Chicago Cubs: MLB All-Star Election Day in the works

All-Star games across all sports have seemingly been under fire since July 9, 2002, the date of the infamous MLB All-Star game that ended in a 7-7 tie at Miller Park in Milwaukee. Is a change coming?

Baseball, it seems, has decided to do what many other sports have done (with varied results) in recent years- make some changes to create more fan interest. All-Star games, in general, don’t mean as much as they used to.  No player is going full Pete Rose and knocking over Ray Fosse to score a run.

NBA All-Star games are glorified dunk contests in a full-court setting complete with a “don’t pick me last” draft to decide teams.  Dunk contests don’t even feature Lebron James or “The Greek Freak,” Giannis Antetokounmpo.  Pro-Bowls in the NFL has become must-not-see TV.

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What has this meant for most of the major sports? It means they had to make changes in order to attract fan interest.  They also need to up the ante for players who would much rather have a couple of days off in the middle of the season-long grind.

Baseball is no different than the others.  MLB players, especially pitchers, sometimes aren’t even able to participate because of when they played/pitched or if they’re nursing minor injuries.  The best and biggest sluggers often don’t want to take part in the Home Run Derby (and that has been revamped and reformatted in recent years as well).

So, how do you get more fans to watch and more players to participate? Easy- give the fans more of a say and provide the players with more money.  And, it seems like that’s what MLB is planning on doing with their new “Election Day” and possible sweetening of the Home Run Derby pot.

Under this new idea (that would have to be agreed to by both the MLBPA and the league), players would be voted in online, just as they have in recent seasons.  What would change from that point is a cut off date where the top three players at each position would be taken from the online voting and placed on an online ballot for a special “Election Day.”

On that Election Day, fans would have one day to vote for who they want to start in the All-Star Game, with all the winners starting in the actual game.  The idea would be to generate similar interest in picking the actual All-Stars and then creating even more interest in electing the starters for the All-Star Game.

MLB has created more interest of late with the “Final Vote” that allows fans to choose the last All-Star spot out of five players; perhaps this Election Day is a way to add to that excitement.

The other possibility that could excite fans (specifically, fans of the long ball) is the chance of adding more to a monetary prize given out to the Home Run Derby winner.  With a bonus/prize awarded to the winner, baseball is hoping to have big named sluggers like Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton participate more regularly.

Many sluggers in recent years have chosen to forgo the Derby because they feel it hurts their swings or tires them out for the second half, but if there’s a million dollar prize, feelings might change.

While these ideas are good for baseball in general, they’re also exciting for Cubs’ fans because of the number of great young players playing on the Northside.  Javier Baez and Kyle Schwarber put on a show last year, with Schwarber going bomb for bomb with (former) hometown slugger Bryce Harper in the finals at Nationals Park in Washington D.C.

The sweetening of the pot might also entice guys like Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, or even Willson Contreras to participate.  And, ultimately, who doesn’t want to see these Cubs blast balls out of the park in a Home Run Derby?

With progress comes the need for change, and MLB is no different.  MLB is hoping that making some slight adaptations to their current system will enable more fan interaction and player interest. Going forward, that’s exactly what MLB needs.