The 2011 MLB All-Star Game: Um, it Could Be Better

Baseball fans, we have a problem. And it has nothing to do with Hall of Fame voting, steroids, payroll imbalances, or the Kansas City Royals looking at Pittsburgh and taking hope from something the Pirates are doing.

No, it revolves much more around star power and the All-Star game (you might have heard of this issue lately).

Check this list out:

Felix Hernandez (8-7 record, 3.19 ERA, 1.15 WHIP)
Justin Verlander (12-4, 2.15 ERA, 0.87 WHIP)
James Shields (8-7, 2.33 ERA, 0.96 WHIP)
CC Sabathia (13-4, 2.72 ERA, 1.16 WHIP)
David Price (8-7, 3.70 ERA, 1.09 WHIP)
Jon Lester (10-4, 3.31 ERA, 1.21 WHIP)

These six pitchers combined have a 59-33 record, an ERA of 2.87*, and a WHIP hovering just under 1.10.

And none of them are playing. Lester is on the disabled list, so he's excused. Four of the five pitched two days before the AS game, so they're ineligible by rule. In other words, the American League will collectively battle for home-field advantage in the World Series without many of the best it has to offer on the mound.

The National League hasn't been effected nearly as much, though there has been plenty of debate as to which players deserved to make the team, such as San Francisco skipper Bruce Bochy's selections.

Has this All-Star game, which has end-of-year consequences, ever felt so worthless before? Between the quality of players we'll see on the field and the sheer number of All-Star selections, something just feels wrong about what was once the grandest exhibition in the land.

Overall, according to The Common Man and Bill of the ESPN SweetSpot Blog network, 12.3% of players with more than 100 at-bats or at least 20 innings pitched have made an All-Star roster. They also went on to say this isn't the highest ratio of players in history by a fair margin. So this year, on the surface, isn't as bad as most would seem to say.

And yet, if baseball wants to give the fairest fight for World Series home-field advantage, something needs to be done. Players on playoff contenders have skipped out, proving they don't care. Some of the best pitchers in baseball can't pitch, because they were busy finishing the first part of the season on the mound.

Whether it's changing the way home field advantage is awarded (better overall record, Bud Selig?) or providing a longer break for the All-Star game so every worthy player is available, the product we will witness on the field for the 2011 version of baseball's star-studded display could be better.

And in the end, isn't the customer the one baseball is catering to?

*Combined ERA calculated by rounding the innings pitched down (for instance, if it was 142.2 IP listed, it counted as 142.0)