ThePhillySportsBlog

I would just like to thank Major League Baseball for not inviting Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler to pitch in the All Star Game.  Why?  Because it ticked Wheeler off and I think that is going to motivate him to win the NL Cy Young Award this season.

I understand that motivation alone isn’t enough for any pitcher to win a Cy Young, but Wheeler is also extremely talented, even at 36 years old.

Wheeler hasn’t pitched enough innings this season to qualify for the leader board in any statistical categories, after missing the first month of the season due to surgery for thoracic outlet decompression surgery last season.  But his 2.13 ERA is the third lowest in all of baseball through 15 starts.

Overall, Wheeler is 10-1 in those 15 starts with a 2.13 ERA, a 0.89 WHIP (Walks + Hits / IP) and 108 strikeouts in 93 innings pitched.  And in the two games since Wheeler said he felt “disrespected” by not being asked to be an All Star, he tied a career-high with 14 Ks against Cincinnati in a win and had another 10 Ks against Tarik Skubal and Detroit in another shutout win. 

Oh, and when MLB finally got around to asking Wheeler to be an All Star, after two previous rounds of naming other replacement pitchers to the game, he told them to go pound sand.

“They disrespected me,” Wheeler said.  “So I’m just not gonna participate in that thing (the All Star Game).  I’m not going to be the fifth option.”

Personally, I don’t think that was a good idea by Wheeler.  Sure, he was mad about being disrespected, but the All Star game was in his hometown.  He should have done it for the Philly fans.  Plus, he should have done it for his own career stats.

I’m not sure if Wheeler will be elected to the Hall of Fame, but adding one more All Star nomination to his resume can’t hurt.  He is already a three-time All Star (2021, 2024, 2025)  And Wheeler definitely thinks about stuff like this.  He even admitted that his goals coming into this season were to be an All Star, win the NL Cy Young award and to win a World Series. 

Now that he wasn’t an All Star, he’ll use that as fuel to achieve those other two goals.

Wheeler is currently tied for the third best odds to win the NL Cy Young, with Atlanta’s Chris Sale.  The favorite is Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski, followed by Wheeler’s teammate, Christopher Sanchez.  Right behind them is Cincinnati’s Chase Burns. 

After an injury-plagued start to his career with the New York Mets, Wheeler has been one of the best pitchers in baseball since he signed with the Phillies in 2020.  Here are his Cy Young voting finishes with the Phillies

2020  12^th

2021  2^nd

2023  6^th

2024 2^nd

2025  9^th

And wheeler only made 24 starts in 2025 before he was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome in mid-August and missed the rest of the season.  Impressive.

Looking at the competition, I think Wheeler has the best track record of recent success.

Misiorowski is in only his second season in the majors, but he has the best ERA (1.62) and the most Ks (167).  But being so young, the Brewers organization is going to be extremely careful with their prized pitcher (so he’s healthy enough to eventually trade, like they do with all their best players). He missed his last start before the All Star game, as well as the All Star game itself, due to arm fatigue.  He has already thrown 111 innings this season.  His career high of 141 1/3 innings was compiled last year between the minors, majors and the playoffs.  The Miz isn’t used to a heavy workload yet and pitchers in this era are soft.  He won’t throw many more innings than Wheeler by the end of the season, so their stats will be comparable.  He’s the favorite for a reason, but he’ll have to prove he can handle the workload and the pressure.

Christopher Sanchez pitched 50 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings (5^th longest in MLB history) earlier this season and was named the NL starter for the All Star Game.  The problem is that after that historic stretch, Sanchez has a 5.56 ERA over his last six starts.  He is much closer to the dominant pitcher he looked like earlier in the season than the one who has struggled recently though.  He also finished 2^nd in Cy Young voting last season, so he already has a reputation as one of the top pitchers in baseball.  He’ll be in the mix as long as he figures out what has been going wrong recently.

Chris Sale has been great since signing with Atlanta in 2024, after five injury-marred seasons.  He has a 2.20 ERA this season and actually won the CY Young award in 2024 (Wheeler finished 2^nd and was robbed).  He’s only thrown slightly more innings (98) than Wheeler has this season, mostly because he’s only a 5 or 6-inning pitcher at this point in his career.  The Braves have stumbled after a hot start to the season, so he won’t rack up huge win totals either.  Sale deserves to be in the CY Young race, but he’s even older than Wheeler.  Can he hold up with the injury curse that has seemingly infected the Braves pitching staff the last few years?

Cincinnati just gave Chase Burns a big payday (7 years for $105 million), but I don’t think a fat wallet is going to derail his season.  The former No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 draft is 11-1 for a team that only has 43 wins, along with a 2.54 ERA and 117 Ks in 102 2/3 innings.  The only question here is if someone so young with so few professional innings under his belt can withstand the rigors of a 162-game season. Or with such a hefty investment, will the Reds shut him down early due to an innings limit, in what is already a lost season in Cincinnati.  The guess here is that Burns will hit a “dead arm” period at some point and be shut down, eliminating him from serious Cy Young consideration.

Two Dodgers pitchers to consider are Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani.  Yamamoto is having a fine season, with a 9-6 record, 2.85 ERA and 106 Ks in 110 innings.  But he’s not the best pitcher in the NL by any stretch of the imagination. Ohtani won’t win because the Dodgers won’t allow him to pitch enough innings.  That’s smart, especially after he just had to have his knee drained on Sunday.  Plus, he’s more valuable as a hitter.

And of course you can’t have a NL Cy Young discussion without mentioning the guy who won the award in 2025 and finished 3^rd in 2024.  But Paul Skenes isn’t having a Paul Skenes type of season in 2026.  He’s 8-8, with a 3.57 ERA.  Everyone else would really have to fall off for him to get back in this race.

Wheeler has the track record of greatness in Philly and the durability to pitch all season without tiring out.  He has the arsenal of pitches to keep hitters off balance, with a devastating fastball, even if it isn’t over 100 MPH.  Wheeler knows how to pitch, even when he doesn’t have his best stuff on a given night.  And now he’s ticked off, thanks to this All Star snub.

Add all this up and I believe it will lead to the first Cy Young award in the illustrious career of Zack Wheeler.  Since MLB doesn’t have a vote, he can’t get screwed out of this honor.