Why the MLB All-Star break is the best

The Mid-Summer Classic is one of the events of the MLB season, and for years it has reigned as the best All-Star break in any of the American Sports. Tonight, the world’s best players will converge on T-Mobile Park in Seattle for the grand finale of a fantastic weekend of baseball.

MLB setting the standard

Baseball’s long and rigorous schedule gets a respite from the constant travel, the four games series and double headers during the middle of July. It’s a much needed, much anticipated break as the heavy hitters of baseball put on a show for fans around the world.

It’s a five-day long event that should serve as an example for the rest of the American sports world on how to organize an All-Star week that people actually care about. The action started on Friday with the HBCU Swingman Classic, in which 50 players from Historically Black Colleges and Universities will be on display in baseball’s biggest weekend. It’s a growing trend for American sports to spotlight HBCU athletes during the All-Star Weekend, and for baseball fans it gives you a chance to see some talent you may not see in Omaha at the College World Series.

Saturday featured the Celebrity Softball game and the All-Star Futures game. The Futures game is a coveted part of the weekend, as die hard fanatics get to see the best of the best of the minor leaguers that will be known names in no time. The minor leagues are such a big part of baseball, and while many keep up with their favorite teams farm teams this is a chance for the casual fan to get a glimpse at what’s to come in the short future.

Mitchell and LaVine show out at Celeb game

The NBA is the only other league that has a game for the youngsters (Rookie vs. Sophomore game). But those involved are already on the big stage in the NBA, and it fails to draw a big crowd or peak the public’s interest.

The Celebrity Softball game give us a chance to see our favorite sports and pop culture stars take to the diamond. Almost all of us played baseball or softball at a certain time in our childhood, and athletes like Donovan Mitchell and Zach LaVine showed a sweet stroke on a couple of deep jacks in on Saturday night.

Basketball has a celebrity game, but it’s never as much fun as the Celeb Softball Game. We usually see a couple of freakish NFL players dominating the guys like Kevin Hart or Machine Gun Kelly. Football and hockey skip the celeb games all together, and it’s probably with good reason. Those sports are simply to dangerous to ask athletes and pop culture start to strap on the pads and go at it all in the name of a bit of fun.

One of the most brilliant ideas the MLB had was putting their Draft right in the middle of the All-Star break. Instead of most leagues, which have their draft after the season is over as interest dips, they put it smack dab in the middle of their season. Baseball’s draft would ordinarily be something that doesn’t draw a whole lot of interest. It’s long, it’s drawn-out and the majority of players won’t be seen in the major leagues for a while, if ever as they try to surge up the minor leagues. But having a whole day (Sunday) dedicated to the draft makes baseball’s selection process that much more interesting.

The main events

All the other events are fun, but the bread and butter, the meat and potatoes of the All-Star Break is the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game. The Derby is without question the best side dish to the main course of any sports All-Star week. While the format can change from time to time, the MLB does a fantastic job of peaking interest in the long ball challenge on a yearly basis, and unlike in other sports, we see some of the biggest stars around the league no just willing to take part but eager to take part in such a storied tradition.

Hockey has done a good job zeroing in on their skills event portion of the All-Star week. They have fastest skater competition, break away competitions and hardest shot contests, but the NBA and NFL can’t get it right with their skills challenges. They are continuously changing the events looking for something that will bring as much attention as the Homerun Derby does to baseball every year.

And then there is the All-Star Game. The Grand Daddy of all All-Star Games, and makes it such a special event? Other than the obvious, of the world’s best being on the same diamond for nine innings, it’s the spirit of competition. These guys actually care about winning the game. Even though the All-Star Game doesn’t decide who gets home field advantage in the World Series (that ended in 2017), there is a level of competitiveness that is not seen in any other one of the top sports league’s All-Star Games.

Rest of the pack has to catch up

The NFL has had a serious problem with the lack of effort in the Pro Bowl. The season is done, and most of these guys don’t want to risk injury so the level of play drops drastically, so much so that the league switched to a flag football game instead of a fully padded four quarters.

The NBA has done a decent job of making it somewhat competitive as every quarter in the All-Star Game a mini game, in which each team wins money for charity by winning a quarter. That still hasn’t raised the level of defense, but it at least makes what used to be a defenseless, open floor dunk contest is now a bit more intriguing.

The NHL’s system of breaking the All-Star teams down into divisions and having a playoff type tournament has been fun, but again with such a physical, contact sport, the players only play at a percentage of what they would normally in the confines of a regular season game.

That won’t be a problem in tonight’s All-Star Game from Seattle. Each and every player will make the most of their time in the batters box, on the mound or at their respective position in the field to put on a spectacle for the fans. Just ask Juan Soto who warned should-be MVP Shohei Othani about what awaits him on Monday night.