SAN DIEGO — A few weeks ago, the Phillies chartered another jet separate from the typical team plane. They expected a decent-sized party that would go from California to Atlanta to represent the club in the All-Star Game. Maybe it wouldn’t be as large as the franchise-record eight players who were honored in 2024.
But they expected the group to be larger than just Kyle Schwarber, the only Phillies player who will actually go to the Midsummer Classic.
“It’s unfortunate,” Schwarber said, “but I wish my teammates were there. We know what we have, and I think that we’re grateful for what we have.”
The Phillies will defend their own; all along, players and coaches have been disappointed that Cristopher Sánchez, Ranger Suárez and Trea Turner were not named All-Stars. Every team thinks it has a player snubbed.
But, as news spread in the Phillies’ clubhouse after Friday night’s 4-2 loss to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, that disappointment transformed into anger. Major League Baseball named Milwaukee Brewers hard-throwing rookie Jacob Misiorowski, who has made five starts in the majors, as an All-Star.
“What a joke,” Turner said. “That’s f— terrible. I mean, that’s terrible, dude.”
“That’s just how MLB does it now,” J.T. Realmuto said. “Nothing against the Misiorowski kid. But those two (Sánchez and Suárez) are deserving of being on the team in the first place. There’s no doubt.”
Nick Castellanos shook his head. He remembered something veteran reliever Craig Kimbrel had once said in passing, and it felt appropriate now.
“It’s turning into the Savannah Bananas,” Castellanos said.
Jacob Misiorowski has been added to the National League All-Star team
He replaces Matthew Boyd on the NL’s active roster pic.twitter.com/XA7g4r28k2
— MLB (@MLB) July 12, 2025
At odds, then, is how players view the All-Star accolade with how the league perceives the exhibition game’s intention. Veteran Phillies players said the Misiorowski nod cheapens the All-Star honor.
“Yeah, 100 percent,” Turner said. “I mean, it’s not the All-Star Game in the sense that the best players go there, or people who have had the best season. It’s whoever sells the most tickets or has been put on social media the most. That’s essentially what it’s turned into.”
The situation has layers. Sánchez owns a 2.59 ERA, the fourth-lowest in the National League. His 107 2/3 innings rank 12th. He’s sixth in WAR among NL starting pitchers, according to FanGraphs. The only disqualifying factor is the schedule; Sánchez will start Sunday’s Phillies game, making him ineligible to pitch in the All-Star Game.
The Phillies sought clarification. MLB told them a replacement player can only be named to the All-Star roster if he agrees to pitch in the game. Sánchez, by rule, cannot make the team.
“If he’s not an All-Star,” Turner said, “then no one is.”
In Turner’s mind, the league could easily name Sánchez as an All-Star, giving him the appropriate accolade, then replace him. As of late Friday night, the league had named 79 All-Stars. Fifteen were replacements.
Turner’s teammates agreed. Sánchez, they said, should not be punished for taking the ball for the Phillies in a meaningful regular-season game to end the first half.
“That shouldn’t be the case,” Realmuto said.
“He should be named an All-Star still,” Schwarber said.
Sánchez, who made the team last year, loses more than the honor of being a two-time All-Star. He has a lucrative bonus in his contract for making an All-Star team. Earlier in the week, Sánchez said he was upset not to have received the honor.
It is one way players are measured after their careers have concluded.
“When they announce guys on the field, when it’s the throwback day or the 10-year reunion,” Schwarber said, “it’s, ‘He was an X-time All-Star.’”
Ranger Suárez is 7-3 with a 1.94 ERA over 13 starts. (Hunter Martin / Getty Images)
Suárez, who allowed three runs (one earned) in 6 2/3 innings during Friday’s loss to San Diego, revealed he had been asked earlier in the week by MLB to attend the All-Star Game. The league told him he could be an All-Star if he agreed to pitch an inning in the game.
He declined, citing a desire to rest and be as prepared as he could for the Phillies in the season’s second half.
That means MLB deemed Suárez worthy enough to be an All-Star. He has a 1.94 ERA in 83 2/3 innings. That is the lowest mark in the NL for any pitcher with 80 innings. He missed all of April with a back injury, then allowed seven runs in his first start. He has permitted 11 earned runs in 12 starts since.
Suárez made his choice.
“Even if you’re going to ask him that, then he should be labeled an All-Star at that point,” Schwarber said. “Not just if you can pitch.”
The rules on how the league decides on replacements are not public. In the past, league officials have searched for replacements who would commit to an inning, even though it’s not a guarantee they’ll pitch in the game. The All-Star rosters are built through fan voting, player voting, and then selections by the commissioner’s office. Every team has to have at least one representative on the initial rosters.
It all means the best players aren’t assured of being named All-Stars. It’s always been that way.
But the Misiorowski decision, to the Phillies, sets a new precedent.
“Major League Baseball is really just focusing on the most marketable players,” Castellanos said. “So the fact that they can have somebody in the game that is going to basically blow out one inning and throw 103, 104 (mph), they’re going to get more eyeballs on baseball. They’re going to think it’s getting more popular.”
Phillies ace Zack Wheeler was named to the initial All-Star roster but decided to skip the game. (Al Bello / Getty Images)
Schwarber could have had company in Zack Wheeler, who said Friday he was pulling out of the game. He did not want to disrupt his routine to pitch in the exhibition. Everything else, Wheeler said, was too important.
“He wanted to make sure his body was in good shape coming out of the break,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “He wants to do what’s right by the club. He’ll have more innings than last year at the break. So, I think he’s being smart.”
Ultimately, the Phillies would prefer none of their pitchers throw in the All-Star Game. They could use the rest. But they also want their pitchers to collect honors and attention. In Suárez’s case, he cannot have it both ways.
The Sánchez situation, in particular, will not sit well with anyone in the Phillies organization.
“That’s unacceptable that they can’t name him an All-Star and do the same thing (to replace him),” Turner said. “So the only excuse that that guy’s not in the All-Star Game is that he can’t pitch that day? That’s terrible.”
(Top photo: Cristopher Sánchez: Scott Marshall / Getty Images)
