Phillies' Cristopher Sanchez, Blue Jays' Dylan Cease Named 2026 MLB All-Star Game Starting Pitchers

The starting pitching matchup for the 2026 MLB All-Star Game is set with Cristopher Sánchez getting the nod for the National League and Dylan Cease taking the bump for the American League.

NL Manager Dave Roberts confirmed Sánchez would get the start.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post and MLB Network first reported Sánchez as the NL starter.

The Toronto Blue Jays officially confirmed Cease as the AL starting pitcher.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider informed Cease he would be starting the game in a clubhouse video:

Sánchez will be getting the start in his home ballpark with the game taking place in Philadelphia. He is also the first Phillies player to be the starting pitcher in an All-Star Game since Roy Halladay in 2011.

The race for the NL starting pitcher thinned out in recent days with Jacob Misiorowski, Chase Burns, Shohei Ohtani and Paul Skenes all opting out of playing in the game.

Even if all of them had decided to play, Sánchez would have had a strong case to be picked ahead of them. He ranks sixth in the NL in ERA (2.20), second in strikeouts (144) and second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.8).

It's only because of a rough outing on July 6 in which he allowed nine earned runs in 3.1 innings against the Kansas City Royals that Sánchez isn't at the top of the league in ERA.

After Cam Schlittler opted out of the All-Star Game on Sunday morning, Cease became the clear frontrunner to start for the AL. The Blue Jays star ranks third in the AL in ERA (2.56), first in strikeouts (148) and first in strikeouts per nine innings (13.6).

Schneider confirmed Cease would have gotten the start even if Schlittler was available.

"Whenever a guy's leading the league in strikeouts in an era like right now, you got really good stuff, you're very representative of the American League," the manager said. "So came to that conclusion yesterday."

Halladay was also the last Blue Jays pitcher to start the All-Star Game when he got the call in 2009.

The 2026 MLB All-Star Game will be played at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.