The MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday night came and went, as usual. Fans who attended the match or watched it at home enjoyed a tight match, a 3-2 victory in the American League, but not much else.
The first tickets were fun! Shohei Ohtani led the way with a single and then was comically chosen at first by Clayton Kershaw. The National League labeled AL starter Shane McClanahan for four hits and two runs at the bottom of the first (the curse of Rays Week rises again), and then the AL hit back in the top of the fourth inning with a back-to-home run by Byron Buxton and Giancarlo Stanton, who scored 3-2. And then that was … almost everything.
You could have turned off the game in the middle of the fourth inning and you won’t lose anything. Not really, not a single thing. The National League didn’t get another hit until the eighth inning, and the AL did nothing but splash three more singles during the remaining innings. The show did its best to keep things lively with a few microphone segments within the game, but nothing could hide the fact that this was an extremely boring baseball game.
I don’t want to sit here and take out of my ear some overly thoughtful thoughts about how this game was a microcosm of All That Ails Modern Baseball, in the same way I’m sure you don’t want to read it. Instead, I’ll point out a specific baseball trend that I think played the most important role in sucking all the juice out of this specific star game, and it’s the proliferation of absolutely weird bullpen arms.
It wasn’t long ago that a relief pitcher who could constantly throw the ball at about 100 mph and pair his heater with an elite throw or two, was a rare thing. Eric Gagne used to hit the side every two days with a fast 90s ball and a change of diving circle, and he became a real superstar for that. Now, basically, all the senior teams have at least one man you’ve probably never heard of, who could be Eric Gagne.
Starting with the fifth entry, last night’s All-Star Game was just a parade of these guys who came into the game to spend an absolutely chasing entry to some mid-level or lower level star like Santiago Espinal and Ty France. This parade of brick lifeguards featured people like Gregory Soto, Ryan Helsley, David Bednar and Devin Williams, all of whom left very little chance of solid contact. The last half of the game was basically this, repeating:
And then he ended up with Emmanuel Clase, who throws a 99 mph cutter, for God’s sake, hitting the side.
What the hell is poor Jake Cronenworth supposed to do with this?
To the extent that anything that happens in an All-Star Game can be really considered a “problem,” I’m not sure this is really a problem that can be solved. There are so many of these types of guys in the game right now, and unless the league wants to start limiting how many relievers can be put on a star list, there’s a good chance that the type of game we saw yesterday at the night will be played several more times in the future. I’m sure a lot of people would prefer an exhibition like this to feature a lot of dingers and extra-base hits, but the All-Star Game has always been less of an entertainment product than a showcase for the types of players to do in the sport. what it is right now. You may have heard that the starting pitcher is a dying race and it would be hard for you to argue the opposite after watching the back half of last night’s game.