It Counts, But Nobody Cares

Since 2003 the All-Star game has counted, and the winning league gets home-field advantage. A completely idiotic attempt by Bud Selig to make the game more interesting by instituting a dumb new rule. In that time, the game has seen some of its worst ratings. This year, it hit rock-bottom with a 7.5, the lowest rated All-Star game ever.

Here's breakdown of the ratings over the last 14 years from The Biz of Baseball. I've put the games that "counted" in bold.

'10	Fox	Anaheim	7.5
'09	Fox	St. Louis	8.9
'08	Fox	N.Y.*	8.6
'07	Fox	S.F.	8.4
'06	Fox	Pittsburgh	9.3
'05	Fox	Detroit	8.1
'04	Fox	Houston	8.8
'03	Fox	Chicago	9.5
'02	Fox	Milwaukee	9.5
'01	Fox	Seattle	11.0
'00	NBC	Atlanta	10.1
'99	Fox	Boston	12.0
'98	NBC	Denver	13.3
'97	Fox	Cleveland	11.8

Congrats Bud, not only does your rule suck from a baseball standpoint, but it's not helping the ratings either.

A-Rod Sat Out ASG Due to an Injured Thumb

A few of you have emailed me about this, so here's your answer from the NY Post:

A sore right thumb appears to have kept Alex Rodriguez in the dugout during Tuesday’s All-Star Game.

SI.com first reported the thumb was the reason Joe Girardi did not insert Rodriguez into the game in Anaheim, Calif.

A team source confirmed to The Post that Rodriguez has a “slight bone bruise” on or near the thumb. The source said it is not serious and Rodriguez will play Friday night when the Yankees open the second half against the Rays. The source also said it is something that crops up from time to time with Rodriguez and rest helps it.

According to Wallace Matthews, Brian Cashman said that the thumb was not the reason that he sat out, but that it has in fact been bothering him over the last few days.

"It's not even worth talking about," said Cashman, reached on his cell phone after he attended a wake on Long Island for Bob Sheppard, the longtime Yankees announcer who died Sunday at 99.

"I called Girardi and he said the thumb's been bothering [Rodriguez] for the past couple of days, but not the point not to play him. It had nothing to do with him not using him in the game. That was strictly [Girardi's] decision."

Sorry, Cash, but I find it hard to believe that the thumb wasn't part of that decision.

Does Home-field Advantage Matter?

After watching Joe Girardi opt to go with Adrian Beltre and Ian Kinsler instead of Alex Rodriguez last night, I had to ask myself a few questions. The first of which was, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!”. The second question, after the game had ended, was whether or not home-field advantage really mattered. For this, I will break down the World Series matchups of the past 50 years to take a closer look.

Below, I have compiled a chart that has the last 30 World Series that have gone six games or longer. This way, we’ll know whether or not home-field advantage has worked in favor of a team or not. To explain the chart more fully, please listen. The first 3 columns are pretty self-explanatory. They represent: Year of the World Series, who won the World Series that year and who lost. The game tally is how many games were played for the World Series (max is seven, obviously). The next column asks whether or not the World Series champion had home-field advantage. The last column is the record of the team that had home-field advantage. The last column shows the record of the team with home-field advantage in those games 6 and 7.

For example; the Yankees defeated the Phillies in the 2009 World Series in six games. The Yankees had home-field advantage and they went 2-1 at Yankee Stadium during the series. The Yankees won Game 6.

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	Game Tally	Did winner have HF?	Record of team with HF	Record of team with HF advantage in games 6/7
2009	Yankees	Phillies	6	Yes	2-1	1-0
2003	Marlins	Yankees	6	No	1-2	0-1
2001	Diamondbacks	Yankees	7	Yes	4-0	2-0
1997	Marlins	Indians	7	Yes	2-2	1-1
1996	Yankees	Braves	6	Yes	1-2	1-0
1995	Braves	Indians	6	Yes	3-0	1-0
1993	Blue Jays	Phillies	6	Yes	2-1	1-0
1992	Blue Jays	Braves	6	No	1-2	0-1
1992	Twins	Braves	7	Yes	4-0	2-0
1987	Twins	Cardinals	7	Yes	4-0	2-0
1986	Mets	Red Sox	7	Yes	2-2	2-0
1985	Royals	Cardinals	7	Yes	2-2	2-0
1981	Dodgers	Yankees	6	No	2-1	0-1
1980	Phillies	Royals	6	Yes	3-0	1-0
1979	Pirates	Orioles	7	No	1-3	0-2
1978	Yankees	Dodgers	6	No	2-1	0-1
1977	Yankees	Dodgers	6	Yes	2-1	1-0
1975	Reds	Red Sox	7	No	2-2	1-1
1973	Athletics	Mets	7	Yes	3-1	2-0
1972	Athletics	Reds	7	No	1-3	1-1
1971	Orioles	Pirates	7	No	3-1	1-1
1968	Tigers	Cardinals	7	No	1-3	0-2
1967	Cardinals	Red Sox	7	No	2-2	1-1
1965	Dodgers	Twins	7	No	3-1	1-1
1964	Cardinals	Yankees	7	Yes	2-2	1-1
1962	Yankees	Giants	7	No	2-2	1-1
1960	Pirates	Yankees	7	Yes	2-2	1-1
1959	Dodgers	White Sox	6	No	1-2	0-1
1958	Yankees	Braves	7	No	2-2	0-2
1957	Braves	Yankees	7	No	2-2	1-1

Now, what exactly is the meaning of all this? Well, take a close look at the column labeled “Winner had home-field?” The winner of the past 30 World Series’ that have gone six games or longer has had home-field advantage in exactly 15 of them. That means that in the other 15 World Series, the team that didn’t have home-field advantage stole the show on the road.

The one vibe I get out of this chart is that it’s very trendy. More recently (1985-2009), in the past 12 World Series that have gone six games or longer, the team with home-field advantage has emerged victorious 10 times. Whereas between 1957 and 1972, home-field teams have fallen 9 of 11 times. Should we be worried that the current trend will continue? Time will tell.

I’m sure there are other, more advanced ways of breaking this down. However, this data does prove that home-field advantage does not entirely tip the balance in favor of that team. When it’s all said and done, I would still take home-field advantage any day. It’s a much better feeling knowing that one’s team has the home crowd and atmosphere behind them in the make or break games 6 and 7.

If the Yankees return to the World Series for the 41^st time this year, let’s hope they can take it at home in game 4 or 5.