MLBeat

Friday night's Braves vs. Padres game was one for the ages, a classic barnburner wherein Atlanta blew four separate leads and still won in 11 innings. Those who stayed up late to watch the West Coast thriller can count themselves as lucky. Words, especially those as crudely crafted as we here at MLBeat tend towards, cannot describe it.

But maybe this chart can.

Labels: stats

Major League Baseball was happy to hear this week that ratings for the All-Star game were up 15% this year, the largest year-to-year increase in 24 years. This is good news for baseball. But the ratings would be so much higher, and the game so much more interesting, if the companies running commercial fantasy baseball leagues (ESPN, Yahoo!, MLB, etc.) would allow All-Star game statistics to count towards each player's season stats. Imagine the delight of David Wright owners if his home run counted; of Carlos Beltran owners if his bag were tallied. Imagine the dismay of Trevor Hoffman owners!

And why shouldn't these stats count, especially now that "It Counts"? I submit the idea as a perk for fantasy owners. In the midst of a three-day span when there are zero box scores that matter, imagine if that Tuesday night game could give you a slight edge in the standings heading into the second half. Making All-Star game stats count toward fantasy totals would bring higher ratings to the game and lend to the enjoyment of fantasy owners who watch the game. Why not?

Labels: fantasy baseball, stats