The Cubs finished the 2016 MLB regular season with a record of 103-58. That record was significantly better than the Indians’ regular-season record of 94-67. And yet, when the 2016 World Series started, it was the Indians who had home-field advantage because the American League won the 2016 MLB All-Star Game by a score of 4-2.
Sound silly? That’s because it was. But back in 2003, then-MLB commissioner Bud Selig pushed for MLB to adopt a policy that would give the league that won the All-Star Game home-field advantage in the World Series after the 2002 MLB All-Star Game ended in a tie when both teams ran out of pitchers. The thought was that, by putting the home-field advantage policy into place, the National and American Leagues would try harder during the All-Star Game since something big would be at stake. It started out as a two-year experiment and ended up becoming the way things were done for more than a decade.
However, it sounds like MLB has finally come to its senses and decided to do away with the All-Star Game policy. MLB owners and the MLB players’ union reached an agreement on a new five-year labor contract on Wednesday, and according to the Associated Press, part of that labor contract calls for the league to do away with giving home-field advantage in the World Series to the winner of the All-Star Game. The league has not made an official announcement about it yet, but a source spoke with the AP and revealed that home-field advantage in the World Series will now go to the pennant winner who finishes the regular season with a better record. That means that, during this past season, the Cubs, not the Indians, would have had home-field advantage and would have clinched their first World Series win since 1908 in Chicago instead of Cleveland.
Some might argue that this will now make the MLB All-Star Game "meaningless" again, which was the argument that was used back in 2002. But we’d rather see that happen than see historically-great teams like the Cubs miss out on the opportunity to have home-field advantage in the World Series simply because their league didn’t win what amounts to an exhibition game.
