The All-Star Game
The midpoint exhibition, plus the four days that are the only real break in the calendar.
What it actually is. In mid July the American and National Leagues play an exhibition game, with rosters chosen partly by fan vote, partly by player vote and partly by the managers, and with a rule that every club must be represented. The Home Run Derby is held the night before. The three or four days around it are the only scheduled break in the season.
What somebody who knows the game gets out of it. The every club represented rule is the interesting part, because it means the roster is not the best 60 players and everybody knows it. It also creates the annual snub conversation, which is a useful teaching moment: the players most often left out are the ones whose value is in walks, defense and baserunning rather than in the counting statistics the ballot is built around. All-Star selections are a lagging indicator of how the sport values things.
The numbers worth knowing. Around 32 to 34 players per side. The break is three days for most clubs, four for those not playing on the Sunday.
What people get wrong about it. The game has not decided home field advantage in the World Series since 2016, when that rule was dropped. Home field now goes to the club with the better regular season record, which is how it should have been all along.
At Little League and travel ball. The youth equivalent is the all star team that goes to the Little League tournament in the summer, and it is a completely different thing: those teams are the ones that play the regional and national tournaments that end at Williamsport. The Little League section of this site covers that whole path.
Batter's Eye: look up anything in baseball