WASHINGTON – Cristopher Sánchez and Jacob Misiorowski are on a collision course that leads directly to Philadelphia on July 14.
The Phillies left-hander and the Milwaukee Brewers’ velocity-crazed right-hander are far and away the two best pitchers in the National League this season and could create a quandary for their teams and Major League Baseball, while opening up a year-old wound.
Which one starts the All-Star Game?
In any other season, Sánchez would be an easy choice. After all, the game is returning to Philly for the first time since 1996, and Sánchez posted the lion’s share of his amazing 55 2/3-inning scoreless streak – longest in major league history for a left-hander – at Citizens Bank Park.
Ah, but then there’s Misiorowski, again posing a roadblock that could affect Sánchez.
The Brewers’ 6-foot-7 24-year-old leads major league qualified starters with a 1.45 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and 138 strikeouts in 93 innings. He threw the fastest pitch ever recorded by a starting pitcher – 104.5 mph – and showed the Phillies how dominant he can be.
On June 12, Misiorowski threw a one-hit shutout with 15 strikeouts against the Phillies, just the third pitcher to punch out that many batters while allowing just one baserunner.
And while back in the day, the long ball was the in thing, nowadays it’s velocity that gets more clicks.
But can a case be made that Sánchez has both statistics and sentiment – all of Philly wrapping their arms around him – on his side?
“There’s so many deserving guys. But I think it’s cool if someone can start in their home season,” Phillies shortstop Trea Turner tells USA TODAY Sports, noting the atmosphere when Clayton Kershaw started the 2022 All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium.
“I thought that was really cool. Not that MIsiorowski isn’t more than deserving – he is, he’s had an unbelievable season. But I think the home start’s cool. The fans would love it and I think all of baseball would love it.”
Yet several factors will determine which ace gets the ball – or doesn’t pitch at all – in the Midsummer Classic.
A controversial choice, a pro response
The Phillies were aghast. They had a pair of left-handers – Sánchez and Ranger Suárez – having fantastic seasons. Yet when a rash of pitcher replacements were required to substitute pitchers who started games the Saturday or Sunday before the 2025 All-Star Game in Atlanta, neither were chosen.
Instead, MLB opted to showcase Misiorowski, then a rookie with just five starts and a mere 25 innings pitched in his career – 90 fewer than Sánchez’s first-half total, paired with a 2.50 ERA.
“What a joke,” Turner told The Athletic. “I mean, that’s terrible, dude.”
"That's just how MLB does it now," catcher J.T. Realmuto added. “Nothing against the Misiorowski kid. But (Suarez and Sanchez) are deserving of being on the team in the first place. There's no doubt.”
It was an admittedly calculated risk by the league. The Miz could have cracked under his first global pitching assignment. A poor second half or injury might have made the decision foolhardy in retrospect.
But Misiorowski aced the assignment, pitching a scoreless inning, hurling nine pitches harder than 100 mph, handling his media obligations with aplomb and, while his second-half ERA ballooned to 5.36, he helped pitch the Brewers to the National League Championship Series.
This year, both pitchers seem separated by a razor-thin margin, with bulk vs. sizzle possibly entering the picture again.
A little more work to do
Sánchez once again has an innings-pitched edge, 105-93, second in the majors only to Sandy Alcantara’s 110 innings pitched for Miami. That seems a negligible difference, though 12 innings provides nearly two starts worth of coverage to a pitching staff.
Otherwise, it’s hard to deny Misiorowski’s dominance.
What a combination: Misiorowski leads the majors in both strikeouts per nine innings (13.35) and opponents’ batting average (.146, 53 points better than No. 2 Paul Skenes).
The Phillies saw firsthand how deadly his combination of a 103-mph fastball and a 98-mph slider can be. Kyle Schwarber managed their lone hit, and he was erased on a double play, Misiorowski facing the minimum in just 95 pitches.
“I feel like he’ll give you a pitch in the middle of the zone maybe once an at-bat, but if you miss that one pitch, it’s nearly impossible,” says Turner, who struck out twice in three at-bats. “Just so much extension. A lot of guys throw hard. He’s not only throwing harder, but the extension is crazy.
“Last year, we got to him a little bit. This year, he pitched one of the best games I’ve ever seen.”
Sánchez counters with a fastball he runs up into the high 90s with the game’s greatest changeup and, increasingly, a slider that makes the whole package deadly when everything is clicking.
With a PitchCom device in his ear, Turner, at shortstop, can relish just what Sánchez is going to do next to a helpless hitter.
“Watching from this side’s a little more fun,” he says. “As a hitter, you know (the changeup) is coming. It’s just, is it a strike? Can you lay off it if it’s a ball? It tells you how good it is when you know that’s the pitch, you’re going to face him three or four times and he still gets awkward swings.
“I think that just speaks so highly of him when you know it’s coming and you can’t do much with it.”
While both pitchers’ 2026 bodies of work are accumulating, there’s still plenty of work to do before one of them is warming up in the Citizens Bank Park bullpen come July 14.
Both have four starts left, Sanchez June 25 at Washington, home to Pittsburgh and then road assignments at Kansas City and Detroit. Misiorowski faces the Cubs June 26 and will take on Cincinnati, St. Louis and Pittsburgh.
And there’s a chance the calendar won’t align for one or both of them.
Hands up for Hollywood
On paper, Sánchez is in good shape. If the Phillies skip the unsettled fifth spot in their rotation thanks to an off day July 3, Sánchez would start Sunday, July 5 at Kansas City and Friday, July 10 at Detroit.
That’s an ideal three days of rest before a likely one-inning All-Star assignment.
Misiorowski, though, is on turn to make his final first-half start Saturday, July 11 at Pittsburgh. In 2025, six pitchers were scratched from the roster because they started the Saturday before the All-Star Game – including the Cubs’ Matthew Boyd, whose absence opened up Misiorowski’s spot.
The Brewers can certainly fiddle with the rotation before then, and might welcome extra days of rest for Misiorowski, pushing him back a day or two and eliminating that last late-week start. And weather, of course, is a factor when the Brewers are on the road.
Yet logistics are only half the equation, now. Increasingly, narrative plays a role.
When Kershaw made that start in 2022, he was not the best pitcher in the NL’s first half. That distinction belonged to Alcantara, who posted a 1.76 ERA, threw three first-half complete games and six starts with zero earned runs given up.
It’s not like Kershaw was chopped liver: He had a 2.13 ERA and, in his last start before the break, nearly tossed a perfect game at Anaheim.
Yet this was L.A., home of the Dodgers and also Fox Sports. Kershaw was named the starter and the network spun up a goofy pregame bit where Kershaw and Shohei Ohtani, then an Angel, were mic’d up and talked trash to each other moments before the first pitch.
Ohtani complied by hitting a first-pitch single, and then Kershaw picked him off first base. Almost like it was scripted.
Not sure if they can contrive any such theatrics with The Miz or Sánchie. Yet if all things are equal, velocity just might be the tiebreaker.
That may leave the Phillies with a mild beef for a second year in a row. That’s OK – they still get to watch Sánchez pitch every five days.
“It’s pretty amazing to watch him on a start-in, start-out basis,” says manager Don Mattingly. “Ninety-seven, 98 is pretty good, with movement. He’s a guy whose mix all tunnels. He’s tough to pick up.
“He handles pretty much everybody.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cristopher Sánchez, Jacob Misiorowski compete for All-Star Game start
