We'll repeat Monday's All-Star exercise, this time for the American League: Imagine if the All-Star Game were something more than an exhibition, and that the managers actually ran the game as if the fate of the family farm rested on a win or loss in the Midsummer Classic. Imagine if the managers were to manage the game as they do every other day of the baseball season -- with 25-man rosters, no rule about having at least one player from every team, the starting pitchers perhaps working deep into the game, and relief and bench specialists perhaps playing a major role.
If the goal were only to win the game, I would load up on guys with acute splits -- players who were the best against either left-handed hitters or right-handed pitchers and hitters. I'd want some guys who could come off the bench with some pop, some guys who could run and a strong defensive team to maintain a lead. If the goal were to win only one game, my AL team would look like what follows. A major standard applied here is that you must pick players based on performance during the first half of the 2009 season.
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Buster Olney
