Poll: All-Stars, Series should not be linked

Associated Press

Every time Tony La Russa walks onto a field, it’s serious. So the St. Louis Cardinals manager wants to see a competitive All-Star game.

Whether the winner should be rewarded with a World Series edge, well, that’s different.

“There’s a better way to determine home-field advantage,” La Russa said.

A majority of Major League Baseball fans agree, an Associated Press-Knowledge Networks poll released Sunday shows. By a margin of 56 percent to 42 percent, fans said the All-Star game shouldn’t be used to determine which league’s champion gets to open the World Series at home.

That link went into place in 2003, and the American League has won every Midsummer Classic since. The AL will try to make it seven in a row Tuesday night at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

For nearly a century, the World Series alternated between opening in AL and NL cities. Since the All-Star result started deciding things, AL teams have gone 9-3 while hosting Games 1 and 2.

“I’m on the fence,” San Francisco center fielder Aaron Rowand said. “It’s neat because it makes the game a little more fun for the fans and players.” Still, switching back and forth “was fair and everybody knew where they were going, who had home-field advantage,” he said.