Monday wasn’t a good day for any of the Phillies, but perhaps it was the worst for Cristopher Sánchez. The ace lefty suffered through his worst start in his big-league career to this point, as he allowed 9 runs on 12 hits in just 3.1 innings. It was the most runs he’s ever allowed in a start and the most he’s allowed in a start since August of 2024. It also tied his career high in hits allowed and the second time this year he’s allowed 12 hits in a start.
All baseball players go through slumps, including
pitchers. It’s extremely common for anyone to have an off day where absolutely nothing goes right even in a season where almost everything has gone well. Sánchez will in all likelihood rebound from this disaster and continue to be one of the best pitchers in baseball.
However, this clunker may have cost him some notable recognition. It couldn’t have come at a much worse time in regard to the possibility of Sánchez starting the All-Star game on his home mound. It was already shaping up to be a debate, but recency bias is now firmly against Sánchez. Brewers’ fireballer Jacob Misiorowski being ineligible to pitch certainly helps Sánchez’ chances, but he still went from being second in the NL in ERA and seventh in WHIP to seventh and 15th respectively.
But that’s not all, as this start inflated his numbers to the point where he may have also cost himself a chance at the NL Cy Young award at season’s end. There’s still plenty of baseball to be played and things change all the time, but Sánchez was already facing an uphill battle against Misiorowski. Now the statistical gap between the two is even wider with others such as Chris Sale, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Chase Burns also looking like contenders.
So, did Cristopher Sánchez cost himself the All-Star start and the Cy Young with his bad start?
