Minnesota Twins: Josh Donaldson blasts NBA All-Star Game
After being named an All-Star three times in his 11-year Major League Baseball career, Josh Donaldson knows a thing or two about what goes into playing in an All-Star Game. After watching the NBA All-Star Game take place on Sunday night, the Minnesota Twins slugger took to social media to stand up for baseball’s Midsummer Classic and take a not-so-subtle swing at other sports.
On Twitter, Josh Donaldson of the Minnesota Twins let his feelings be known about All-Star Games
During the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday night (which was won by Team LeBron, led by LeBron James, by a 163-160 score over Team Durant, led by Kevin Durant), Donaldson took to Twitter to talk about why MLB’s All-Star Game reigned supreme among sports when it comes to bringing their best players together for one game to showcase their skills.
Baseball is the only legitimate All Star game in sports. You can’t go easy when a guy throws a 100. All the other sports besides hockey should stop having them. It’s actually embarrassing to watch.
— Josh Donaldson (@BringerOfRain20) February 21, 2022
Granted, there wasn’t much defense shown in either the NBA All-Star Game or the NFL’s recent Pro Bowl (which drew plenty of criticism for a lack of tackling), so the Minnesota Twins third baseman may be on to something in that respect.
That line of thinking when it comes to defense plays into a retweet that Donaldson put out there criticizing the lack of effort during the NBA All-Star Game.
It is interesting that Donaldson brings up hockey, which saw its All-Star Game viewership numbers plummet this year. However, the Skills Competition portion of the All-Star festivities saw a rise in viewers. Could the average fan be more interested in opportunities to show off skills (like in the NHL Skills Competition or the MLB Home Run Derby) than the actual All-Star Game itself?
Certainly there are plenty of MLB players who have some fun during All-Star Game weekend (especially during the Home Run Derby), but the pitches being thrown during the All-Star Game by Max Scherzer or Shohei Ohtani aren’t any softer in the glorified exhibition game than they would be during the regular season.
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While the All-Star Game no longer gives the winning league home field advantage in the World Series, it’s safe to say that MLB players still give a higher level of effort during the game than their NBA and NFL counterparts have in recent All-Star showings.