The Home Field Controversy
By Erik Haan
Major League Baseball may be on the brink of another controversy.
While a scintillating postseason has put on the back burner talk of steroid use among baseball's elite, people may soon be discussing again the significance of the All-Star Game deciding home field advantage in
the World Series.
The problem arises if the St. Louis Cardinals win Thursday's Game 7 of the NLCS. They were owners of baseball's best overall record (105-57) and third-best home mark (53-28). They finished behind only the New
York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox in that category. Should the Cards make it, it would mark the first time the team with the best record in baseball did not have a home field advantage in the World Series.
Some say home field advantage is overrated. After all, the Red Sox just clinched the American League pennant after taking two straight at Yankee Stadium. And the Cardinals were far from being slouches away from home, as they did almost as well on the road (52-29) as they did at Busch Stadium.
But the unfairness may arise with the Red Sox being granted a home field advantage after finishing with seven fewer wins and having a much worse road record (43-38) than home mark (55-26).
Finishing a season with a league's best record has only limited advantages now. While it provides the best of each league home field advantage through the League Championship Series, home field is now
determined by other players playing on other teams, many of whom know the outcome of the All-Star Game may have no bearing on their own team because many teams are already out of the race by the season's midpoint.
The Cardinals, should they win the NL pennant, would certainly be the beneficiaries of a home field advantage. Coming home to Busch sure must have been nice after losing three straight to the Astros at Minute Maid Park. And the Cardinals earned that right through amazing regular season play. They deserved the right to have the final two games of any series at their place.
Allowing an exhibition game, which is not managed like a playoff game, to determine who will have an advantage in the World Series is ridiculous.
Why play that hard for a full season? The current All-Star Game format, while good for TV ratings, creates an air of underachievement.
Playing 162 games is a grind. Winning 100 of those is even harder and deserves its rewards.
But tell me...Why would a team want to fight and scratch and claw to make that mark if it does not provide ANY advantage when the chips are down?
Sources: Information from MLB.com was used in this column
