Home-field advantage in the World Series is all but set.
Even though the winner of the All-Star Game no longer determines which league gets home-field advantage in the Series, the 2018 standings pretty much says who will have it.
It now goes to the team with the best regular-season record. Four teams in baseball have winning percentages over .600 and all four are in the American League, where the playoff teams are pretty much in the bag. Not so in the National League.
After the All-Star Game, teams will have fewer than 65 games left, and the only drama in the AL seems whether the Red Sox or Yankees win the East Division. The team that doesn’t win will be a wild card but could still host the World Series opener.
Oddsmakers have already made it a three-team race to win the Series between the defending champion Astros, the two-time AL East champ Red Sox and the Yankees, who lead the majors in home runs. They give extremely long odds to any National League team winning, without the home-field edge.
The Astros, Bosox and Yanks all can have 65 wins or better at the All-Star break, meaning that they all can likely reach 100 victories by splitting their games the rest of the regular season.
Of the three teams with Justin Verlander, George Springer and Jose Altuve; Chris Sale, Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez; and Luis Severino, Aaron Judge ad Giancarlo Stanton, only one will make it to the Fall Classic. That may make it anti-climactic.
The best won-loss record in the National League belongs to the Milwaukee Brewers, parent club of the Carolina Mudcats, but the Brew-crew will have difficulty holding on to their narrow lead in the NL Central over the Cubs. However, whichever team wins that pennant will be heavy World Series underdog.
Those 14 years when the All-Star Game decided which league opened the World Series and hosted a possible deciding game seven was mostly a publicity stunt to have more viewers watch the all-stars. Now, with the Home-Run Derby on Monday night, the popularity for All-Star week is plenty high.
Frankly, most fans will be anxious for the regular season to resume due to all the close races in the National League. In the American League, whichever powerhouse emerges to win the pennant will also be the world champion.
You can write home about it.
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