The All-Star Game, World Series, and Home Field Advantage – It Means the ‘World’
By Dan Horton
The Dilemma
The Atlanta Braves haven’t been to a World Series in a very long time. That being the case, they’ve never reaped the benefits of a National League win in the All-Star Game. As the 2015 World Series gets underway, I’m beginning to wonder if it even really matters, winning the All-Star Game that is.
I’ve never been a huge fan of the format and implications winning (or losing) the All-Star Game has tied to it. It’s an exhibition game; just for fun, right? So why so serious? Does it even really matter?
Well, I was curious to see how much this game really does matter, and if it has had any effect on the outcomes of the World Series-es played since its inception. Well, the results may not be all that surprising. Then again, it might. I’ll let you decide.
I began my research with a sample size of the last 10 years. Since this format started in 2003, I thought that was enough to give a good picture of how this “idea” has panned out. The implied incentive to winning the Mid-Summer Classic on the surface seemed to be genuine. Obviously, its inception came out of the eventual tie game between the Junior and Senior Circuits in the 2002 tilt.
I’ll lay out the winners of each All-Star Game from 2005 to 2014. Then I will give the winners of each World Series for the same years. Finally, I’ll lay out the comparisons I drew from those results. Seems like a simple enough formula to gather a determination in whether or not the Kool-Aid we’re drinking is sugar-free or not.
Stats confirmed at Baseball-Reference.com.
Let’s begin …
All-Star Game Winners:
- 2005 – AL
- 2006 – AL
- 2007 – AL
- 2008 – AL
- 2009 – AL
- 2010 – NL
- 2011 – NL
- 2012 – NL
- 2013 – AL
- 2014 – AL
Still with me? Good.
World Series Winners:
- 2005 – White Sox, AL
- 2006 – Cardinals, NL
- 2007 – Red Sox, AL
- 2008 – Phillies, NL
- 2009 – Yankees, AL
- 2010 – Giants, NL
- 2011 – Cardinals, NL
- 2012 – Giants, NL
- 2013 – Red Sox, AL
- 2014 – Giants, NL
After looking at these winners, the American League has had the upper hand in a majority of All-Star Games, with 7 wins out of 10. While the National has had the upper hand in the World Series, though only 6 of 10 times. One less than the AL compared to ASG wins.
However, here is what I found interesting. In years that the AL won the ASG, they only claimed the title in 4 of those years, or 4 for 9. In years the NL won the ASG, they claimed all 3 titles – going 3 for 3. Every other time, it’s been the National League winning the title, when the American League won the All-Star Game. Again, the National League has won 6 of the last 10 World Series.
But let’s include the numbers for the other two years, 2003 and 2004.
- 2003 ASG – AL
- 2004 ASG – AL
- 2003 WS – Marlins, NL
- 2004 WS – Red Sox, AL
This brings our totals to 9 of 12 wins by the AL in the ASG with only one more World Series win. While the NL wins the Series in the only three times they’ve won the ASG in the past 12 years.
Expounding on this further, This makes the NL winners of 7 World Series out of the last 12. It also gives the AL one more win in a year where they won the All-Star Game.
RECAP
- All-Star Game wins: American League – 9, National League – 3
- World Series wins: American League – 5, National League – 7
- ASG Wins by either league, then same league winning WS – 8 times in 12 tries
The American League won the Series 5 times in years they won the All-Star Game. The National did it still only 3 times. This ultimately proves nothing, but what it suggests is that home field advantage means the ‘world’.
If you wanted to take this even deeper, you could dig in to how many games were won by the home team in the years they had the home field advantage.
What do you think? Is home field advantage more important for one league or the other? Is it time to squash the thought that the All-Star Game has the implications that it does, or is meant to? Or is it just simply a matter of who is hot at the right time? Let us know below what you think.
And don’t forget Braves Country, only five more months until Spring Training!