Time for a change by Jared Carrabis
Thoughts on All Star Game determining home field in World Series, and new FOX infrared cameras


When I was in fifth grade, I had an assignment where I had to write a letter to an alien to help explain something that they might see on earth that might confuse them; I chose baseball.

Baseball is unlike any other sport in the sense that, well, it's just plainly unlike any other sport. Out of all the major sports here in America, it's the only sport where the defense has the ball, both teams aren't on the field/court/ice at the same time, there's no time limit, and once you're out, you can't come back in. There's two sets of rules for both leagues, and unlike any other sport, the dimensions of each home field vary based on where you play. And that's just to name a few major disparities from all other sports.

While watching Game 1 of the World Series tonight, I had to explain to someone why the team with the worse record had home field advantage in the Fall Classic. This is a Red Sox blog, so if you're reading this, I'm assuming that you're a fan with a team that is already in the offseason. You're reading this because you just plain love baseball, so you know why the Cardinals have home field advantage.

However, explaining that home field advantage is determined in the All Star game to someone who doesn't follow baseball draws just as baffling of a reaction as the diehard baseball fan. It's stupid, and it was never a good idea.

I understand that Bud Selig wanted to draw a greater audience to the MLB All Star Game by "making this one count", but that gimmick has run its course, if it ever had a course at all. The other motive for this was to get the big name players to actually want to show up and play in this thing, and if they do show up, to actually put on a show worth watching. Well, that hasn't really worked, either.

This year, in the 82nd All Star Game, an MLB record 84 players were named as All Stars, breaking the 2010 record of 82, as a result of players being named, and then backing out, only to have someone else take their spot. And in some cases, the replacements backed out to be replaced by someone else. It was ridiculous to say the least.

With a 162-game schedule, the season is just far too long, and teams have battled too hard to have the most important home field advantage decided in a silly game with back-up's back-ups playing against each other, while the real stars either sit on the bench, or watch from home.

Tonight, in front of their home crowd, the Cardinals took a 1-0 series lead against the Rangers in a well-played World Series game. However, there can't be one good game without a little critique or controversy.

With one out, Adrian Beltre fouled a ball off of his foot, which shot out towards third base, and an "out" was recorded. The human element of baseball always makes things interesting, but how many human errors can baseball endure before the course of baseball history is unjustifiably changed because of a missed call?

FOX introduced a new infrared camera, which clearly indicates if and where a baseball hits the bat or a player standing in the batter's box. My first reaction was that this is great. The technology that is being ushered into the game is fantastic, but what is the point of having it if the people who really need to see it aren't using it?

Now this obviously opens the floodgates and cries for instant replay and things of that nature, all while keeping in mind that the times of these games are an issue with keeping fans' interest. My issue is why bother showing the fans these mistakes only to create aggravation and to show umpires where they screwed up when it's too late to do anything about it?

There have been some rumblings of expanding the playoffs by adding another Wild Card team to each league, and maybe some extra replay. But what good is talking about it when the Rangers and Cardinals could use it right now, especially when we have it ready to go?

I look up and notice that the last four paragraphs of this post have ended in question marks, so in closing, I'll add one more. How long do we have to wait before MLB swallows their pride and adds one more umpire whose responsibility is to sit in front of a TV, just like in the NHL, and relay the correct call down to the umpiring crew down on the field? It saves the time that it takes the umpires to huddle up, decide that they're going to review it, head down into the tunnel, review the film, and come up with the right call.

It's a pretty simple concept, and it's baffling that something like that hasn't been instituted yet. If you won't do it for the fans, at least do it for the potential aliens who have no idea what is going on. Get it right for them, so I don't have to explain it to them afterwards.

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Published on October 19, 2011

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