The problem, but not the solution for MLB’s All-Star game

If there’s one word I’d use to describe tonight’s All-Star game, it would be forgettable.

Eleven different American League pitchers joined forces to shut out the National League without a single one of them recording more than three outs. Combined, the two teams used 20 different pitchers, and 19 of them only allowed one run as a collective unit while striking out 27 guys and walking just two. Can you feel the excitement?

The lone exception to the pitching dominance was National League starter and local Philadelphia hero Cristopher Sanchez, who after not allowing a single run over the entire month of May (spanning five starts and 39 innings), has now allowed 24 earned runs over his last seven starts, including three in the first inning of this All-Star game tonight.

All of this brings us to the problem with the All-Star game in the modern age. The worst version of MLB’s product is a bullpen game where a bunch of really effective relivers line up like a parade while one or two guys crack and allow all the scoring. And unfortunately, not only is the All-Star game the perfect formula to create exactly that unsatisfying dynamic, but it’s almost worse than when it happens in a regular game because most of these guys in the early and middle innings are normally starters. So the result is you never get to see any player do what truly makes them entertaining in a normal setting, and it all happens on a night that’s supposed to showcase exactly that wow factor.

Think about it:

• The starters don’t pitch deep, so despite being really good for one inning, they can’t wow you with a full outing.
• The hitters can’t hit the excellent and ever changing pitching.
• The great defense gets few chances to show off because the ball hardly ever goes in play.
• And tonight, with the score ending 4-0, the great relievers didn’t get to pitch in a close game and do their thing with a result on the line.

I don’t know about you, but if I were trying to introduce a new fan to baseball, I’d keep them far away from the television on a night like this. (Unless it was during this Ernie Clement web gem, which was one of the only occasions where a great defender got a chance to make a great play.)

Meanwhile, Cody Bellinger was given the MVP, which is a total joke given the entire reason the AL won this game is because the parade of pitchers was unhittable. But again, that kind of underscores the problem with the All-Star game. When you create an event that’s completely dominated by great pitchers in short spurts, there’s both too many of them to give the MVP to individually, and not really any offensive player who deserves it because a guy like Bellinger just happened to be up with men on base when the one pitcher cracked. I mean, if the guy you’re honoring at the end of the night went 1-3 with a first inning single, you know the game probably sucked.

As far as Red Sox related news from this game goes, the list is again forgettable. Sonny Gray wasn’t invited despite his excellent first half, Ranger Suarez is injured and couldn’t pitch, and Willson Contreras and Ceddanne Rafaela didn’t start. Even Aroldis Chapman, who was brought into the game at 4-0 to pitch the ninth, was only allowed to get the first two men he faced before being pulled for Bryan Baker to get the final out. Again, unsatisfying and not a great showcase of a guy getting to fully do his thing.

Rafaela and Contreras meanwhile did make it into the game in the middle innings, but Rafaela went 0-2 without getting a real chance to display his amazing glovework. Contreras did get a two out single in his only at bat in the sixth, but was quickly stranded there on a Randy Arozarena groundout.

Anyway, enough of that. Let’s get back to the real matter at hand, which resumes Friday at 1:35pm at Fenway Park when the Sox host the Rays to kick off both a doubleheader, and a ten game homestand. Can’t wait!