Major League Baseball is hosting its annual All-Star Game on July 14 in St. Louis. Until tonight, July 2, fans could vote on the starting lineups for the game online at MLB.com. There have been several very close races for starting spots. On one of them, MLB.com writers may have unfairly tipped the scales.
In the race to become the American League's starting second baseman, the Texas Rangers' Ian Kinsler once enjoyed a sizable lead over Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox. With many Red Sox fans voting, the lead started to shrink. The website posted several articles about the race, some of which only mentioned Pedroia or the Red Sox in the headline. In fact, http://www.allstargame.com has featured a large picture of Pedroia on its home page for three days. Kinsler and the Rangers have been shafted in their coverage, and now he may lose despite being the more deserving player. The more articles posted with pro-Pedroia headlines, the more votes he got. Other races, such as the first base battle between Boston's Kevin Youkilis and Mark Teixeira of the Yankees, and the National League outfield race between the Chicago Cubs' Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Beltran of the New York Mets, have been covered more fairly. Maybe that's because they all play in large markets.
The All-Star Game should not be about where someone plays, it should be about how good someone is. If three Kansas City Royals are good enough to start, let them start. I think that the fan vote should be limited to two-thirds of the total vote. Players, managers and coaches should account for the other third. And when it comes to MLB.com's journalistic integrity, good players should be evenly covered. If not, our All-Star lineups may continue to see more less deserving participants.
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