All-Star Game & World Series Home Field Advantage

So there I was sitting at work on Monday, in a meeting of course, when my phone goes off to update me on the latest MLB All-Star Game voting. I saw that, along with a few dirty looks from co-workers, Eric Hosmer and Kendrys Morales joined five other Kansas City Royals in the starting lineup for the American League while Brian McCann, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Jacoby Ellsbury, Brett Gardner and Carlos Beltran were all among American League All-Star leaders on the ballots. With home field advantage for the World Series on the line I got to thinking would I rather see Teixeira at first base or Hosmer. McCann or Salvador Perez. A-Rod or Morales. Ellsbury or Lorenzo Cain. Then I got thinking, does it really matter?

So I did my research as I wondered how often a team with a better record lost out on their completely earned and justified home field advantage in the World Series because their team of All-Stars lost the Mid-Summer Classic just four months earlier. The first season where the All-Star Game actually meant something and somewhat counted was in 2003 meaning that 12 World Series have been affected since the inception of the rule that the team representing the league that won the All-Star Game would have home field advantage in the World Series.

Let's take a look at who won each of those two All-Star Games, which teams represented the American and National Leagues in the World Series those past 12 seasons, and whether the All-Star Game "counting" mattered or not. 

2003

American League beat National League 7-6

AL representative in World Series: New York Yankees (101-61)

NL representative in World Series: Florida Marlins (91-71)

World Series winner: Florida Marlins  4-2

2004

American League beat National League 9-4

AL representative in World Series: Boston Red Sox (98-64)

NL representative in World Series: St. Louis Cardinals (105-57)

World Series winner: Boston Red Sox 4-0

2005

American League beat National League 7-5

AL representative in World Series: Chicago White Sox (99-63)

NL representative in World Series: Houston Astros (89-73)

World Series winner: Chicago White Sox 4-0

2006

American League beat National League 3-2

AL representative in World Series: Detroit Tigers (95-67)

NL representative in World Series: St. Louis Cardinals (83-78)

World Series winner: St. Louis Cardinals 4-1

2007

American League beat National League 5-4

AL representative in World Series: Boston Red Sox (96-66)

NL representative in World Series: Colorado Rockies (90-73)

World Series winner: Boston Red Sox 4-0 

2008

American League beat National League 4-3

AL representative in World Series: Tampa Bay Rays (97-65)

NL representative in World Series: Philadelphia Phillies (92-70)

World Series winner: Philadelphia Phillies 4-1

2009

American League beat National League 4-3

AL representative in World Series: New York Yankees (103-59)

NL representative in World Series: Philadelphia Phillies (93-69)

World Series winner: New York Yankees 4-2

2010

National League beat American League 3-1

AL representative in World Series: Texas Rangers (92-70)

NL representative in World Series: San Francisco Giants (92-70)

World Series winner: San Francisco Giants 4-1

2011

National League beat American League 5-1

AL representative in World Series: Texas Rangers (96-66)

NL representative in World Series: St. Louis Cardinals (90-72)

World Series winner: St. Louis Cardinals 4-3

2012

National League beat American League 8-0

AL representative in World Series: Detroit Tigers (88-74)

NL representative in World Series: San Francisco Giants (94-68)

World Series winner: San Francisco Giants 4-0

2013

American League beat National League 3-0

AL representative in World Series: Boston Red Sox (97-65)

NL representative in World Series: St. Louis Cardinals (97-65)

World Series winner: Boston Red Sox 4-2

2014

American League beat National League 5-3

AL representative in World Series: Kansas City Royals (89-73)

NL representative in World Series: San Francisco Giants (88-74)

World Series winner: San Francisco Giants 4-3

2015

Yet to be determined.... stay tuned 

*bolded denotes who would have had home-field advantage due to record

As you can see in the twelve seasons where the All-Star Game actually counted the numbers of teams who would have had home-field advantage without the game actually meaning something was eight of the twelve instances. The team with home-field advantage has won eight of those twelve World Series while interestingly enough two of those series have gone all seven games. In those pair of seven game series only last year's Kansas City Royals lost with the home-field advantage making you wonder how the game would have went if the shoe were on the other foot. While the game should not count for anything and definitely should not determine what league will have the home-field advantage in the World Series I'm not quite sure it's worth jumping up and down for because it hasn't negatively affected that much.