The Braves sent four players to the All-Star game — Marcell Ozuna, Max Fried, Reynaldo Lopez, and Chris Sale. The last of which would likely win the first Cy Young award of his career if the season ended today.
What Sale has done this year for Atlanta has been nothing short of a joy to watch. The veteran Southpaw leads all of baseball in wins and FIP while boasting an NL-best 2.70 ERA. Sale has turned the clock back and earned All-Star honors for the first time since 2018 but isn’t expected to pitch in tomorrow’s game.
The Braves starter toed the rubber on Sunday against the Padres in the club’s final game before the All-Star break, tossing 5.0 innings of one-run ball in a 6-3 victory. It effectively ended all chances of him starting the All-Star game for the National League, even if he was the most deserving by stats.
However, even if he was on normal rest, he may have not gotten the nod. Arizona manager Torey Lovullo apparently might have opted for the Braves ace, but USA Today’s Bob Nightingale speculated that Rob Manfred would’ve stepped in and forced him to start Paul Skenes.
“If Atlanta’s Chris Sale were not starting Sunday, making him ineligible to pitch in the All-Star Game,” Nightengale said, “he may have been their choice to start for the NL, D-backs coaches say.”
“Yet, it’s likely MLB would have overruled manager Torey Lovullo and made Skenes the starter, anyway. Skenes was going to be the starter even before his seven no-hit innings in his last start Wednesday against the Milwaukee Brewers.”
Skenes may already be the best pitcher in baseball. He’s 6-0 with a 1.90 ERA and 89 strikeouts in just 66.1 innings of work. The LSU product looks unhittable and is the first rookie to start an All-Star game since Hideo Nomo in 1995,
The Pirates rookie phenom is the hottest thing in baseball right now, so it’s completely understandable if Major League Baseball wanted him on the mound strictly for marketing purposes. However, Braves fans aren’t taking this lightly, even if Chris Sale is not available anyway.
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Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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