The All-Star game is broken.
In 2002 the game ended in a tie, and to hear a lot of people say it a cardinal sin had been committed. (Personally, I thought it was kinda cool). They tried to fix it by granting World Series home field advantage to the league that won the game.
Then this year we go 15 innings and really over-use several pitchers. George Sherrill pitching 2-1/3 innings? Kazmir and Webb pitching when they really shouldn't have been used at all. Everyone was holding their breath, because it was getting VERY, VERY, VERY close to the point where a drastic decision had to be made. And had a tie been declared in Yankee Stadium Bud Selig would not have made it out alive.
The solution to the problem is quite simple. They need more pitchers on the All-Star squad. So many that there's no danger of running out, even with the antics of having the early guys pitching a few innings at most.
They don't even have to make it easier to become an All-Star, they simply have two classes of guys: the real all-stars, and the utility guys there for when things turn desperate.
In your standard All-Star game you'd only ever see the standard All-Stars. But if we ended up in another one of these monster games they could go to the utility guys and use them up to save the stars' arms for their day jobs. And it would give a chance for the strong middle relievers and specialty guys to perhaps get a shot at playing in the All-Star game.
Although I have to admit that wouldn't be nearly as much fun to watch as seeing Bud Selig squirm in his seat.
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