PHOENIX ? Every reporter has their pet projections when they head into the big ballrooms that host baseball's All-Star media session. Derek Jeter's absence. Immigration law. How they'll like visiting Kansas City next year. From table to table, the questions get asked over and over. It's a tradition unlike any other.
Not wanting to feel left out, I came up with a repeatable question that I was discussing with a few friends before the sessions began. That question was this:
If a regular Major League Baseball team played one of the All-Star squads 10 times, how many games would they win?
It's a pretty interesting topic for debate. On one hand, baseball's an unpredictable sport that can feature a 100-loss team sweeping a 100-win squad on any given weekend. On the other, it's a game of individual matchups and positions so the advantage of playing together might not be as great as, say, football or basketball. It would seem that pure talent ? and not teamwork or chemistry ? has a good shot at prevailing.
With that in mind, I posed the above question to a couple of the National League All-Stars. The only qualification I gave some of them was that the games would not be played in a vacuum. In other words, the regular team would have to go through a four- or five-man rotation, not just pitch its best guy during every game.
If you go by even a last-place team sporting a .400 winning percentage, that regular team would win at least four out of every 10 games. But what did the All-Stars say?
Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds: "Out of how many games? Ten? From what I've been seeing? ... Three. I'm just being honest. You asked me a question, right now, we have the best talent on our team, but the way we're playing right now, I feel like the AL All-Stars would beat us."
So your estimate will go up once the Reds start playing better? "Of course. Of course. Why not? You have to realize this. Since we play together we already know what we can do. We can play the small ball and everything. But you look at the All-Stars, some of them don't know how to play the small ball. Some of the hitters might just be swinging for home runs and some pitchers might or might not be on their game. When you have a team that knows how to play together, of course we could beat that All-Star team."
Lance Berkman, St. Louis Cardinals: "Who can we have pitching every night? [laughs] I mean, if we can throw our top guys all the time, I would say five out of 10."
Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers: "It's all about pitching. If our starters have a good game, we're going to be in every game. Baseball's great like that. We might go 5-5 and split the series, but it's all about the next day's starter and how they pitch. For an All-Star team, there would be less hit-and-run, bumping guys over, but they're also going to have the pure talent. Sometimes that's just going to win out. I'd take the [Dodgers] team we have right now. It's pretty good."
Shane Victorino, Philadelphia Phillies: "I think we'd win a decent amount. We've got a pretty good pitching staff going [laughs]. I mean, we've got three of the pitchers here for this game."
So what's your estimate? "Ten out of 10! Why sell ourselves short, right?"
Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants: "I really don't know. That's a tough question. I'd have to give us at least seven. You grow accustomed to each other and your habits. Not necessarily what you might do on the field, but just having faith and confidence in the person behind you to make the play. Or pick you up if you made a mistake."
Your pitching staff wouldn't hurt either, does it? "Definitely. Having a guy going out there every day who can possibly go eight or nine innings. I don't care who you're playing, I'll take that every time."
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