Let’s start this (hopefully) fun post out under the working premise that All Star Games are supposed to be are frivolous. They mean nothing and are simply entertainment. No more, no less … at last until Bud Selig came up with a very bright idea.
I wish I knew what I know now to be true about All Sta Games back in 1989 when, as an eight year old, I got very upset that Oakland Athletics catcher Terry Steinbach got voted to start the Midsummer Classic ahead of Mickey Tettleton. Looking back, I’m not sure why this made me so mad, since Tettleton still played for the Orioles and wouldn’t join my beloved Detroit Tigers until 1991. I was probably angry because Steinbach made it the year before, too, with mediocre numbers riding the coattails of the Bash Brothers and the would-be A’s dynasty.
Again, in retrospect, I should have tried enjoying my childhood a lot more instead of fretting over sports but that’s a story for another day. The story for today is the impeding national nightmare (term used as lightly as possible) that seven Kansas City Royals might start the 2015 All Star Game in Cincinnati.
As it stands from the latest voting, Salvador Perez, Eric Hosmer, Alcides Escobar, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain, Alex Gordon and Kendrys Morales are tabbed to start at their respective positons. Amazingly, Omar Infante, who has the worst numbers of any starter in the league, is a few thousand votes behind Jose Altuve.
What in the wild wild world of Ford Frick is going on here!?!
If Infante passes Altuve, admittedly, I’ll change my tune and start stuffing the ballot box for Alex Rios to become the third Royals outfielder since a starting nine, sans pitcher, from one team would be amazing and produce a lot of huffing and puffing by baseball talking heads. As it stands the 1939 Yankees are the team with the most All-Stars (6) to start one game, including pitcher Red Ruffing. Nine starters from the 2015 Royals would be kind of amazing.
For now we need to band together and stuff the online-only ballot and make sure MVP candidate Josh Donaldson starts at third instead of Moustakas or Nelson Cruz bumps Morales off at DH. Miguel Cabrera’s numbers are better than those of Hosmer. And yes, please vote for Altuve or Brian Dozier at second to ensure Infante and his .526 OPS are nowhere near Great American Ball Park on July 14. The other Royals candidates are certainly deserving of their lofty status atop the polls.
One quick reminder, as David Price noted today on Twitter while campaigning for Cabrera, MLB made this game count toward World Series homefield advantage a couple years ago …
Considering how the Royals have played this season they’ve got as good a shot as anyone to make the World Series, but do we really want to let Ned Yost’s secret American League takeover become reality?
from The Big Lead http://ift.tt/1F9CQIh
No comments:
Post a Comment