The Midsummer Classic is the biggest all-star game in the world, but it’s so hard to take seriously.

For all the good things that come out of Major League Baseball’s All-Star game, the final result of the game ruins the whole affair. Only in baseball does the winning league of an exhibition game get home-field advantage in the World Series.

There have been plenty of iconic moments in the All-Star game, and there will likely be a memorable moment when Derek Jeter is honored for his Hall of Fame career. No one will remember the more significant moment when Jose Altuve hits a bloop single to drive in the winning run off Tony Watson in the eighth inning to secure home-field advantage for the American League.

That’s a problem for a league that prides itself on its All-Star game and adds another black mark to commissioner Bud Selig’s career in Major League Baseball.

Home-field advantage in the World Series should be a reward for the best team still standing after the first two rounds of the playoffs. It shouldn’t be a reward for which league has the best luck in an exhibition game. It’s not even a cheap grab for TV ratings, which have continuously declined since the 1990s.

Who knows what the rationale was behind the decision, but it has cheapened the All-Star game, and more importantly the World Series, by attempting to give an exhibition game relevance.

It’s fun and cool to see a bunch of future Hall of Famers along with some one-hit wonders take each other on. The novelty of that hasn’t died yet and likely never will. There’s already a lot of pomp and circumstance added to the game; there doesn’t need to be any more tacked on as some sort of bonus that no one asked for.

Then again, how can a game that determines who holds home-field advantage in the World Series be so arbitrary about choosing the best players available? White Sox ace Chris Sale, who is the best pitcher in baseball not named Clayton Kershaw or Felix Hernandez, was forced to launch a Final Vote campaign to make the team. The National League’s winner in the Final Vote, Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo, has the third most home runs in the NL and is in the top ten in slugging percentage and on-base plus slugging percentage.

In the end, all the nonsense regarding the All-Star game would be acceptable if the game didn’t matter. But like we’re so often reminded, “this time it counts.”