Over the last few years, I have become less and less supportive of the fan vote for the starting line-up for the MLB All Star game.
Having said all that, in reviewing this year’s results unveiled last night, I have to say the fans did a great job this year.
Instead of rolling my eyes at the overabundance of Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers and Cardinals in the starting line-up, I admired the diversity this time. Twenty-five first time All Stars. Nice.
And, who can quibble with selections of Oakland A’s, Baltimore O’s and Milwaukee Brewers? Shoot, the Brewcrew and Athletics have the best records in their respective leagues. Why shouldn’t they have an extra player in the line-up?
And that’s the thing. It’s not the matter of four or five. It’s a case of two versus one. Pretty good balance.
Look at the starters for the NL, going around the infield: Cardinals, D-Backs, Phillies, Rockies, Brewers. Outfield: Pirates, Brewers, Dodgers. DH: Marlins. Excellent.
For the American League, we go: Royals*, Tigers, Mariners, Yankees and A’s around the infield. In the outfield, it’s Orioles, Blue Jays and Angels. Eight positions; eight different A.L. teams featured.
There is another Oriole, at DH, (*also, the O’s would have had the starting catcher, Matt Wieters, but he is out with a season ending injury) but who is complaining? The birds have been cellar dwellers in the A.L. East for much of the 2000s so a little notoriety isn’t a bad thing.
Anyway, like I said before, the fans did a good job of spreading the wealth.
For those of us living in the heart of Braves Country, we were happy to see Freddie Freeman named to the N.L. roster of reserves.
Joining Freeman on the N.L. roster are pitchers Julio Teheran and Craig Kimbrel.
And if Braves’ fans are active in the voting for the last member of the team, Justin Upton might just make the squad (#VoteJUp).
Of course, in order to claim that final spot, JUp will have to outpace Justin Morneau, now of the Colorado Rockies. A former Twin, it would make a great story for him to come back to Minnesota after resurrecting his career in the Mile High City.
In fact, he was still playing for the Twins last spring when Holly and I saw them during inter league play in Atlanta.
Speaking of the Twins, I was thinking about them over the weekend and, in particular, how it’ll be nice for the game to be played in Minnesota this year. It’s certainly a contrast from last year’s game in New York. The Twins are not regulars in the Sunday Night ESPN rotation. You don’t often see them on the Fox Saturday Night Game of the Week, either.
I would say, for many fans, this will be the first time they have seen Target Field (which, I hear, is a wonderful ballpark).
Anyway, the whole thing will be fun. We’ll play it up, big-time, at my house (as we usually do). First, there’ll be the Home Run Derby on Monday night followed by the Mid-Summer Classic next Tuesday.
Between now and then, there are still games to be played and votes to be cast. Still, I’m already getting excited and the big game is still a week away!
JG
Originally posted 7/7/2014
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