Why Dylan Cease Is an All-Star Caliber Pitcher: Adam's Baseball Breakdowns

Introduction: Welcome back, as I hope you all are doing well! The following post is one that I write out of frustration and a bit of anger, as I feel like to need to give my thoughts and opinions on this specific situation and player. In all honesty, I have no idea why I am writing this piece in the first place, as this should not even be happening.

The following, is my rant, speech, argument, or whatever you want to call it on how Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Dylan Cease is the biggest All-Star game snub that I have ever seen in the 15 years that I have been watching baseball.

The article will also include my list of other starting pitchers who I think were snubbed out of the mid-season classic. Of course, to wrap up, I will give my lists of starting pitchers who I would have chosen to make the All-Star game for both leagues. Most importantly though, I hope you all enjoy reading my article!

To start things off, I have included a photo of me and Chicago White Sox "2022 American League All-Star Pitcher", Dylan Cease from this past March. Putting the All-Star part of the sentence in quotes pains me so much, because like I mentioned in the open, Dylan should be in the AL dugout in Los Angeles for the Mid-Summer Classic. Since MLB is not going to name him an All-Star, I will name him as such and deservingly so. My main goal of the article is to prove why Dylan Cease should have made the All-Star team, as I hope by the end of it that I have accomplished this goal.

Dylan Cease should have made the American League All-Star team by a landslide. If I stopped there, there would be no point in me writing this article at 11 PM in my basement two days before the All-Star game. Complaining about a specific player not making the All-Star team is something that I usually will not have a problem with because the game does not count, but this, this is straight up robbery if you ask me.

Dylan Cease is a strikeout artist who pitches for the Chicago White Sox. Leading all American League pitchers with 150 K's at the break, Cease is having his best season yet. Combining his upper 90's fastball with his knuckle-curve, and slider is amazing to see as the opposing hitters seem to swing wildly at his offerings.

In his final start of the first half, Cease pitched seven shutout innings of one-hit baseball against the Twins in Minnesota on Sunday, July 17th. Not that anyone is keeping track, but this was Dylan's 10th straight start in allowing 1 run or fewer, lowering his ERA to 2.15 on the season. Below, is Dylan's stat line from the first half of this season:

GS 19, 9-4 W-L, 104.2 IP, 2.15 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 150 SO, 12.9 SO/9, 2.67 FIP

150 SO-1st in AL

12.9 SO/9- 1st in MLB

2.15 ERA- 3rd in MLB

Lowest ERA since May 29 among SP's (0.53, as of July 12th)

AL Pitcher of the Month for June

Now, after reading the previous paragraph and scanning Dylan's statistics and accolades, I bet you are asking yourself: Why is Dylan Cease not an All-Star? This is the exact same question that has been on my mind for the last seven days or so as well. Being named the AL Pitcher of the Month for June is even more of a reason why Dylan should take part of the exhibition game in Los Angeles even if he does not take the hill.

Last week, I was seen with my hands up in the air as I was very, very frustrated that a pitcher like Paul Blackburn of the Oakland A's was chosen instead of Cease. To clarify, every team has to have at least one player represent them at the All-Star game, which is why I think Blackburn made it in the first place, but in all honesty, who cares about this rule? The majority of people are not going to have their feelings hurt that some dude with the last name Blackburn made the team. Sure, he had a solid first two months of the season, but he has somewhat fallen off, as expected.

The fact that Cease was not named an All-Star is the definition of stupidity, as I do not understand how in the world he missed the cut. Sure, there is a certain number of pitchers you can have for each league, but I have trouble grasping the fact that he was not on the list. With that being said, here is my list of starting pitchers that I think were snubbed out of the mid-season classic and my list of starting pitchers for the All-Star Game.

Note: A "snub" is someone who should have been named an All-Star, but was not.

Adam's All-Star Snub List: Starting Pitchers

Dylan Cease: Chicago White Sox

Logan Gilbert: Seattle Mariners

Max Scherzer: New York Mets

Zack Wheeler: Philadelphia Phillies

Pablo Lopez: Miami Marlins

Logan Webb: San Francisco Giants

Some of the players below opted out of the All-Star game to rest or recover during the break. As a result, I have put an asterisk by their name.

Adam's American League All-Stars: Starting Pitchers

*Justin Verlander: Houston Astros

*Gerrit Cole: New York Yankees

Shane McClanahan: Tampa Bay Rays

Alek Manoah: Toronto Blue Jays

Dylan Cease: Chicago White Sox

Logan Gilbert: Seattle Mariners

Shohei Ohtani: Los Angeles Angels

Nestor Cortes: New York Yankees

Framber Valdez: Houston Astros

Adam's National League All-Stars: Starting Pitchers

Sandy Alcantara: Miami Marlins

*Corbin Burnes: Milwaukee Brewers

Max Scherzer: New York Mets

Joe Musgrove: San Diego Padres

*Max Fried: Atlanta Braves

Clayton Kershaw: Los Angeles Dodgers

Tony Gonsolin: Los Angeles Dodgers

Zack Wheeler: Philadelphia Phillies

Logan Webb: San Francisco Giants

Final Thoughts: I hope you all have enjoyed reading my article on why I think Dylan Cease was robbed out of the All-Star game. Rarely do I write out of frustration, but I felt I needed to get this topic off of my chest and into words. Hopefully, I have achieved my goal of the article and maybe, just maybe, Major League Baseball was wrong for once.

See you at the Ballpark

Adam