The Major League All-Star Game will be played July 14th in Cincinnati. The All-Star Game winner determines which league will have home field advantage for the World Series. It’s the only All-Star Game in the four major sports where this occurs. Fans can vote for their favorite players. This decides which players will start in the All-Star Game and can be done online at MLB.com. Voting will end on July 2nd. Major League Baseball canceled 63 million votes this past weekend because of the number of Kansas City Royals players who are leading the votes. MLB is worried about improper voting practices. Is this really a big deal?
The All-Star Game is for the fans’ entertainment. There are many events for them to attend. These include Fan Fest, MLB Legends and Celebrity Softball game, Homerun Derby, and the All-Star Game.
CEO of MLB, Advanced Media, Bob Bowman explained the reasoning behind canceling the votes. He said, “I’m not saying we bat 1.000. But it’s between 60 and 65 million votes that have been canceled. We don’t really trumpet it because if someone thinks they’re getting away with it, they’ll try to again.”
Major League Baseball went overboard with this. The fans vote. The vote is how we determine who is on each team. This has been going on for years. The problem is not the fans, it’s how many times they can vote. They are allowed to vote up to 35 times on MLB.com. They can also receive a ballot on their mobile phone. In reality, they could vote 36 times. How is this at all the fans’ fault?
Derek Harvey from Foxsports.com has one way of changing the system. He suggests that we could have a mix of managers, players, and fans pick the teams. Not a bad idea. These athletes could select the best players who they play with or against. Managers see these ball players a lot throughout the course of an MLB season. MLB should also keep the fan vote.
How should MLB deal with the voting of the All-Star Game?
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