Storyline: Responsible parties need to make changes when a system has been subverted for self-serving purposes. The MLB All-Star Voting system has been subverted. MLB needs to change it.
We’ve seen it many times … too many times. Somebody or some group figures out a way to subvert a system for personal gain. The banks did it. FIFA did it. The results are always the same: people get screwed.
Courtesy: esurance.com
But this time is different. The “the screwers” aren’t impersonal institutions or elites with influence. No. Perpetrators are “the people,” folks just like you and me: MLB fans.
MLB had a great idea that it organized poorly. Let the fans vote-in the starting All-Star team. That’s a great idea! Enable each fan to cast 35 ballots per email address. That’s a bad idea!
I like it when institutions give power to the people. That’s exactly what MLB did. But having the right to vote carries voting responsibilities.
What does that mean? While you’d expect fans to vote for players they like, follow and see regularly, if they do too much of that, then the outcomes aren’t “for the good of baseball.” Fans must cast ballots for players they believe are most deserving — “deserving” based on players’ performances on the field — whether or not they play for their team.
That’s the way it should be, and the way it has to be, if the system is to operate with integrity.
Courtesy: kansascity.com
But baseball isn’t just a game: it’s a commercial activity that brings out a ton-load of civic pride. That combo propels the expression of partisanship.
So, it wasn’t surprising to see what I saw on TV the other night. There were two words, written in big lettering, located right behind home plate: VOTE REDS. It’s an exhortation, of course, for Reds’ fans to vote for Reds’ players on the ASG ballot. Most teams do pretty much the same thing. (See KC, above.)
Is that a foul ball? Well, not really, unless the message is acted on literally and extensively. And that’s exactly what happened in Kansas City this year.
Royals’ fans took things to an extreme. We now face the prospects of having 7 position players from KC (plus Mike Trout) start for the American League at the 2015 ASG.
That’s outlandish!
Did Royals’ fans stuff the ballot box? Well, not quite: they followed rules set forth by MLB. And that’s the problem … now that we can no longer trust that fans will vote “for the good of the game.” If nothing else, 2015 showed us that Kansas City fans voted overwhelmingly “for the good of their team and city.”
“How Royals fans have turned MLB’s All-Star Game Voting into Anarchy” (Yahoo!Sports)
That’s indefensible, of course, given the stakes involved. It cheapens the prize of making an All-Star team and weakens the very stature of this venerable game. And it doesn’t do a thing for the Royals, their, players, and fans, either: everybody knows how this King’s Court got there.
What should be done? What the Royals manager offered (“Vote if you don’t like the outcome”) misses the point completely. That would only further subvert a system that has lost credibility.
The problem is clear: the voting system is flawed; it opens up the possibility of subversion; and, in 2015, subversion happened. There’s no way around any of that.
The problem is fixable, though.
Reduce the number of votes to 1 per email address and keep the system as is.
Replace democratic preference with a selection panel of baseball experts or combine fan voting with panel selection.
There are other reasonable options, of course. What we can’t have is no change at all. Given what happened this season the current system can’t (and shouldn’t) survive.
Baseball players and fans deserve better–much, much better–than they have it now. MLB needs to correct what’s wrong.
…”for the good of the game.”
