MLB All Star Game

We're just a week away from the Midsummer Classic, which, despite the bastardization of the game by Bud Selig, remains a "must-see" on the sporting calendar. Unfortunately, due to roster limitations and obligations, not all of baseball's finest get the opportunity to participate in the all-star spectacle. This has spawned the concept of the inaugural Whatifsports.com 2010 Fantasy All-Star rosters . Our selection committee was given two simple guidelines when constructing the starting lineups for both leagues:

1. Let the numbers speak for themselves.

The selection of mediocre ninth-inning reliever Matt Capps to the All-Star Game neatly sums up all the major reasons I get annoyed with the whole thing.

First, I really try not to care that much. After all, it's such an obviously flawed process that it seems kinda pointless to fret over each individual misjudgment. Besides, it's just an exhibition. Oh, wait, it's not just an exhibition anymore, is it? Since the All-Star Game determines home field in the World Series, now I'm compelled to care.

Every year, fans and writers bellyache over the MLB All-Star Game rosters. They complain that the teams are made up of fan favorites rather than rosters full of deserving league leaders. 

I am here to say, stop it!

Not only is this an issue each and every year, but it doesn't matter. The All-Star game serves the purpose of entertaining the fans. Period.

Unless you're new to Major League Baseball, you know the American League has been unbeatable against the National League in the All-Star Game for the last 13 years.

Excluding the 2002 contest that ended in a tie and featured the infamous Bud Selig shrug, the Junior Circuit has won every game since being shutout in 1996.

Obviously, a 12-game winning streak that spans over a decade has a litany of explanations. For example, the AL has been quite a bit stronger at times during the run and Lady Luck has played her role as she always does on the diamond.

First off, let me preface the rest of this post by saying that I am vehemently opposed to requiring that each team have a representative in the MLB All-Star game.

You can't please everybody.

That is, unless you picked the most deserving players.

With the MLB All-Star Game just around the corner (July 13), lineups were announced today on TBS.

National League mainstays like David Wright and Hanley Ramirez were voted in by the fans, while the rest were left up to their fellow peers and Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie Manuel.

There are questionable players on the roster and, with that, deserving guys who didn't make the list of 34.

In less than two weeks, the 81st MLB All Star game will be played. In recent years the voting has been a little one sided to a few teams players starting and only a few divisions being represented by starting rosters. This years voting so far, has been pretty much the same, especially in the American League where the Red Sox, Yankees, and Twins players dominate.

As all baseball fans know, they get to vote every year for the players they want represented to start in the Midsummer Classic.

Unfortunately, most fans get the selections wrong and many undeserving players are selected to start in the All-Star game.

My list for the 2010 NL All-Star starters is based on what these players did for their teams in the first half of the season and the stats that back up their claim.

It sounds funny, doesn't it?

Chase Utley is being challenged for the starting job at second base for this year’s National League All-Star team.

Up until this year, that was a preposterous thought, but seemingly out of the woodwork.

Are you a Red Sox or Rays fan who wants to ensure that your team will have the home field advantage if they make the World Series?

Do you want to see the National League go home empty-handed at the Midsummer Classic for the 14th year in a row?

Are you a sadistic sociopath who likes messing with people for the pure schadenfreude?

If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, you might want to reconsider how you fill out your All-Star ballot.

If you truly want to see the best players in baseball duke it out on July 13, then by all means vote for the superstars.