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Wednesday July.17/2013

It was the Mariano Rivera show last night. Not only does this man have a sparkling 0.70 ERA in 142 IP in the Post Season for his Career – you can now add 9 Scoreless Innings, 4 Saves and a Hold (courtesy of last night) to his ALL – Star Resume. The last man to wear #42 –  also won the MVP for the ALL – Star Game in his last Appearance ever at the Mid Summers’Classic.

By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024

Talking with my better half yesterday (and she is not a hardcore but casual baseball fan), she asked me a little bit more about the ALL – Star Game.  I eventually went onto telling her about how the winning team receives home field advantage in the World Series.

I have done some digging.  The results are in.

I may make an argument that winning the ALL – Star Game might actually be a bad thing.  Not so much for hosting Game #7, because there has only been one Game #7 since its implementation, however that the fans of the winning club in the ALL – Star Game – have actually seen less home games in the last 10 years.  The odds actually point to the winning team playing less games in the Series.

Since the implementation of the “This Game Will mean something again?” there have been 10 World Series played.

The American League won last night game 3 – 0 to secure home field advantage in a 2 – 3 – 2 Series Format for the 2013 World Series.. I think they should amend this format to have it 3 – 3 – 1. Having the Non – Home Field Advantage club be able to split the 1st 2 games away – and then sweep the next 3 at home is ludicrous.

Now while the team winning the ALL – Star Game is 7 -3 overall in the World Series itself (on the heels of a 4 game winning streak), only 1 team has actually had to use Game #7 for home field advantage.  That was the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals.

There have been 4 Sweeps, 3 series ended in 5 games, 2 series in 6 games, and only one in 7 games.

In 2003, the Yankees had the best record and they both played 3 games in each others field.

In 2004, Each club played 2 games each in their home park.

In 2005, Each club played 2 games each in their home park.

In 2006, Detroit had home advantage – but were split by the Cards in Detroit, before St. Louis swept them in The Show Me State!

In 2007, Boston and Colorado hosted 2 games each.

In 2008, Philadelphia split in Tampa Bay, before sweeping once they arrived back at CBP.

In 2009, both teams hosted 3 games each – and the Yankees Won.

In 2010, San Francisco won the 1st 2 games at AT N T Park – before taking the next 2 of 3 in Texas.

In 2011, the Cards used the home field advantage to take down the Texas Rangers.  This would be the only Series in which the home field advantage was completely used and advantagious.  The Cards won Games #6 and #7 in St. Louis.  The question I have is: Would they have been in this position if the Series were different from a 2 – 3 – 2 system?

In 2012, the Giants swept Detroit and both cities hosted 2 games.

So far the 10 winning teams of the ALL – Star Game have hostedjust 24 Games, and the losers have hosted 26.  The Winner of The ALL – Star game record is 7 -3 for the World Series – but only one of the Series went to 7.

8 out of the 10 years, the team with the best Record in the World Series, had their League also win the ALL – Star Game.  The only two instances were the 2004 Boston Red Sox had a worse record than the Cards, but were helped by an AL ALL – Star win.  In 2011, the Rangers had a better record than the Cards, but the NL won the ALL – Star Game.

Their is only a 20% chance that the series will go 7 Games anyway, which means that this game should only matter once every 5 years.  The real thing I learned out of this study, is that the home advantage team netted a 31 – 19 record in the World Series games. However, they only hosted 24 out of the 50 Games played.

Hey Baseball, even with the AL taking the NL out with a 3 – 0 win last night, the game won’t count unless the series goes 7.  In fact, chances are the series will have the AL team play less home games than the NL team – and how exactly should that please the AL fans right now?  Maybe you should go back to the drawing board again on this one again?

The 2 – 3 – 2 format in the World Series is extremely stupid in my view. While the ALL – Star winning team has gone 31 – 19 during the last 50 World Series Games, they have had to play 26 games on the road – versus just 24 at home. Even with shared ticket revenues for the Series among teams, why should the team with Homefield Advantage be penalized for winning a Series in 5 games – by only playing 2 of them at home!  For the ALL – Star Team to have more games at home for the Series, it must go 7 – the far unlikeliest scenario.  The Loser of the ALL – Star Game has a better chance it goes 5.

** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com or their partners.***

Chuck Booth – Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner and author of the Fastest 30 Ballgames:   To learn more about my  “The Fastest 30 Ballgames Book” and how to purchase it, click here .

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