It's been another bad week for blog stuff. I started a new job, so my schedule is going through some serious adjustment, and I still haven't gotten myself new headphones. So, no music segment this week. Expect a big one next week. I still plan to review Jack White's "Frozen Charlotte" and mary in the junkyard's "Role Model Hermit," and I'll be trying to catch up on some more new releases, too. For now, though, just enjoy an installment of Baseball Corner that I wrote after watching the Home Run Derby and the All-Star game.
It being my first full season as a dedicated Baseball fan, this week I watched the Home Run Derby and the All-Star game for the first time. Here’s my take. The Home Run Derby is very good. The All Star game is not. It’s...alright, I guess?
First, the Derby. I think that the mid-season break should just go all in on this kind of minigame. It’s such a fun, stupid thing. How about some kind of fielder’s derby where a baseball mortar launches balls into the outfield and fielders take turns seeing how many they can catch? Or a pitching competition where they do like, darts but with baseballs?
I understand that this year the Derby was without a clock for the first time. Previously, batters had to fit in as many swings as possible, whereas now they can take their time and take any pitches that aren’t to their liking. I can’t say which format I’d prefer. I liked this one quite a bit, but the frantic energy of the old way does sound fun.
However, all questions of format evaporated, as far as I’m concerned, with this derby’s finale. Who cares about clock or no clock as long as this thing can produce a moment like that. Jordan Walker’s last minute derby-winning hot streak was incredible to watch, and it was great hearing that obnoxious Philly crowd fall silent. Jordan Walker is so goddamn cool, man. What a showing.
Willson Contreras was the other highlight for me. He started the night strong with some ridiculous, beautiful longballs, and then had visible fun playing the heel later in the night, as the bracket put him up against hometown hero Kyle Schwarber. He was also swinging a Bowser themed baseball bat, which ruled.
So yeah, the Derby is dumb fun, it rules, and I love it.
The All-Star game on the other hand is just...I don’t think I get it. First let’s talk about the selection process. A fan vote is a dumb idea, because fans are stupid. Why the fuck was Brandon Marsh a starting NL outfielder when the NL has Corbin Caroll, PCA, and James Wood, all of whom were bench guys in this competition? And as much as I love Vladdy, why on earth was he voted in at first base during this huge slump he’s having? I was glad to see that he opted out to get some much needed rest.
The game itself feels like a vestigial marketing tactic. The American and National leagues are barely distinct entities nowadays, and regular interleague play strips the “the leagues are competing!” concept of a lot of its novelty. Of course, the other angle, that of having two teams of just superstars going at it, is still there. But now that teams are more concerned about player health and injury, it doesn’t seem like any of these players are really going to go all out in an exhibition match.
Those are my issues with the All-Star game as a concept. This All-Star game in particular was just kind of a dirge, though. The AL scored three runs in the first which ended up deciding the whole game. The NL never scored at all, and the AL added on one run late in the game on a Miguel Vargas solo homer. It was, to put it bluntly, boring. The biggest moment of the night was Junior Caminero getting beaned in the hand and immediately exiting the game, and that was both a disaster and a bummer. One of the most exciting young players in the game is probably going to lose significant time in this until now excellent season he’s having because he played in this silly exhibition match. That just blows. (Or, well, that’s what I would’ve said if he hadn’t gotten cleared to play later in the week, several days after I wrote this piece. I’m glad it didn’t end up being a major injury!)
So, here’s my proposal. Get rid of the All-Star game, and replace it with more Derby-style minigames, like the ones I suggested earlier. The fan voting component can be maintained as a sort of lesser MVP award. Let’s be honest: the All-Star game this year was boring as hell, and don’t you want to watch Pete Crow Armstrong and Daulton Varsho compete in a center field fly ball catch-off?
Now I realize it may look goofy of me, a Baseball neophyte, to challenge the old, venerated institution of the All-Star game like this, but consider that I am, at the end of the day, some guy. Major League Baseball does not listen to me (not yet, anyway...) so my complaints are meaningless. Do not worry about the ramblings of some guy, grumpy old heads. Enjoy your tradition-mandated bigshot meander in peace.
Anyway, next week I’ll be following the Detroit Tigers and the Cincinnati Reds. I’m almost done with this first impressions thing. All that will be left after this is to do a little check in with the Blue Jays and the Dodgers.