I was thinking to myself that the NL has a real chance this year. My 11 starting pitchers: Volquez Lincecum Harden* Hamels Santana Peavy Haren Sabathia* Zambrano Sheets Webb Too bad that a lot of these guys couldn't get on and that Fukudome is starting because he's Japanese. My infield: Berkman Pujols Utley Uggla Ramirez Reyes Jones Wright Martin McCann Braun Holliday Lee Burrell Bay Beltran (only CF of the group) Screwed up at catcher and outfield,but pretty good otherwise. AL lucked out with Ortiz being injured. I'm actually excited about watching it this year. Too bad I'm in the Pacific timezone. Probably won't get to watch much of it.
Everyone thought that the 20+ year era of NL dominance would last forever also, but it eventually came to an end. When I was a kid I used to care about this. Then I stopped caring. Then they instituted the moronic rule about it affecting the World Series and I cared (in the sense of being pissed). Then I saw that the NL won 2 of the next 5 Series anyway (and the team with the worse record won 3 of the 5), and have gone back to not caring. With the 2-3-2 format, in a close series the key game is actually game 5, which is held at the team that only gets the three home games anyway.
I hate Selig too, and only the existence of Gary Bettman keeps him from being the worst commissioner in sports. That said, I like the game counting. It's just as good as randomly alternating the homefield advantage every year.
I don't mind the game counting but if it's going to count than you need to take the fans out of the equation because Fukodome has been good but should not be starting the AS game. You also need to get the every team represented rule because Christian Guzman has been good but he doesn't deserve to be there ahead of Reyes.
Exactly what ^ said. Even still, the game shouldn't count. Does the Pro Bowl count? Does the NBA All-Star game count? Does any sport have an all-star event that counts except baseball? It's a frigging popularity contest with severe postseason implications. That's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard.
Don't be so obtuse. You have to read posts better. Look at what I was responding to and look at what I wrote. It helps. The old way- alternating home field advantage in the World Series based on nothing.
Before there was interleague play it was the only completely fair method, since won-loss records within a league were not at all comparable (a coin flip would have worked too, but was obviously not going to happen), and I still don't see any particular reason why it's such a bad idea now. Basing it now on the overall interleague play record would be far more sensible than the current system. Using overall won-loss record would be a vastly inferior third choice (since there is still little overlap between the leagues), but is still much better than using an exhibition game played under made-up rules. In any event, as I said earlier, with the 2-3-2 setup, it is only in game 7 that this actually helps the team that gets it; if you don't get to 7 games it's worse for them, since they lose game 5 as a home game, and get game 6 instead, which isn't nearly as good. As long as they keep the 2-3-2 setup, they should choose the "home" team arbitrarily anyway, since it's often more of a booby prize than a grand prize.
I said: You responded directly to that: So I responded: How the hell was I supposed to know you were talking about the alternating format of home-field advantage? My reading comprehension is just fine. So sorry I never learned to read minds.
The overall interleague play record has been what I've wanted for a few years now. Maybe MLB will go to that next. I would also be okay with giving home field advantage to the team with the better record, as unfair as it may seem to you. The goal is to win games. So, win games. Win more games. Get home field advantage. It is simple. Different leagues, different schedules? So? Win games. Win more games. Win. Alternating what league gets home field advantage by year is complete garbage in my book. The NFL did stuff like that one time and then the league realized it was asinine. Worst example: 1972 undefeated Dolphins playing a road game in the playoffs at Pittsburgh.
