On Tuesday night, Major League Baseball will play its 2017 All-Star Game at Marlins Park, located in Miami, Florida.
One wrinkle in this year's All-Star Game is that writers and fans will no longer be able to gripe that the league is using a meaningless exhibition to decide who will possess home-field advantage in the World Series. Rather, the stakes for the All-Star Game have been lowered -- to the extent that the difference between the winners and losers is a mere $20,000.
That's not necessarily a huge deal, at least as it pertains to whom will win the World Series, per USA Today:
It turned out that the home-field advantage proved to be of little significance. Just three World Series since 2003 went seven games, and the visiting team won in two of those years. It actually backfired for the Indians last year, considering that the Chicago Cubs were able to use Kyle Schwarber as the DH in Cleveland, winning three of four games on the road, including Game 7.
With no real incentive to win, the All-Star Game's managers are seemingly going to approach the Midsummer Classic with one main goal in mind: get everyone involved.
Both managers agree the All-Star Game is going to be a participation-trophy event. Said they want to get almost all the players in the game.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 10, 2017
Whether that makes for a more compelling All-Star Game than the now-ditched system ... well, that's up for debate. But this is the world we live in, and that's just how it's going to be.
