Perhaps the primary virtue of the MLB All-Star Game is that every team gets a player.
There’s an argument that this is silly, that it waters down the event, that no one guy should have an easier path just because of the quality of his team. But statistical integrity has never been the point of the All-Star Game. (If it were, the starters would be decided by sorting a leaderboard, not organizing a fan election.) The game is more concerned with capturing a breadth of achievement across the league. And there’s something lovely about the fact that any kid, anywhere, can turn on the game and see a player from their favorite club. Maybe that player is sitting on the end of the bench, or tucked in the back of the bullpen, but he’s there all the same. Not every team deserves a starter. But every team deserves a representative.
And they should all be wearing their own team uniforms.
