If you’re like me, you probably didn’t watch the whole All Star game. Cano’s tenth inning dinger won it for the AL, but the game itself wasn’t particularly compelling.
Fox tried to jazz it up. I thought that A-Rod walking around the infield and talking to the players was cute, but pointless. Bryce Harper talking to the broadcast crew during the game had potential, but I would rather have heard him talk about what he was thinking prior to each pitch, instead of general questions.
Major changes are coming soon for MLB. Charlotte and Montreal and possibly Mexico are strong candidates for expansion. 32 teams would alleviate the necessity for daily interleague play, which would be a plus. The Tampa and Oakland stadium situations aren’t going to be resolved anytime soon, so any expansion is pretty far off. And the further watering down of talent 
may not serve the game well at the moment.
Rob Manfred seems open to any number of changes to improve the game. I like the ideas that John Smoltz is advancing. It would be nice if the players association was on board, but Manfred needs to act decisively and even unilaterally, if Tony Clark can’t agree on a consensus.
Even though the sport is in relatively good health now, the commissioner sees erosion on the near horizon and wants to reverse the process. Football changes its rules every year. If new rules have unintended consequences that are detrimental, they can be modified or rescinded.
The record book in baseball has already been soiled by the steroid era. Comparing players from past eras is a fool’s errand anyway, since there are so many variables. Let’s make the game better going forward, with a respectful eye toward tradition. But let’s not let hidebound adherence to the old ways cripple the future.
