Since the year when the All-Star Game victor secured home field advantage for their league, the AL had won 7 straight All-Star Games but only 4 out of 7 World Series. An NL win in 2010 would even that up.
But the other thing that the NL now has is that now the NL team with the best record will get to choose what playoff schedule to take for the Division Series.
So if the Dodgers were to somehow not only win the division but have the best record in the league, they could choose to host the late games on Wednesday and Friday, then play Sunday and Monday and still be able to use their top 2 starters twice on regular rest.
The AL teams will now have the Wed/Thursday schedule followed by playing Saturday and Sunday, pretty much guaranteeing using 4 starters.
And this schedule will extend to the League Championship Series, now instead of Thursday night/Friday afternoon start for the NL, the NL will play to primetime games on Friday and Saturday followed by whatever they are doing during the rest of that schedule.
Anyway, just some thoughts on why winning the game was so important for the NL.