Baseball World Heavyweight Title Update: Rewriting History

I am woefully behind on proper Baseball World Heavyweight Title updates. Let's get caught up.

First, let me take you back to the All-Star Break. Entering the break, the Angels were the belt-holders, ending up with the title after it bounced quickly from the Brewers to the Royals to the Red Sox to the Orioles to the Rangers. Now, if you remember the original rules for the title, it can only be defended in regular season series, but since I'm in charge of the title now, I decided to have some fun and put the belt on the line in both the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game itself.

It was fairly simple to come up with a scenario for the Home Run Derby. It was a single-elimination tournament, and the Angels' Albert Pujols was participating. If anyone beat him, they'd get the belt. Turns out Joc Pederson did, in fact, beat him, only to lose to the Reds' Todd Frazier in the Finals. That meant the Reds were the current champ. I then took this a step further by coming up with a complex set of rules for the belt to change hands during the All-Star Game. Despite multiple title swaps during the game, the Reds still managed to walk away champions, after a dominant performance from Aroldis Chapman.

A few weeks removed from the All-Star break, however, I started to feel remorseful about noodling with the firmly-established rules for the title. In reality, I made the change in the hopes that the Dodgers would somehow walk out of the All-Star Game with the belt. So, yesterday I put it up to a blind Twitter vote to decide which lineage would stand: The one where the Reds left the ASG with the belt, meaning the Yankees would be the current champ, or the one where the Angels retained, meaning the Rangers would be the current champ. Twitter voted to keep the original timeline, so here we are. The title changes that "occurred" during the Derby and All-Star Game will remain a non-canonical diversion.

Current Champion: Texas Rangers 2015 BASEBALL WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE HISTORY
CHAMPION	WON FROM	REIGN LENGTH	SUCCESSFUL DEFENSES
1) San Francisco Giants	San Diego Padres (9/28/14)	6 days	1 (vs. AZ)
2) San Diego Padres	San Francisco Giants (4/12/15)	13 days	2 (vs. CHC, COL)
3) Los Angeles Dodgers	San Diego Padres (4/25/15)	25 days	6 (vs. SFG, AZ, MIL, COL, MIA, COL)
4) San Francisco Giants	Los Angeles Dodgers (5/20/15)	13 days	3 (vs. COL, MIL, ATL)
5) Pittsburgh Pirates	San Francisco Giants (6/2/15)	7 days	1 (vs. ATL)
6) Milwaukee Brewers	Pittsburgh Pirates (6/9/15)	8 days	1 (vs. WAS)
7) Kansas City Royals	Milwaukee Brewers (6/17/15)	3 days	0
8) Boston Red Sox	Kansas City Royals (6/21/15)	4 days	0
9) Baltimore Orioles	Boston Red Sox (6/25/15)	6 days	1 (vs. CLE)
10) Texas Rangers	Baltimore Orioles (7/1/15)	3 days	0
11) Los Angeles Angels	Texas Rangers (7/4/15)	21 days	4 (vs. COL, SEA, BOS, MIN)
12) Texas Rangers	Los Angeles Angels (7/25/15)	14 days (through 8/7)	3 (vs. NYY, SFG, HOU)

As for the the SoSG World Championship, introduced in the last update, the championship committee has decided to shelve it for the time being, due to barely being able to keep up with one belt. Joc has it stashed in a locker somewhere. It may resurface at some point.

Confused about what the BWHT is and how it works? Hit the BWHT link on the sidebar for all the relevant posts to date.

All-Star Game Thread: NL vs. AL, 4p

Post-Game 90 Thread: A-Gon, The All-Star

Picture from Friday's night's game, but Counsell's expression is timeless

DODGERS 4, BREWERS 3

With Kyle Lohse and his 6.17 ERA having made it through five innings and wielding a 3-2 lead, Craig "The Rat" Counsell opted to go to his bullpen (I was listening to the radio broadcast at the time, and I think Monday said that Milwaukee's bullpen ERA rated pretty well, though their team ERA ranks 12th in the NL, which obviously isn't very good). However, the third reliever in the Brewers' parade, Will Smith, wasn't gettin' jiggy with it, and replaced Jeremy Jeffress (who had left Howie Kendrick on second with none out) only to give up the go-ahead HR to Adrian Gonzalez.

Gonzalez is now taking his offensive firepower to the All-Star Game, along with Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw, Yasmani Grandal, and Joc Pederson. This is the first time that the Dodgers have had five All-Stars since 1995 (a year which was so crazy, even Jose Offerman was an All-Star). Smith, on the other hand, is not advancing to the All-Star Game.

A.J. Ellis also had a home run, his second. I have to record this for the record books. He is batting .217, which is still ahead of Jimmy Rollins (1-for-4 today, batting .213). Justin Turner also had a two-out base-hit RBI in the first.

Brett Anderson went a respectable 7.0 IP (8 H, 3 ER, 0 BB and 3 Ks), but Pedro Baez got the win and Kenley Jansen took his 18th save.

Let's all take a little break now, so Counsell can stop grimacing.

Game 86 Thread: July 8 vs. Phillies, 7p

Kershaw looking studly on Photo Day.

Clayton Kershaw (5-6, 3.08) vs. Adam Morgan (1-1, 2.13).

Really, Clayton Kershaw is above all this Final Vote and #MVPtoASG business. He's the reigning MVP and Cy Young winner and has earned the right not to be subject to fan voting shenanigans. Let Clayton get the W tonight and then #LetKershawSleep.