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This time, it counts, for the tenth time. Of course, it will only truly count for players of two teams, and only then if the team in the World Series with the better winning percentage is part of the league that loses tonight's game. And of course, the outcome of tonight's game will likely not be decided by players from those two yet-to-be-determined teams.
The National League starting lineup is made up of four Giants(really?), two Cardinals, a Brave, a Red, a Rockie and a Brewer. Currently, none of those six teams lead their division. Of the ten, only Joey Votto and Dan Uggla would be looking at a playoff spot, with the Reds and Braves current on pace for the two-team one-game play off.
The American League lineup is saturated with three Yankees, three Rangers, two Tigers, plus one Blue Jay and one Red Sock. Contrary to the NL, 6 of the 10 starters are on first place teams, though the current wild card leading Orioles and Angels are not represented.
The first batter of the night will be Carlos Gonzalez, who was voted into the game as a reserve by his peers, then hand-picked by Tony LaRussa to be the starter. Andrew McCutchen is probably not happy about that, but we can afford to be. Most years, the token Rockie gets only a late appearance in the game, if that. We won't wait long tonight!