Dumb Royals fans? (Kansas City, Cleveland: home, versus, design)

[WRnative]

Why are Royals fans stuffing the AL all-star ballots?

If the AL fields a second-rate all-star team and loses the game, the NL will have home field advantage in the World Series.

As the Royals have a decent chance of winning the AL pennant, stuffing the ballot with the likes of Infante and even Hosmer over Cabrera seems like one of the greatest jack-ass sports fan moves of all time.

If you're going to do this, at least take the time for vote for an even more lame NL all-star team!

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-bi...214052264.html

[rwiksell]

Originally Posted by WRnative

Why are Royals fans stuffing the AL all-star ballots?

If the AL fields a second-rate all-star team and loses the game, the NL will have home field advantage in the World Series.

As the Royals have a decent chance of winning the AL pennant, stuffing the ballot with the likes of Infante and even Hosmer over Cabrera seems like one of the greatest jack-ass sports fan moves of all time.

If you're going to do this, at least take the time for vote for an even more lame NL all-star team!

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-bi...214052264.html

I think you've nailed it, actually. The Star should publish a "hall of shame" line-up of National League players, and encourage every Royals fan to vote ad nauseum for an identical bevy of all the worst possible opponents. Love it!

[Okey Dokie]

We're stuffing the ballot box because of our excitement over having a fun-to-watch, exciting team after suffering for 29 years. That's why.

[rwiksell]

But I should say, Royals fans aren't dumb. And they're not cheating. MLB said "pick whoever you want, up to 35 times per email account". The system is designed to reward enthusiasm, and that's exactly what's happening.

If they want to change that system next year, they can (and they probably will.) But in the meantime, this is Kansas City's one big shot, so let us enjoy it. We might lose home field advantage at the World Series, but that's assuming we even make it there, which is not a given.

A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush. Or in this case, record-breaking representation at the All-Star Game is better than maybe having home field advantage at the World Series.

[WRnative]

[quote=rwiksell;40039142]But I should say, Royals fans aren't dumb. And they're not cheating. MLB said "pick whoever you want, up to 35 times per email account". The system is designed to reward enthusiasm, and that's exactly what's happening.

If they want to change that system next year, they can (and they probably will.) But in the meantime, this is Kansas City's one big shot, so let us enjoy it. We might lose home field advantage at the World Series, but that's assuming we even make it there, which is not a given.

A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush. Or in this case, record-breaking representation at the All-Star Game is better than maybe having home field advantage at the World Series.[/quote

Actually, this is a great black eye for MLB in a less obvious way.

The Royals' vote totals are all less than 10 million. If many fans across the country cared about baseball, the Royals fan effort would easily be overwhelmed.

It's possible that still will happen, considering that I'm a baseball fan and didn't know anything about the all-star voting procedure, especially about how easy it is to vote 35 times.

With all the publicity over the Royals ballot stuffing, including many articles providing links to the voting page, it will be interesting to see if voting picks up and if there is a backlash against the Royals.

If other fans simply don't care enough to take five minutes to vote 35 times, that bodes very poorly for the future of MLB IMO. Can you imagine the stories about the lack of interest in the MLB all-star game if Kansas City pulls this off? As the game is in Cincinnati, can you imagine the great fun the Reds fans will have mocking the Kansas City "all-stars." Can you imagine the embarrassment if the AL is routed as a result of Kansas City ballot stuffing? It's a fun story, perhaps to become more fun if you guys pull it off.

E.g., in Cleveland, where Jason Kipnis is very deserving of all-star status, I suspect the sports writers will focus on this situation aggressively once the hoopla over the NBA finals has passed.

It will be fascinating to see if Kansas City can prevail, because in no way should it be possible with less than 10, or even 30 million votes. E.g., just a million baseball fans could cast 35 million votes.

Anyway, do vote for lame NL all-.stars or you will shoot yourselves or the other eventual AL pennant winner in the foot big time. If I had thought of this before I cast my votes, I would have done so.

[gfisch95]

Kansas City has, if I remember correctly the second smallest market size in MLB. If other teams fans want their players in the all star game then they can go vote and almost all of them can outvote the Kansas City fan-base. But they aren't voting, and that's not Kansas City's fault, so the fans are in no way dumb and people who say they are really have no idea what they're talking about.

As far as the "the AL will lose because Kansas City has all the starters" argument. The starters play what, two innings at the ASG? On top of that the fans don't choose the starting pitcher and whoever is selected as the AL starter will have possibly the best defense in history behind him since Trout is an incredible improvement over Rios' defense.

Finally, no, don't vote for bad NL players to start against the Royals because once the starters come out they put in whoever is on the bench and you can bet that for the AL it's going to be the guys that regularly would have been voted in playing against the second string of the NL instead of the NL's best that they would have regularly played against.

[rwiksell]

Maybe this is my fan bias talking, but I wouldn't assume a loss for the AL if Kansas City sends 7+ starters. Our only serious weakness is our starting pitching. But if you're talking our defensive squad, these guys have some serious chemistry, on top of their talent. I believe they stand to perform much better as a unit than a random assortment of amazing players. Offense will be a little less of a given, since that's essentially one batter versus the entire opposing team. But Royals offense so frequently involves hits, RBIs and home runs from multiple players, that I wouldn't count us out.

[WRnative]

What's dumb is a serious pennant contender jeopardizing home field advantage in the World Series.

Normally, the starters play more than two innings. That may not be the case this year if its perceived that several individuals are not worthy of their all-star status.

Be ready for some serious booing in Cincinnati and elsewhere if KC pulls this off.

[Truly Missouri]

Originally Posted by WRnative

What's dumb is a serious pennant contender jeopardizing home field advantage in the World Series.

Normally, the starters play more than two innings. That may not be the case this year if its perceived that several individuals are not worthy of their all-star status.

Be ready for some serious booing in Cincinnati and elsewhere if KC pulls this off.

The point of what's really dumb is having the home field advantage to be determined by an exhibition game.

I do agree, the Royals have too many players leading the ballots. And no matter what, it's always a very shameful thing when undeserving players make it into something in which they shouldn't.

The voting process is legit, IMO. The best teams draw the best attendance. The best attendance then stuffs the ballot for their own players. That's expected, and not dumb by any means. Homers will be homers, but what gives players an edge on voting is other cities bypassing some of their own players because of likeability for Royals players. -- A small-market of all cities, shouldn't be accused of stuffing ballots. Nonetheless I can't blame the national media for their outcry. The All-Star game is supposed to be for the best players, and should not be for a popularity contest or for stuffing ballots.

You do make some other good points about how this could look bad for the AL and for the Royals if all is botched at the game. However, the Royals players do play with good chemistry. Unlike a team assembled with new players playing together for the very first time. Meaning that an all Royals lineup could very well... successfully rally.

[pioneer88]

The only people who should be embarrassed or ridiculed is the other teams' fan bases. Go out and vote if you want someone else. Also, you act like this royals team isn't worth anything. The bulk of the Royals all-stars are deserving of being in the equation. (Not saying they all deserve to start) Perez, Moose, Cain and Gordon for sure. Hoz to a lesser degree, he has better Defense by far than Cabrera but obviously Cabrera has the better bat. Also, Escobar is arguably better than Jeter the last few times he was a starter on the All-Star team.