The annual All-Star WAR comparison

 At last year's All-Star Game in St. Louis, I came up with the idea of comparing the WAR of the two starting lineups, to show that the National League had picked up ground on the American League. I think even predicted that the NL wound end its long (since 1996) winless streak, which would've been the only wrong prediction I've ever made.

Alas, that post and many others were lost in the great Newsday.com redesign of 2009. But let's give it another try. Of course we understand that this is nothing more than a snapshot, that the majority of these guys won't play in even half of the game and that this year's NL team features two injury substitutions (Martin Prado and Corey Hart for Chase Utley and Jason Heyward) and the AL one (Miguel Cabrera for Justin Morneau.

But it's fun, anyway. Here we go:

NL: Hanley Ramirez (2.3), Prado (2.2), Albert Pujols (3.4), Ryan Howard (1.3), David Wright (3.9), Ryan Braun (1.8), Andre Ethier (1.2), Hart (2.5), Yadier Molina (0.8), Ubaldo Jimenez (4.3). Total: 23.7. Average per player: 2.37.

AL: Ichiro Suzuki (2.2), Derek Jeter (1.1), Miguel Cabrera (3.7), Josh Hamilton (2.9), Vladimir Guerrero (1.9), Evan Longoria (3.9), Joe Mauer (2.1), Robinson Cano (4.6), Carl Crawford (3.4), David Price (3.1). Total: 28.9. Average per player: 2.89.

I'll say that the AL wins again, 6-3. I originally wrote that Alex Rodriguez would win MVP honors, but in light of George Steinbrenner's passing, I'll change that to Jeter.