assess the season so far.

There’s the usual chatter about Surprises (Tigers) and Disappointments (Orioles), First Half Award Winners – and can they keep it up in the second half (Cal Raleigh), which teams will be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline….but I’m not enough of a fan to speak with any sort of expertise on any of that.

With regards to the All Star Game, we’re so used to interleague play that the prospect of seeing the stars of the two leagues facing each other holds no special attraction to many fans. And 24/7 sports media coverage means we’ve already had the chance to at least become familiar with any star players (even if we haven’t seen them in a game).

As much as some might try to, making the actual All Star Game exciting is a wasted effort. Forcing things so that every player on the rosters – all 70 (is that how many there are these days?) of them – gets into the game means there’s not that much chance for excitement (we were lucky this year). Paul Skenes won’t be staring down Aaron Judge with the game on the line in the late innings…. Heck, the high point of the whole thing is the player introductions – which FOX made a mess of as usual. You had those nice little name and team graphics for the starters; would it kill you to have them for all the other players, too?

Is it really necessary to analyze the Home Run Derby and give us all sorts of pointless stats and “takeaways”? Let the thing be nothing more than what it is – a fun, cool, awesome – and pointless – thing. But a “Home Run Derby” as a tiebreaker is a stupid way to end a game. I understand why they had to do it, but you still can’t make me like it. Especially since there was no hint that it was how a tie would be resolved in the broadcast of the game. By the way, how is the final score recorded in the record books? 6-6? 7-6? 10-9???

At least they didn’t have those garbage special “All Star Game Uniforms” and let the players wear their actual, normal ones during the game.

Well, that was a game. In that it followed the rules of Baseball. I can’t call it exciting, since there wasn’t that much to get excited about. As has become typical for an All Star Game, pitchers aren’t allowed to be in for more than one inning, and batters rarely get more than two trips to the plate. So you’re not going to have to worry about pitchers getting tired or batters trying for three hits. You know, the usual things that add a bit of interest to the average game.

At least we did get to see the matchup that everyone was talking about – Paul Skenes vs Aaron Judge. Frankly, it’s a travesty that we even had to worry about whether it would happen or not. Look, I get that Skenes is a “hot young stud” and you don’t want to break him, but if you’re worried about him pitching more than one inning, make him a reliever and keep him in bubble wrap between appearances. Also, get over the thing about making sure every player on the roster gets to be on the field. It doesn’t matter if they get in the game or not; they are still an All Star. Right?

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Well, that was….a game.

I really have to wonder who MLB is expecting to buy the special All Star Game uniforms. Sure, there are some fans in the stands wearing them, but will they be on sale next month in the team stores afterwards? I’ve railed before about how it makes it nearly impossible to identify the players on the field. I would also like to note that in the time-filling promotional spots where they have players in an “airport” and “coffee shop”, they are wearing their actual team uniforms. It’s clearly important for a promotional aspect, so why are there totally new and different uniforms for the game?

I gather that at least some players are OK with them – but you’ll always find good employees who will say they like whatever they are told to like. And it’s not like it’s impossible to tweak the regular uniforms into special All Star versions. One could, for example, keep the regular uniform but simply replace the team / city name on the front with “American” or “National”. At the very simplest, put stars at the sides of the number on the back of the uniform.

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We’re in the thick of the All Star Team selection process, and I’m already seeing LOTS of whining in various comment sections on the order of “How can you choose this player over this one?”

I suspect a lot of these people are forgetting some very important things. First, you’re not simply selecting the Top 30 Players By Wins Above Replacement (or whatever number you want). You’ve got to field a team. What use is having six shortstops when you only have one first baseman? And there are a few other good rules, too.

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Well, that was BORING. All the excitement happened in the first few innings.

I know you can’t expect much from an exhibition game, or even a regular game in an era when pitching is so dominant. But seeing so little going on had me flipping the channel to the Cartoon Network quite often.

