Jon Heyman dropped the news Sunday afternoon and Phillies fans probably heard it before their phones finished buzzing: Cristopher Sanchez is starting the All-Star Game for the National League, and it's going down at his own home ballpark. You can't script it better than that. The Midsummer Classic lands in Philly this year, and the guy toeing the rubber for the NL is the same lefty who's been quietly authoring one of the best seasons in baseball all year long.
Breaking: Phillies superstar pitcher Cristopher Sanchez will be the National League starting pitcher for Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia
This isn't a courtesy nod for playing in the host city. Sanchez has been an ERA-title-caliber problem for opposing lineups all season, sitting at 11-4 with a 2.62 ERA and leading every pitcher in the sport with 5.4 bWAR. Somewhere in there he also ripped off a 50-plus inning scoreless streak, the longest by a lefty in MLB history and the fifth-longest by anyone, ever. That's not a hot streak, that's a guy having a career year at the exact moment the sport hands him the biggest stage it's got.
It's also a franchise milestone. Sanchez becomes the first Phillies pitcher to start an All-Star Game since Roy Halladay did it in 2011, and just the seventh in franchise history. Say what you want about the Phillies' recent playoff heartbreaks, but this is the kind of moment that reminds you why they signed him long-term in the first place. Philadelphia locked Sanchez up on a six-year, $107 million extension back in the spring, betting that the breakout wasn't a fluke. Tuesday night is the receipts.
He'll square off against Dylan Cease, who gets the ball for the American League, and the pairing is a nice bit of symmetry: two guys who spent years as intriguing-but-inconsistent arms before figuring it out and turning into legit aces. For Sanchez specifically, doing it in front of a home crowd raises the degree of difficulty and the theater. Starting an All-Star Game is a nice line on the resume anywhere. Starting it in the building you pitch 81 games a year in, in front of the fans who've watched every start, is a different kind of pressure and a different kind of reward.
For the bettors in the crowd, this is the kind of headline that moves things -- All-Star starter props, NL win futures, even Cy Young conversation all get a bump when a guy gets tabbed for this. Sanchez wasn't a lock for Cy Young buzz coming into the year, but a 2.62 ERA and a league-leading WAR number by the break tend to change that math fast. Tuesday's start won't decide anything by itself, but it's one more data point in a season that's turning into a genuine case.
Either way, the moment speaks for itself: a homegrown-feeling ace, in his own park, starting the game that's supposed to represent the best baseball has to offer. Philadelphia's had its share of forgettable summers lately. This isn't one of them.