How about Adam “Blinky” Jones?

But as long as this exhibition game ‘counts’ it’s gonna happen.

Bryz #69: MLB claims that they can not wait until possibly only a few days before Game 1 of WS to know where that game is to be played. By MLB knowing now that the AL will once again host Games 1&2 and the NL will host 3&4 (and possibly 5) so many of the headaches of hotel rooms, stadium availability, party accomodations etc are whittled down to only 2 cities per league by the start of the LCS of each league.

One could argue that it makes little difference but MLB has been doing this for a very long time and they know that limiting the possibilities of cities, dates, etc is the best way for them to proceed. Consider the scenario where a 95 win Tampa team wins the ALCS on Tues eve and a a 96 win Philly team is playing a 93 win Dodger team in their Game 7of NLCS on Wed eve. We do not know if Tampa is hosting Games 1&2 of WS (Sat & Sun) or Games 3-4 until after the NLCS series is decided. It really becomes a mess in last minute arrangements. It is rough enough as it is but knowing what league is hosting Games 1&2 prior to the playoffs helps considerably.

Let each team’s regular season record determine home field advantage. Sure, there may be a team that wins it even though they beat up on weak teams, but as someone above mentioned, a 93 win AL team is probably better than a 95 win NL team. Unfortunately if they both have the same number of wins, then we’d be dealing with some tiebreakers. At least a coin flip wouldn’t be used…

Unless the overall interleague record is being used, I don’t think an individual team’s interleague record should decide HFA. Using only 18 games is too small of a sample size to decide the biggest games of the year, especially when those 18 come against a single division and that team’s “natural rival.”

If the game really matters, Teixiera should have gotten 4 ABs for the AL. You could have let Aaron Hill (for example – he was the 8th hitter, so you assume he’s the worst hitting starter – but still an awesome player) get one AB, then pinch hit one of your guys on the bench that you don’t really want to have – say Andruw Jones. Insert Zobrist to play second. Get him one AB. Pinch hit someone else (say, Brandon Inge). Leave Inge in and move Michael Young to second. You’ve gotten four guys in the game without having to pull Teixiera or Young to do it. Notice you also save your big guns to pinch hit in the right spots, etc, and if the game goes in to extra innings, your number 4 hitter is still Teixiera. It’s not like I am being brilliant here – someone did this, and these guys could learn from it.

I’m for anything that prompts discussion about baseball history and honors the greats of the game – however flawed.