Your Favorite Sport's All-Star Game Sucks

The differences between teams raised the stakes, but now they’re gone.

Hello and welcome to another edition of Free Agent! Maybe it's time to think about a career change?

I just got back from vacation, so this week's newsletter is shorter than usual. We'll be back next week with your regularly scheduled programming.

Locker Room Links

• "The state of Ohio intends to steal over a billion dollars in private property from its citizens and pour it into the pockets of [Cleveland Browns owner] Jimmy Haslam."
• Cheerleading is becoming a full-fledged NCAA sport (technically as "acrobatics & tumbling" and "stunt").
• The major players unions don't want college sports to get an antitrust exemption.
• If the NCAA expands March Madness again, my eyes might bounce out of my head.
• President Donald Trump joined Chelsea players onstage for the Club World Cup trophy lift.
• Elsewhere in Reason: "There's Probably No 'Smoking Gun' in the JFK or Epstein Cases. We Should Be Allowed To Look Anyway."
• The umpires still counted this as a home run because apparently nothing matters at the Home Run Derby. (Congratulations to Cal Raleigh, who won anyway and is having an absolutely insane season.)
  

  KIDS ARE ROBBING HOME RUNS IN THE DERBYpic.twitter.com/bcdQ8tbGAh

  — Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) July 15, 2025

All the Stars, None of the Stakes

Your favorite sport's All-Star Game sucks—because they all suck. But because the MLB All-Star Game is Tuesday night, we'll start there.

Perhaps I'm falling victim to nostalgia here (as baseball fans often do!) but the MLB All-Star Game used to mean something, because the distinction between National League and American League used to mean something.

The two leagues had slightly different rules, with one having a designated hitter and one not, which affected the game in more strategic ways than one spot in the lineup. Interleague play was rare, but the rarity also made it a treat. Because the leagues felt so different, the All-Star Game felt like a clash of civilizations—fans could watch with fervor because the American League way of life was better than the National League way of life and dang it, the boys needed to prove that on the field once a year. That clash is why Ichiro's legendary expletive-laden locker room rants against the National League could make a difference.

But no more.

The two leagues play under the same rules. They play against each other throughout the season, and so often that interleague play is hardly of note anymore. Baseball is homogeneous.

There are some advantages to these changes, to be fair. Under the new scheduling system, every team in baseball is guaranteed to host a giant ticket-seller from the other league, like the Yankees or the Dodgers, every other year. (I'm certainly glad my Tigers now come to Washington, D.C., for a series every other season instead of the seven-year gap I got from 2016 to 2023.)

But the MLB All-Star Game, the best all-star game in all of sports, has been a victim of the league's shift toward uniformity between the American League and National League. Do you really care that much about your favorite league beating the other one, or do you just want to see your favorite team's players do well?

In the good old days, whenever someone would start up the designated hitter debate, I'd say I preferred having it but that I also liked baseball's weird way of having it in one league and not the other. I also didn't mind when the All-Star Game raised the stakes and set home-field advantage for the World Series. But now I mainly watch just to see how the Tigers represent the team on the national stage, and the final result doesn't feel like it matters much. Maybe one day the MLB All-Star Game will feel like a clash of civilizations again.

The other major all-star games hardly feel worth mentioning. The NFL Pro Bowl isn't even playing real football anymore. The NHL wisely replaced its boring All-Star Game with an international competition that was a massive success, inspiring the NBA to change its All-Star Game to a U.S. versus the world format. All in all, the old conference versus conference format isn't working, and the only thing keeping it in MLB is the history of pitting the National League against the American League. That counts for something, to be sure, but the appeal of that won't last forever.

Got thoughts or ideas for new all-star formats in any of the sports? Let's chat about them. Send them my way at [e-mail].

Bogey

I really wish I could recommend the Apple TV+ show Stick. It's got Owen Wilson, Marc Maron, and cameos from some pretty famous pro golfers! Plus, the show started to come out amid my rising interest in playing and watching golf.

But for all the comedic acting heft, the show's just not very good. The writing is pretty bland, and I've rarely laughed out loud at the jokes (mainly intergenerational) or felt a lot of suspense waiting for the next episode. The plot is nice and compelling enough to keep me watching—but I'm a sucker for finishing a story that I've started, even when it's not quite up to par.

Replay of the Week

Need Churchill Downs to add this to Kentucky Derby weekend.

