Clayton Kershaw is the reigning Cy Young winner, threw a no-hitter last month, and leads the league in ERA, but Cardinals manager Mike Matheny has chosen his own ace, St. Louis right-hander Adam Wainwright, to start for the National League tomorrow night.
Wainwright ranks second in the league with a 1.83 ERA, just barely behind Kershaw at 1.78, and he’s thrown 42 more innings than Kershaw while leading the NL with 12 wins. In other words it’s hardly a controversial choice, although Kershaw is generally viewed as the best pitcher in the world and it does add a little drama to the situation that Matheny is choosing his own guy.
Here’s a full-on comparison of their respective numbers:
Wainwright Kershaw
Starts 19 14
Innings 138 96
ERA 1.83 1.78
Record 12-4 11-2
SO/9 7.5 11.8
BB/9 1.8 1.2
OAVG .201 .191
WHIP 0.91 0.83
I tend to think Kershaw has been the better pitcher this season and also think his track record of Cy Young-winning excellence makes up for Wainwright’s admittedly large edge in innings this season, but Wainwright’s track record is plenty excellent too and one of the perks of getting to the World Series as a manager is that the next season you can choose your own ace over the Dodgers’ ace to start the All-Star game.