FOX did itself no favors. Nor Baseball, for that matter. It can be fun to have players wearing microphones so you can chat with them during the game, but it should never take precedence over the game itself – especially when you’re going to ask the same stupid question (“What’s it like being here?”) every time. The absolute worst instance was when they had David Ortiz goofing around in the AL dugout while ALL TIME GREAT Miguel Cabrera was at bat for his only appearance in the game. If the purpose of the game is to promote the game’s best players, then PROMOTE THE PLAYERS. Tell us when a new player comes into the game; tell us something about them and what they did to earn the spot on the roster….

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Despite being the “Midsummer Classic” and featuring the best players in the game, baseball’s All-Star Game has been rather dull of late. In addition to the “very little action happens” that the game as a whole is suffering, the game itself is structured so that the superstar players – the ones baseball wants to showcase – leave the game after a few innings and aren’t around in the later innings when the game is on the line. They’re both fine players, but who really wants to see Josh Hader face Ty France (for example) when the game is tied in the 8^th inning?

Needless to say, I’ve got an idea. Continue reading →

Let’s get the most important thing out of the way first.

Those uniforms should be collected, brought to an isolated area, burned, cast into concrete, dumped at the bottom of the ocean in an undisclosed location, and never spoken of again.

Their utter blandness is terrible not just from a sartorial standpoint, but from a marketing one. The ASG is supposed to show off the game’s “best and brightest”. But how can you do that when everyone looks the same? In a regular game, it’s okay for everyone on a team to wear the same uniform. You’ll be given plenty of chances to see them and have the announcers talk about them. But in the ASG, a player may be in there for just one inning or one at-bat. How can you show off any player when everyone looks the same? You don’t want fans to be wondering “Who is that guy in right field?” At least when they are wearing their own team’s uniform, fans can ask “Hey, who plays right field for the Cubs?” and narrow things down somewhat.

FOX did OK with their coverage. Continue reading →

Well, another “Midsummer Classic” has come and gone, and will be forgotten in due time.

Much of what I said last year still holds. FOX using their robot football guy to introduce a baseball game, not showing the names of the players as they are being introduced….

I hope the people at the game got more information about the Medal of Honor recipients than we did. The announcers could have at least sent us to a website to learn more.

Anyway, while there are official regulations governing who is eligible for the award (they were finally put in writing in the early 60s), there are some unwritten, unofficial requirements:

* There must be at least two eyewitnesses to the incident. Got to have proof.
* You must put your life in danger. Fair enough.
* It must be something that if you didn’t do it, no one could blame you.

Go check out the official citations of the honorees, and hope that if you do find yourself in such a dangerous situation, you behave with even a fraction of their courage.

The game itself? A perfect example of baseball these days. Homeruns, strikeouts, and practically nothing else.

Total plate appearances: 90
Total home runs: 10
Total strikeouts: 25
Total walks: 9

Half the plate appearances didn’t need a fielder to do anything.

I get it’s an exhibition, so the pitchers are all throwing flames and the batters are all swinging for the seats. But good heavens, it’s dull viewing. Major League Baseball really needs to make some changes in the off season.

By the way, Nationals Stadium did have its traditional President’s Race in the middle of the fourth inning. This time, Theodore Roosevelt jumped out to an early lead, but was blindsided by a flying rabbit. George Washington dashed past the ensuing pile-up and won handily.

They had a couple of players hooked up with microphones for in-game conversations again. Mike Trout and Bryce Harper were rather dull (except for Trout’s in-game weather commentary). Thankfully, Francisco Lindor and Charlie “I check my hole for gloves” Blackmon made up for it. If they do it again, get talkative and fun players like those guys.

Speaking of weather, MLB must have contingency plans in case there’s a rain delay or a rainout. Right?

By the way, what’s the deal with those wild socks that some players were wearing? And do enough people (other than collectors) buy those silly special All Star Game caps to justify making them?

Next week is when baseball’s annual All Star Game is played. Major League Baseball tries to make a week-long festival out of it, but for some reason they schedule the game itself on Tuesday night, which means all the pre-game stuff gets compressed into two days, while there are two days after the game when there’s absolutely nothing going on.

That seems rather inefficient to me. I know the players want and deserve a couple of days off, but there should be a better way to do it.

Like moving the All Star Game to Wednesday.

Here’s what that would allow:

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