Does the All Star Game Really Matter?

The All Star Game has been around for 82 years in Major League Baseball. Something that continues for that many decades changes very often and the ASG is no different.

People argue nowadays that the Mid-Summer Classic is nothing like it used to be and is completely pointless. The first part is definitely true. Players don’t care about it as much as they used to (yes, I mean YOU Derek Jeter) as some don’t even show up even though if they make the roster and play in the game, they get a nice bonus. In addition to players not caring, the point of the All-Star Game is to pit the National League against the American League. This used to be a much bigger deal and a much bigger rivalry because there was no such thing as Interleague Play so NL and AL teams never played each other like they do for a whole month of the season now.

However, it still means something. First off, the winner of the game gets home field advantage in the World Series. That’s a big deal. Not only do you have your fans behind you, if the NL gets home field advantage, the AL team can’t use their DH for 4 of the games. If the AL wins, they use the DH and can try and power past the NL’s stiff pitching. If that wasn’t enough, the fans still care about this game. Chase Field was packed last night. You don’t see a packed house in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl do you? No. Because fans don’t care about that like they do the All Star Game. I’m not sure what it is, but there’s something different about MLB’s All-Star Game that I enjoy watching it unlike the 3 other sports’ all-star games.

What do you guys think? Do you like the ASG, don’t care, or don’t like it at all and why?

P.S. Matt Wieters went 0-for-1 in his first All-Star Game