Phillies get another All-Star to replace Chris Sale

The Philadelphia Phillies will send the MLB’s top eight players to the 2024 All-Star Game. Fans selected Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and Alec Bohm as starters for the test game. This marks the first time in 42 years that the Phillies have sent three regular players to the All-Star Game.

When MLB announced the pitchers selected to participate in the Midsummer Classic, Philadelphia added four more names – starters Ranger Suarez and Zack Wheeler and relief pitchers Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm – bringing the total to seven.

Now, according to MLB on X, it has been announced that Phillies’ starting pitcher Cristopher Sanchez will replace Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves. Sale is having another incredible season, but will miss the game due to a scheduled start on Sunday.

Although three members of the Phillies’ rotation have received All-Star nominations this season, Sanchez will be the only starter to play in the game. Wheeler had back problems in his last start and will sit out. It was recently announced that Suarez will also miss the exhibition game. He will be replaced by Max Fried of the Braves.

The eight All-Star representatives are a franchise record for the Phillies and two more than the Los Angeles Dodgers, who will send six players to Globe Life Field for the July 16 game, according to MLB.com. Previously, Philadelphia had fielded five All-Stars in a single season.

With so much star power, it’s easy to overlook the accomplishments of some of the team’s lesser-known players. Fortunately, Sanchez’s work has not gone unnoticed this season. The 27-year-old has been outstanding as a back-end starter in a rotation that leads all of baseball with 527 strikeouts and a 3.20 ERA. The Phillies’ starters also rank the best in the major leagues in batting average against, WPA and fWAR, and rank second in WHIP.

Still, Sanchez has shined in a stellar season. After 103.1 innings, the fourth-year pro has a 7-4 record and a career-best 2.96 ERA with 2.4 walks/9, a 137 ERA+ and a major league-leading 0.2 HR/9.

The Phillies expand their All-Star roster: Cristopher Sanchez replaces Chris Sale

The Phillies have the best record in baseball, with four more wins than any other team through Saturday. Thanks largely to their excellent pitchers, Philadelphia has a commanding 8.5-game lead over the Braves in the NL East and an MLB-best run differential of +119.

The team has won 12 of its last 19 games and was 5-4 during a crucial stretch when Harper and Kyle Schwarber were on the injured list. Since the duo returned, the Phillies are 3-1 on Saturday.

With Harper and Schwarber out, the Phillies’ All-Stars stepped in. Turner was particularly good during the pair’s absence, hitting .342/.359/.684 and posting an incredible 1.043 OPS. In nine games, the veteran shortstop hit four home runs and a double, along with 11 RBIs, eight runs and a stolen base. During the same span, Bohm hit two home runs, two doubles and five RBIs with a .486 slugging percentage.

While the Phillies’ offensive All-Stars rose to the occasion despite the depleted roster, the performance of the starting pitchers selected for the 2024 Midsummer Classic was mixed. Wheeler got off to a good start in his only appearance, but Suarez didn’t fare nearly as well. The 28-year-old left-hander had a dominant season but stumbled into the All-Star break with a string of poor performances. In his two starts without Harper and Schwarber, he posted a 10.24 ERA and allowed 11 earned runs in just 9.2 innings.

Newly minted All-Star Sanchez epitomized the rotation’s mixed results during this stretch, throwing a masterful complete game without a score, allowing just three hits and striking out nine players, but followed that performance with a drubbing at the hands of the Chicago Cubs, when he allowed seven earned runs in four innings.

Despite some recent inconsistency, the Phillies’ pitching has been outstanding this season – and Sanchez has been instrumental in that success. According to Baseball Reference, the team has a better than 99.9 percent chance of making the playoffs and a 17.3 percent chance of winning the World Series. With high expectations and a franchise-high eight All-Stars, this year could be a championship or bust for Philadelphia.