MLB All Star Game Tonight 8 PM

Can the National League finally regain some of their dignity? The Midsummer Classic tees off tonight at 8 PM in Anaheim with the winning team claiming home field advantage in the World Series for their league’s Champion. The National League has failed to win an All Star game for the past 13 seasons post an 0-12-1 record in those games. They have lost out on home field for the World Series every time for the last couple of years since the rule’s inception. Can 2010 finally be their year?

For the better part of the last decade the AL has been considered the better of the two leagues because of their far superior offensive numbers and their All Star Game winning streak. However 2010 is quickly earning the epithet “The Year of the Pitcher” and a lot of that can be attributed to all the young talent in the NL. It would seem that pitching has finally come to overtake the Home Run as the centerpiece of excitement in the MLB (a lack of steroid usage may have something… or a great deal to do with it). We’ve already seen 4 No-Hitters including 2 Perfect Games and we’re only at the All Star break. The NL’s starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez is 15-1 after years of speculation that the days of the 20-win season were behind us and will face-off against Tampa Bay’s David Price who is 12-4 with a 2.42 ERA. Both of these guys are under 26 and lead a group of young pitchers that will dominate the next decade including Tim Lincecum, Josh Johnson, Clay Buchholz. Phil Hughes and Mike Pelfrey to name a few.

But enough about that. I’m tired of hearing about how much better the AL is than the NL. The National League needs to get off the schnide and win an All Star Game convincingly. It still won’t be considered the better league but it will go a long way to earning some street cred from baseball fans around the country.