The American League secured home field advantage for the World Series by outscoring the NL 4-2, and the secondary tapestry of intertwined story lines and metaphors faded into a dull gray of a cloudy Pacific coast sky. Kansas City Royal’s first baseman Eric Hosmer garnered the MVP award and continues a storied and improbable run for the defending world champions. However, the game was as much about a change to the overall fabric of the league, than the highlights and pageantry of the day.
San Diego’s Petco Park was the setting for the 2016 All-Star game and the subdued milieu of the stadium resounded in the passing of an era. The Red Sox David Ortiz and New York’s Alex Rodriguez are the faces for a generation of baseball which is about to become part of history. The subtle tectonic shift of the next iteration of players breaching the stubborn threshold to occupy the pending vacancies of legendary status is now reality.
While Tuesday’s big picture lesson revolves around the changing of the guard, what can fans expect from a league of multi-talented athletes confined by strictly regulated dietary supplements and enhancements? As with Ortiz and Rodriguez, both were able to endure countless rigorous seasons and play past 40 years of age, however the majority of the current players did not have the advantage of ambiguity surrounding the use of controlled and alternative substances. Suffice to day, baseball is once again trending towards a young man’s game.
VIDEO: 2016 MLB All-Star Game Highlights
