I'm sure the players appreciate the All-Star break. A few days smack in the middle of the season to get away, rest, relax, go to the ESPYs or otherwise enjoy whatever aspects of summer that are not available to them due to the constraints of a 162-game schedule. But for baseball fans, the All-Star break is the longest three days of the year.
This is especially true if you're a fan of a team such as the Rays, who had some serious momentum rolling into the break, having won 10 of their last 12 games and three series in a row, including a sweep of the Red Sox. No offense to the WNBA and whatever golf or tennis tournaments that are taking place, but an extended break like this right now feels like a month in the middle of winter in the arctic. Just NOTHING going on. Sure, we had the All-Star Game itself, but while "it counts" now, it's still an exhibition game. The pennant race, what REALLY matters, has been frozen.
It will actually have been four full days since the Rays beat the Indians 6-5 in 10 innings before they take the field against the Yankees in New York tomorrow. Four days that feel like four weeks. Play resumes in other cities today, with three AL games (including the Red Sox hosting Texas) and four in the NL, so at least we can scoreboard watch. Hey, it's better than nothing.