Pablo Sandoval will start at third base for the National League despite hitting more than 50 points less than David Wright and only having half as many RBIs.
Major League baseball fans dropped the ball this year, voting the Giants’ Pablo Sandoval to start third base in the All-Star game over the obvious and deserving choice, David Wright of the New York Mets. David Wright is hitting .355, which is second in the National League, and Wright is almost doubling Sandoval’s production with 9 home runs and 50 RBIs. David Wright had a large lead over the Panda, but during the Giants recent homestand, Sandoval experienced great support from Giants fans, topping all other third basemen. Voting in Pablo Sandoval would be acceptable, maybe even appropriate if the outcome of the All-Star game didn’t impact the World Series, but that’s not the case. The winner of the All-Star game receives home field advantage in the series, which can play a huge factor in the outcome of the series.
This leads me to believe, fans should not be the ones who decide the fate of the World Series. Every year, there are undeserving players that get voted in and deserving players who get snubbed. Another example is Atlanta’s Dan Uggla, who is slumping and hitting a mere .233, and will still be the starting second base for the National League. Often, we see older, more famous players get voted in, though their numbers really aren’t deserving of the selection. Major League Baseball has to take action. Recently we have seen a change in the wild card format, and now the League needs to set their eyes on this particular issue. The league has options, but it’s whether or not they see a need to fix the issue, and I believe change is needed. The only change made would need to be one of these three things:
1) Instead of having the players and coaches vote in a certain amount of players, allow them to vote all members of the All-Star team
- Players and coaches are the people that see these players in action every day. They are the ones trying to strike out David Wright, not the fans. They get a front row view of each player’s ability. I’m sure there still might be a little bias in the voting, but far less than when fans vote. A player might have a grudge against another, and not vote for him, but that is far better than fans just voting for their favorite players.
2) Make the All-Star game an exhibition (like it was for many years)
- It wouldn’t matter who wins, and it would make it acceptable for fans to vote Sandoval in the game. Pablo doesn’t give the National League the best chance of winning, but he is who the fans want to see in the game. This would actually give the game back to the fans. The All-Star game’s original purpose was to please the fans. It was to gather the best players in the world, and put them in one game.
3) Like the Hall of Fame, let the writers select the teams
- If it works for the Hall of Fame, (which some suggest it doesn’t) why not have them select the All-Star rosters?
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