2017 All-Star Game Thread

For years, All-Star games have had concrete consequences affixed to their result: the winner of the All-Star Game would have home field advantage in the World Series. This matters more often than you would think, and it’s how the fateful Game Seven of the 2014 World Series was played in Kansas City.

This year, that decision is no more. Like a normal league, the championship series home field advantage will be decided by who has the best regular season record.

This is probably a good thing. It means no hand-wringing about grooving fastballs to Derek Jeter, ol’ fashioned ballot stuffing, or cries about who got snubbed. Sure, there might be complaining about any of those things, but it won’t be because the game itself matters in the long run, but because those things are or aren’t fun.

Tonight, we get to watch Kansas City Royals All-Stars Jason Vargas, Mike Moustakas, and Salvador Perez sharing a field with Jose Altuve, Craig Kimbrel, and Aaron Judge, among others. That’s enough for me.