The American League is up 1-0, and the topic of conversation is, does this All Star Game matter more then others in the past because home field in the World Series is being determined?

John Perricone did a nice little analysis showing us how much (or little) home field in general matters in baseball, so head on over to his site to check that out. I’m going do something a little more simple.

2002 World Series – Home Team was 5-2.
2001 World Series – Home Team was 7-0
2000 World Series – Home Team was 3-2
1999 World Series – Home Team was 2-2
1998 World Series – Home Team was 2-2
1997 World Series – Home Team was 3-4
1996 World Series – Home Team was 1-5
1995 World Series – Home Team was 5-1

So, based on the performance of teams in the World Series since 1995, the home team has won 28 and lost 18, but of the series’ that went 6 or more games, the team with home field advantage won 3 of the four series, and the home team won 20 and lost 7.

So, my SWAG/conclusion tells me the All Star Game matters to the players (anywhere from one to five on both the NL or AL) who could potentially go on to play an evenly matched World Series. Quite a few conditions.

In short, I don’t like what they did to the All Star Game. I think it was insulting to insinuate that the players didn’t play hard, when they are (at least most of them) proud to be there. I think Selig’s blending of the leagues has more to do with the downfall of the All Star game in popularity then anything. From not having seperate league presidents, to interleague play, I think it has watered things down enough to where the differences and traditions of the two leagues are close to nil.

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