MLB All Star Swing Off: A Glimpse into Baseballs Next Controversy

On Tuesday night, Major League Baseball made a little history. And depending on your perspective, it's either good or bad.

The Major League All-Star Game ended after nine innings, tied at six, and instead of heading to extras, baseball introduced the world to the Swing-Off. Consider it baseball's answer to the NHL Shootout.

As it turned out, it was the most compelling 10 minutes of the entire game. Each league sent up three hitters. Each hitter had three swings to hit a homer. And when it was all said and done, the Phillies' Kyle Schwarber won it for the N.L. with three homers on three swings of the bat to give the NL a 4-3 Swing-off victory.

The players were into it. They stood outside their respective dugouts, cheering and imploring each player who represented their league with each swing. It was the reason why the All-Star Game used to exist.

Long before free agency and interleague play, the All-Star Game was really the only time (outside the World Series) where players from the N.L. and A.L. appeared on the same field at the same time. Bragging rights were on the line, and players wanted to show up and show out to prove their league was superior.

Those days are long gone. The All-Star game has gone through many changes, but perhaps baseball's biggest blunder was when it allowed the 2002 All-Star Game to end in a tie, leading to the infamous implementation of putting home-field advantage for the World Series on the line in the All-Star Game.

For years, baseball was ok with turning an exhibition game into the determining factor of where a potential Game 7 of a World Series would play. It was silly.

So here is the Swing Off. An exhibition, yes, but that's what the All-Star Game is all about. Bragging rights. It's the perfect tonic for such an event for fans who want to see the best players from each league on one grand stage.

WHY THE SWING OFF IS BAD:

While there is a lot of good to find in the Swing-Off, there is a lot not to like about it.

The AL featured: Oakland's Brent Rooker, Seattle's Randy Arozarena, and Tampa's Jonathan Aranda against the NL slate of Arizona's Eugenio Suarez, the Mets' Pete Alonso, and Philadelphia's Kyle Schwarber.

Outside of Schwarber and Alonso, Rooker, Arozarena, Aranada, and Suarez are not known for their power. Good players, definitely, but sluggers? No.

Apparently Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani both left the stadium. And Mariner's catcher Cal Raleigh, who won the Home Run derby the night before, didn't bat either.

If baseball is going to have this become a thing at the All-Star Game, the best hitters NEED to hit. Period.

Moreover, there is a fear developing that the Swing-Off could find its way into the regular season.

That would be a major tragedy if that ever comes to pass. Baseball made a huge mistake with the Ghost Runner at second base at the start of extra innings. Eliminating extras to appeal to younger audiences would be a bigger mistake.

Baseball is at its best when high-stakes drama is involved, and there are no bigger stakes than a game extending deep into extras. Losing that tension for a home run derby contest would not sit well with many baseball purists.

Where do you stand?