Phillies' Cristopher Sanchez Will Start for NL in 2026 MLB All-Star Game

As the Philadelphia Phillies get set for their final game before the All-Star break, they received some exciting news about one of the best players.

With a chance to finish off their series with the Tigers on a positive note, it has been a wild first half of the campaign for the Phillies. This was a team that was once 10 games under the .500 mark to start the season. Now, they have completely turned things around and are right in the hunt in the National League.

As expected with the season being turned around, there have been a lot of players who have had excellent campaigns for the team. The Phillies will be well-represented for the All-Star Game, but one of the most notable snubs was starter Zack Wheeler.

There has certainly been a lot of talk surrounding Wheeler not being on the team, and it has been a bad look for baseball. However, even though Wheeler won’t be at the game now, despite a last-minute invite, his teammate Cristopher Sanchez will be. Also, the talented southpaw will be starting for the team.

Sanchez Named Starter

Breaking: Phillies superstar pitcher Cristopher Sanchez will be the National League starting pitcher for Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 12, 2026

While it was expected that Sanchez was going to be the starter for the NL in the All-Star Game, that is now the case. With the game set for Tuesday night, it will be the talented southpaw for the Phillies on the mound in his home stadium.

The left-hander is certainly deserving to start the game, and it being at his home stadium makes it even better. So far this season, Sanchez has totaled an 11-4 record, 2.62 ERA, and a staggering 144 strikeouts.

After arguably the worst start of his career against the Kansas City Royals earlier in the week, the southpaw bounced back with an impressive performance against the Detroit Tigers. In a win on Saturday, he pitched seven innings and allowed just two runs. While the Tigers did threaten him with 10 hits, Sanchez did a good job of getting outs when he needed to.

While the one horrific start did a lot of damage to his ERA, Sanchez did have one of the best pitching months of all-time in May. In five starts, he didn’t allow a single run, making a lot of history along the way.

With the game being in Philadelphia, this is a nice honor for a pitcher who has been really good for the team the last couple of years.

Add us as a preferred source on Google