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It’s time for Rob Manfred to end All-Star Game’s absurd World Series tie-in

The first six months of Rob Manfred’s tenure as baseball commissioner can’t be seen as anything other than a success, some his doing, some by happenstance. Among his welcome gifts were Alex Rodriguez playing good citizen and a ready-made excuse for Pete Rose’s continued exclusion from the game dropping in his lap and an unprecedented wave of great young players joining the major leagues. It’s like Manfred calling heads 25 straight times and staring at George Washington’s face every single one.

Giving all the credit to luck would be wrong, though, because Manfred has positioned himself as a baseball progressive, thorough and open-minded, not resistant to change so long as the change is pragmatic. He oversaw the successful new Home Run Derby format. He has sliced nearly 10 minutes off the average game time. In anticipation of the upcoming collective-bargaining negotiations – the informal discussions will turn formal after this season, according to sources from both sides – Manfred has embraced the possibility of all sorts of modifications, from relatively easy ones like instant replay and the strike zone to massive undertakings like a 154-game season and expansion.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred presents the All-Star MVP trophy to Mike Trout. (AP)
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred presents the All-Star MVP trophy to Mike Trout. (AP)

All of this serves to show that as a man with ideas and the conviction to implement them in a baseball landscape so historically averse to evolution, Manfred can end the farce perpetuated by his predecessor and return the All-Star Game to its rightful place as an exhibition with zero bearing on anything of significance.

Tuesday’s game embodied everything the All-Star Game should and shouldn’t be. As a showcase for the world’s finest players, it was a rousing success. Mike Trout won his second consecutive All-Star Game MVP award. Clayton Kershaw looked mortal. Lorenzo Cain and Jacob deGrom furthered their star turns. Aroldis Chapman threw a baseball 103 mph. The young talent was on display, and that was in a game that didn’t include Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton and Mookie Betts and Miguel Sano and Joey Gallo and Addison Russell and Francisco Lindor and many, many others either on the come or there already.

And knowing that – knowing that baseball and its stars present and future are a strong enough base to sell the game without any embellishment – it makes MLB’s insistence on continuing to tie home-field advantage in the World Series to the All-Star Game so beyond unnecessary.

The American League beat the National League 6-3, and because of that, the AL pennant winner will start Game 1 of the World Series at home and host a potential Game 7. It does not matter if that team snuck in via a wild-card spot while its opponent ran away with its division. It does not take into account the 162 games in which players earned the privilege of playing in October. It weds something that barely resembles competitive baseball with something that has foretold the World Series winner 23 of the last 29 seasons and had led to victories in nine straight Game 7s before last year.

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For home-field advantage to ride on a game in which both managers emptied their benches on 34-man teams and used a combined 16 pitchers is insulting. Nothing in which Trout leaves for Brock Holt can be taken seriously. No game in which the starting pitchers exit after two innings should count for anything. Hell, this isn’t even a game. It’s a showcase. It’s a marketing opportunity. Few, if any, tune in to see who wins. They want to see the novelty of the best players on the field together. No matter how the managers manage – both enlisted shifts … and in the same game gave up platoon advantages to get guys their participation trophies – it cannot take away the overwhelming reality that dozens of men with absolutely zero stake in the postseason are nonetheless instrumental in determining its course of action.

History does not burden Manfred like it did Bud Selig. He has no All-Star Game tie on his hands. He has nothing but loyalty to the man who helped grease his path to the job. Forging Manfred’s legacy means separating from that of his predecessor, and this is a no-brainer, a decision that would meet widespread approval from MLB’s fan base and run into little resistance from people inside the game.

Baseball did just fine with the logistics of October before giving home field to the All-Star Game winner, and any concerns about that are overblown. It could ration out home field any number of ways: the team with the better regular-season record or the league that fared best in interleague play are the two most obvious. Today, they might as well have given it to the NL for Todd Frazier winning the Home Run Derby. It’s every bit as important to the playoffs as the All-Star Game.

With stars such as Clayton Kershaw, holding his daughter, the All-Star Game doesn't need to be tricked up. (Getty)
With stars such as Clayton Kershaw, holding his daughter, the All-Star Game doesn't need to be tricked up. (Getty)

For years, Manfred has built up goodwill inside the baseball community with his no-nonsense temperament and deal-striking ability. He’s one of the main reasons for more than 20 years of labor peace. He’s the sort who can find compromise with the MLB Players Association enough not just to avoid strikes and lockouts but combine on a $30 million grant toward funding youth baseball initiatives around the country.

This is the sign of a commissioner with the right priorities. He could’ve spent his first six months politicking, bending to his will those who opposed his election to the position. Instead of grudge-hunting, Manfred focused on doing what baseball needs done. It’s a six months worth repeating.

And while spending any excessive time or political capital on what amounts to an exhibition seems counterintuitive, the All-Star Game still represents something important to baseball, and returning it to a place where it needs no amendments to feel relevant and fresh is worth the effort. In those collective-bargaining efforts, MLB should bring back the All-Star Game it deserves, one with the stars and the hoopla and without the attached strings.

The second half begins Friday, and September should be exciting, with so many decent teams fighting for playoff spots and so many games that carry a thousand times the intensity and gravitas of the All-Star Game. Once October dawns, it will do so with the AL at a distinct advantage because on one night in July a group made of disparate pieces from every team in its league beat another group made of disparate pieces from every team in its league. It sounds absurd because it is absurd, and for the many things in his sport Rob Manfred is willing to stomach, absurdity should not be one of them.

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