JOCKEY RACE IN PERU

ANDDDD THEY'RE OFF!!
(This appears to be 3 weeks ago) pic.twitter.com/IUGQUSYPfc

— Sickos Committee (@SickosCommittee) July 13, 2025

That's all for this week. Enjoy watching the real event of the week, fishing's Oak Bluffs Bluewater Classic.

Comments

[Chumby]

Sportsball is the opiate of the fat asses.

[Iwanna Newname]

Blaséball.

[Mickey Rat]

The American League was playing under beer league rules. Less serious, less professional, less strategic. Sizzle over steak.

The DH delenda est.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

I haven't followed sportsball in ages. The disillusionment started as a kid when the SF Giants traded away Willie Mays and Willie McCovey, and I realized they were just businesses; I cared about individual players, but never again for any teams.

I cared about baseball longer than the others. Basketball just went on and on, running back and forth and shooting hoops, and soccer was the same but opposite, running back and forth with no scoring. Football was only fun in slow motion replays with ballet music. Hockey was nowhere near me. What I appreciated about baseball was the combination of individual batter vs pitcher with the team work of trying to throw runners out, and the fact that aside from changing pitchers, generally everyone played all the time. If a player was replaced for tactical reasons, he didn't come back later.

The designated hitter ruined that. It smacks of football, where one player is offense only, and another player is defense only.

TFA says there's routine AL vs NL play now. I didn't even know that, to show how long since I paid attention.

/ramble on and on

[Mickey Rat]

The lack of distinction between the Leagues is even worse. For some reason the Milwaukee Brewers and Houston Astros changed leagues several years ago (Brewers to the NL, Astros to the AL).

[Alan Vanneman]

It's "funny" for a true geezer like myself to read this, because I remember when there were two leagues with eight teams each, no playoffs and no interleague play at all except the World Series, not to mention no DH and no helmets or other protective except for the catcher. And in the really old days all the Series games were played in the day, in God's own sunlight, the way He intended.

[Dillinger]

my old-guy baseball leagues are Saturday mornings like when I was 13 ... and the sun still feels the same ... it's therapy.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

I've only been to three baseball stadiums, Oakland and Candlestick south of SF. Both sucked. Went to one at the new SF downtown stadium, and that was excellent. But my favorite was walking through a city park and coming across some semi-pro game. Sit down, watch for a couple of innings, eat a sandwich, and meander away. It was a fine way to spend the time.

[Dillinger]

my pops is in Danville I go out once/twice a season to see Giants games with him & golf ... the new(er) place is a hoot

[Dillinger]

what was really cool was the Old-Timers' Game they used to play ... so when I'm like 9 years old I'm watching Walter Alston pitch at like 70 striking out Hall of Famers ... and someone maybe Hank Greenberg homering ... those were a hoot

[CE]

The NBA had an old timers game, too -- until guys started blowing out their knees.

[Dillinger]

I can still feel Dominique Wilkins blowing out his achilles.

[CE]

It wasn't just the differences between the leagues that made all star games better in the past. The NBA had a much better all star game 30 years ago than it does now, and they all played in the same league. The difference is the players used to care, and treated the games like a big deal. Now they are treated as joke exhibition games.

In baseball they expanded the rosters so every team gets a participation trophy, and guys play one inning or one or two at-bats. The teams used to play the biggest stars for most of the game, and give the bench players brief appearances, if any.

In basketball they used to have real games and try to win. Players like Jordan and Bird and Magic didn't let guys goof off. Now playing defense is frowned upon, and guys just jack up ridiculous shots, hoping they make one.

Part of this is due to overexposure on TV. We used to get a few games a week, and rarely see some teams and some star players. Part of it is due to exploding salaries. When you make 1M a year, the game is a fun chance to find out who is the best of the best. When you make 50M a year, the game is a nuisance.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Cito (Gaston) still sucks!

[Dillinger]

forever.

[Rick James]

Perhaps I'm falling victim to nostalgia here (as baseball fans often do!) but the MLB All-Star Game used to mean something, because the distinction between National League and American League used to mean something.

It's like a Reason writer went to France to take in the sites of Mosques, great Falafels and hookah lounges and then wondered why something seemed off.

[Rick James]

Donald Trump: The Designated Hitler. Prove me wrong.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Maybe, unlike Bush, Trump didn't fall for the Curveball.

[Chumby]

Any update on what happened to Dinger?

[Iwanna Newname]

Even the world series, which used to match the best teams of the separate leagues, has turned into a watered down, end of the season tournament, where a fifth place team can claim "world champ".