To many, Zack Wheeler deserved to be the starting pitcher for the National League in the 2021 All-Star Game. With Mets ace Jacob deGrom sitting out and Giants starter Kevin Gausman ineligible to pitch two days after his start in the first-half finale, there was a choice to be made as to who deserved to start the most. The nod went to Max Scherzer (7-4, 2.66 ERA, 134 K, 2.0 bWAR) despite Wheeler's superior first-half production (6-5, 2.26 ERA, 145K, 4.9 bWAR).
Oh well. At least Wheeler would enter the game soon after Scherzer, right? Not so. Manager Dave Roberts went with the following list of pitchers, in order, throughout the action-packed night:
— Max Scherzer (1.0 IP)
— Corbin Burnes (2.0 IP)
— German Marquez (1.0 IP)
— Trevor Rogers (1.0 IP)
— Taijuan Walker (1.0 IP)
— Freddy Peralta (1.0 IP)
— Mark Melancon (0.1 IP)
— Alex Reyes (0.2 IP)
— Craig Kimbrel (0.2 IP)
Add all of those innings up and you'll see that it was the top of the ninth inning, with two outs, and Wheeler still had not gotten into the game. It wasn't until then that Roberts decided to pull the trigger on the Phillies star, much to the chagrin of several fans who had been waiting to see him do what he does best in a larger sample size.
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When he did come in, he was pretty darn good. He threw three pitches for three strikes, getting the best of Matt Olson and promptly heading back to the dugout (via MLB Film Room).
As Phillies writer Alex Carr notes, there are a few reasons Wheeler may have had such a brief appearance: it could have been due to his league-high 119.2 innings of work to this point in the season, or it could have been because the Phillies wanted him as fresh as possible to kick off the second half. It also could have been a case of disrespect, and that seems to be the reasoning that came to mind for fellow Philadelphia starter Zach Eflin.
There are also those who thought Roberts legitimately forgot about Wheeler and abruptly sent him in at the end of the game to make up for that. Who knows. Three pitches for three strikes certainly isn't a bad outing, but it probably wasn't the one Phillies fans were excited to see. Fortunately, the other Philly representative had a night for himself as well.
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