MIAMI — For the last 14 seasons, a summer exhibition game determined home-field advantage in the fall, when everything matters in baseball. Yet linking the outcome of the All-Star Game to the location of World Series games did little to change the spirit of camaraderie in July. The difference now — with nothing really on the line — is that baseball sanctions the fun.

So on Tuesday night at Marlins Park, Nelson Cruz took a swing with a cellphone in his left back pocket, after posing for a photo with the umpire Joe West. (“I had it on silent if anyone called me,” Cruz said.) The catcher/photographer, Yadier Molina, hit a home run and got a high-five and glove slap from the opposing shortstop, Francisco Lindor. George Springer conducted an interview with Fox while playing left field.

There were back stories to those moments: Cruz enjoys joking with West and called him a legend for working more than 5,000 games; Molina and Lindor played together on Team Puerto Rico at the World Baseball Classic; Springer is proud of overcoming a stutter, and eagerly agreed to wear a microphone.

The players had a good time, but the fans at Marlins Park seemed indifferent — large swaths of the upper decks were empty in the ninth inning, with the score tied. Those who remained saw Robinson Cano of the Seattle Mariners line a hanging curveball from Wade Davis into the right-field bullpen to lead off the 10th inning and give the American League a 2-1 victory.