Don’t call it a comeback.
After a significant absence, I’ve returned to bring in ‘da noise and bring in ‘da funk. I’ll admit, I missed some significant stuff, especially in baseball (Cue A-Rod talk, cue Mets talk, cue Cardinals cheating talk). However, I’m making my stoic return just in time for the nation’s favorite sporting spectacle: the MLB All-Star Game. Well, not really. I haven’t met a single person that actually likes every part of the Midsummer Classic, from the voting system to the events to the fact that it actually counts for something relatively important.
While the MLB ASG fared better than the NBA and NFL last year in viewership, with just over 11 million viewers, this was the first time that baseball had the most-watched All-Star game since 2010, and the numbers have been steadily decreasing in the span. Compound the decline in Nielsen ratings with the debacle surrounding the Kansas City Royals and this year’s voting (at one point they had 8 players lined up to start), it is clearly time for Major League Baseball to revamp its midseason break.
Alex Rodriguez. currently leading Designated Hitters with 16 homers, was left off of the AL roster.
Voting is not going to change. Baseball uses a fan vote, a player vote, and input from the manager of the All-Star squad, which really isn’t a problem as long as the fans come out and vote. What the execs need to do is make the All-Star break more interesting for TV viewers. This would create a larger, more diverse fan base, which is exactly what the MLB has tried to do for years (see here for more). Right now, there is one major event besides the All-Star game during that break: the Home Run Derby. While the derby has always been wildly popular, it has undergone a facelift this year to make it more interesting. Contestants get a 5 minute clock to see how many dingers they can hit, and participants go 1-on-1 in a bracket-style format until a winner is declared in the final. Adding more contests, perhaps with more fan interaction, is the key to reviving the All-Star game.
The MLB should take notes from the NBA. As far as All-Star festivities are concerned, they’ve got it right. The night before the game, they have a slew of events lined up each year, including the Shooting Stars Challenge, the Skills Challenge, the 3-Point Contest, and the Slam Dunk Contest. It is entirely possible for the MLB to create events like this. When I was 12, I played a baseball tournament in Cooperstown, and throughout that whole week they had events that could be copied by the MLB. Among these were a baserunning contest and a “Golden Arm” contest, where contestants threw from centerfield to home plate and tried to hit a target. Wouldn’t it be exciting to see which speedster can motor around the bases the fastest, or which defensive stud really has the best gun in the bigs? The fans could even vote on who they want to see in the challenges from a list of candidates. Just two simple events could make the All-Star break exponentially exciting.
The MLB revamped the HR Derby, but should they add more events?
The MLB could get fans involved too, maybe getting them on the field with some of the best and brightest talents in the game. Imagine getting a chance to get one at-bat against Felix Hernandez or Jacob deGrom, and if you get a hit, you win $50,000? Or how about this: A softball game mixed between fans and current players? Let’s face it, the Celebrity Softball game is an absolute joke. But if you put real competitors out there with some overly-excited fans, the results may be good TV. Besides that, the MLB would get the chance to sell more tickets for the break and in turn, they would have the opportunity to create and sell more overpriced ASG merchandise.
The only other option for the MLB is to admit that the ASG is nothing special and get rid of it’s importance. If no one is watching it, then it shouldn’t decide who gets to play Game 7 of the World Series at home. None of the other 4 major sports have their All-Star games count for anything anyway. The only reasons that the MLB made it count back in 2003 was so that viewership could increase and to give players a greater incentive to win. Now ratings have fallen, and the World Series has only gone to Game 7 twice since then (2011 and 2014). To think that a big-league player would take this game as seriously as a game in September is ridiculous.
But the execs at MLB headquarters are too set in their ways to take away what they just put into the game 10 years ago. Instead, the only way to beef up the All-Star game is to ramp up the events surrounding it. Now that I’m back, let’s hope that the MLB can bring the ASG back from the slippery slope of TV views.
The Underdog 