MLB All-Star Game: 5 things to watch for tonight

The starting pitchers

By the very nature of the contest, the All-Star Game typically features a great starting pitching matchup. While you’re not going to see these guys go at it for seven-plus innings like you would in the regular season, it’s still cool to watch two of baseball’s best arms go toe-to-toe for a bit, especially when they might not face off under usual circumstances.

This year’s starters were a virtual no-brainer. Max Scherzer and Chris Sale have by most metrics been the top two pitchers in baseball during the first half. In fact, Sale leads all hurlers with 5.3 fWAR and Scherzer comes in second at 4.4. These guys pretty much come with only one setting: dominate.

Sale has somehow been even better than advertised in his first season in Boston. The lefty owns an 11-4 record, 2.75 ERA, 0.901 WHIP and 8.09 K/BB ratio over 127.2 innings at the break. Meanwhile, Scherzer boasts a 10-5 record, MLB-leading 2.10 ERA, 0.779 WHIP and 6.41 K/BB in 128.1 frames.

We very well could be seeing a clash between this year’s eventual Cy Young winners. Joel Sherman of the New York Post wonders if we’re watching future Hall of Famers too. It might be an exhibition game, but that’s not something that just happens every day.

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