Felger & Mazz On: The MLB All-Star Game
Michael Felger and Tony Massarotti give their take on last night's mid-summer classic. Tony gives reasons why the All-Star game should not decide home field advantage in the World Series and says what he thinks the MLB should do.
Felger: "I've said I liked the format. And you know why I like the format? The format being this time counts. All the various rules around it scream exhibition but at the end of the day the result matters. And I like that, but you know why I like it? Because I'm a talk show host. As a serious sports fan, if I'm thinking logically about it, the thing's a freaking disgrace! But I like it as a talker. This determines home field in the World Series and Girardi's team was in the World Series last year and probably the favorite to go back this year. So he's managing a game that's pretty important to his team, the Yankees. And he leaves the best player of our generation [Alex Rodriguez] on the bench, while keeping in the game one of the worst base runners in the league in [David] Ortiz. Outrageous when you think of it. I love it because it's going to be a good story if the Yankees make it back to the World Series and lose in 6 or 7 games on the road, we get to go back and say it was Girardi's fault. So it counts, and it even counts to the Yankees, and the manager is screwing around like it's a church picnic softball game."
Massarotti: "To connect the World Series home field advantage to a game that people continue to treat as an exhibition, depsite the fact that it does means something, is laughable to me. What they should do, the best way to do it, is the winner of interleague play gets home field. That's the way you do it. If the American League wins more games, they get it. If the National League wins more games, they get it. Plain and simple."
