[Elendil]

2017 All-Star Game

Roster Controversy

These were the announced rosters for the 2017 All-Star Game:

Seward Division

1B Arnie Heard (ANC)
C Karl Morrisey (KOD)
CF Aaron Ladner (ANC)
RF Michael Samson (KOD)
LF Ken Talley (BET)
CF Wynn Dunsmore (AGP) - injured
LF Griffin Shea (AGP)
2B Zander Sabin (PEN)
3B Stan Smart (KOD)
3B Ron Leighton (PEN)
RF Sean Heath (ANC) - replaces Dunsmore
SS Ken Swerdlow (PEN)
C Edward Peterson (ANC)
SS Sherman Ferris (AGP)
SP Ryan Dye (PEN)
SP Louis Mays (PEN)
SP Chip Becker (AGP)
SP Steven Henry (KOD)
SP Cisco Pena (ANC)
SP Mark Howatt (ERC)
SP Davis Murdock (KOD)
CL Donald Wilson (AGP) - injured
CL Stuart Boutillier (KOD)
SP Sam Lockwood (KOD)
SP Conrad Poor (KOD) - replaces Wilson

Kodiak: 8
Anchorage G.P.: 5
Anchorage B.: 5
Peninsula: 5
Chugiak: 1
Bethel: 1

Denali Division

3B Tony Burns (FAI)
1B Aaron Randolph (JUN)
LF Phil Botfield (SIT)
CF Olivier Theriault (JUN)
SS Jack Hussey (SIT)
C Greg Britton (JUN)
RF Kisei Suto (JUN) - injured
1B Phil Alder (NPN)
3B Nick Bedford (JUN)
LF Tommy Okawa (JUN)
2B Chris Webb (SIT)
CF Camden Neal (FAI)
RF Leith Drover (MSM) - replaces Suto
C Eric Alcock (FAI)
SP Mark Deacon (FAI)
SP John Cormack (FAI)
SP Merrill Currell (NPN)
SP Dwayne Smith (SIT)
SP Larry Corbitt (FAI)
CL Jon Funk (FAI)
CL Floyd Arrington (JUN)
SP Bryan Kendall (SIT)
SP Chance Major (NPN)
MR Trevor Quinton (SIT)

Juneau: 7
Fairbanks: 6
Sitka: 6
North Pole: 3
Mat-Su: 1
Whitehorse: 0

Like every year since 2008, the selection of All-Star rosters was done by the general managers from each division. However, fans voted throughout the months of June and July, and their votes determined who started.

A controversy broke out when Mat-Su and Whitehorse were initially left off the Denali Division team altogether. The Miners ultimately got Leith Drover in to replace the recently injured Kisei Suto, but for the first time ever, there would be one team totally unrepresented in the All-Star Game.

The league would meet in August and revise the procedure as follows. From now on, every team would have to be represented in the All-Star Game. Furthermore, the rosters would be expanded to 24 to match current league rules, by adding an 11th pitcher. (When team rosters were expanded to 24 a few years ago, the All-Star Game roster remained at 23 as a cost-cutting measure, and out of concern that too many pitchers were not getting a chance to play in the showcase game as it was.)

The Game

Cook Inlet, Anchorage

Over Sitka's objections, the game was again played at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage this year. (The league preferred to switch off between this site and Growden in Fairbanks, because their size meant that sellout crowds, as were now typical for the annual showcase, would bring in more revenue. All-Star Game revenues went wholly to the league office.) The Sentinels protested that they had been scheduled to hold the All-Star Game last year, when it had been canceled, and they should certainly get it this year. The league was in no mood to compromise with one of the owners who had made serious trouble for them with all that talk of boycott, and the game in Anchorage went ahead.

The game started as a battle between two lefthanded starters, veteran Ryan Dye for the Seward and youngster Merrill Currell for the Denali.

The Denali All-Stars took a quick 4-0 lead after 2 innings, helped along by an error by Zander Sabin in the 2nd.

The Seward Division came storming back in the 3rd inning. Shea and Morrisey thrilled the Anchorage fans by hitting back-to-back solo home runs off Larry Corbitt.

In the 5th inning, the Seward All-Stars hung three runs on Mark Deacon and Trevor Quinton to tie the game at 5 (the Denali team had scored in the 4th).

In the top of the 7th, Toby Burns tripled off Sam Lockwood to score Aaron Randolph and put the Denali Division up by a run again. The normally solid Boutillier then let the game get a bit out of hand in the 8th, as Hussey walked, Theriault tripled, Randolph singled, and then Burns doubled - Randolph was thrown out coming home, but two runs had already come in.

There the score remained - 8 to 5 - and Bryan Kendall and Jon Funk together nailed down the Denali Division victory with a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th.

All-Star Game MVP: hometown favorite, Glacier Pilot Griffin Shea for the losing side. He went 2-for-3 with a home run and scored twice, but made an error as well.

Post-ASG Standings

Here are the standings at the All-Star break:

Seward Division

KOD: 42-30, -
AGP: 41-31, 1 GB
ANC: 41-31, 1 GB
PEN: 38-34, 4 GB
BET: 26-46, 16 GB
ERC: 26-48, 17 GB

Denali Division

FAI: 46-26, -
JUN: 43-30, 3.5 GB
NPN: 35-38, 11.5 GB
SIT: 34-38, 12 GB
WHI: 34-39, 12.5 GB
MSM: 29-44, 17.5 GB

It's shaping up to be quite a race in the competitive Seward Division! In the Denali Division, it's another duel between Fairbanks and Juneau: no surprise there. The only thing I am surprised by is how badly Chugiak is doing. How the mighty have fallen. (One could say the same of Mat-Su, but they've been struggling for at least three years now.)