Selig Needs To Leave the All-Star Game Alone

There is a great article today on Yahoo Sports about how MLB needs to reverse the changes its made to the All-Star game over the years so that this special event can be special once again.

Just to summarize, here are a few of the ideas the author had:

• Eliminate the Home-Field Advantage in the World Series for the Winning Conference - why does this make sense to anyone? Football selects the site for their Super Bowl years in advance, and rarely does a team play on its home field.  In the NBA and NHL, the team with the best record left in the playoffs gets home-field advantage.  Why in the world is baseball different? 
• Give Players a Bonus For Playing In the Game:  The NFL tries to lure players to play in the post-season all-star game by paying them a bonus.  It works in some cases, but not in all.  The MLB should look into giving the guys that play a bonus for being there.  Granted, for a player like A-Rod, that's just a drop in the bucket, but for some other players that could be a very good incentive and a nice thank you.
• Start the All-Star Game Earlier:  Right now, the game is set to start next Tuesday at 8:50 p.m EST.  Again, for comparison...the NFL Pro Bowl starts at 7 p.m. EST; the NBA All-Star game starts at 8 p.m. EST ; and the NHL All-Star game starts at 2 p.m EST; Baseball has a very nasty habit of starting its games later, especially for the World Series.  However, this does a great disservice to its fans, especially the younger ones.

There are more points in the Yahoo article, and I would encourage you to go read it.  Ultimately, the All-Star game, like all All-Star games, should simply be an exhibition.