ALL-STAR GAME Players approve plan that rewards winning league

The All-Star Game outcome will decide home field in the World Series.
NEW YORK (AP) -- The impact of baseball's midsummer classic will be felt all the way through October.
Baseball players agreed to a two-year experiment Thursday to give home-field advantage in the World Series to the league that wins the All-Star game.
In an effort to limit the chance of another tie game like last summer, the union and owners also agreed to expand the roster from 30 to 32 players and gave players a say on who makes the team.
But the biggest change is the link to the World Series, giving much more importance -- some say too much -- to an exhibition.
"I think that's good for the fans," Los Angeles outfielder Brian Jordan said. "I think, after last year, you don't want to see that anymore. I think it had everything to do with it. But the bottom line is, once you get to the World Series, you've got to win, regardless."
Totally opposed
Owners approved the proposal Jan. 17, and players had been discussing it since before agreeing to it on a trial basis. It takes effect this year.
"I disagree with it, completely and totally," said Los Angeles pitcher Kevin Brown, a five-time All-Star. "I think it just takes away from the whole idea of what the All-Star game is about, which is letting the fans vote and letting it be an exhibition game. Now they're trying to make it into something that it never has been."
Since the start of the World Series in 1903, home-field advantage has alternated between the American and National leagues. Commissioner Bud Selig proposed the change after last year's All-Star game in Milwaukee ended in a 7-7, 11-inning tie when both leagues ran out of pitchers.
Selig said the new format would help keep the game "vibrant."
The team hosting Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 of the World Series has won 15 of the last 17 titles. The team hosting Game 7 in the last eight Series that went a full seven games has won every time, including Anaheim last year against San Francisco.
"I don't think it matters," Giants slugger Barry Bonds said. "The best team is going to win anyway."
Television influence
Fox, baseball's national network broadcaster, has lobbied players to support the plan, meeting with members of the union during spring training.
All-Star game ratings have steadily declined. From a peak of 28.5 in 1970, it dropped below 20 for the first time in 1987. The game drew a 15.7 rating in 1994, then dropped to 13.9 the following year after a strike wiped out the World Series for the first time in 90 years. Last year's rating was an all-time low 9.5.
Fans will still select the starting position players -- eight in the National League and nine in the AL this season because the game will have a designated hitter.
A separate ballot of players, managers and coaches conducted during the final week of fan balloting will determine nine additional position players in the AL and eight in the NL, as well as eight pitchers in each league. If that vote has the same winner as the fans, the second-place finisher will make the team.