Blue Jays' manager was never going to let Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler start the All-Star game

John Schneider had already made up his mind before Aaron Boone or Cam Schlittler had a chance to change it. The Toronto Blue Jays manager, serving as the American League skipper for the All-Star Game, said he decided a few days ago that Dylan Cease would get the ball as the AL starter. On Sunday, (Jul. 12) the Yankees announced that Schlittler would be skipping the All-Star game altogether, paving the way for Schneider to select Cease.

But the decision itself was never really in doubt. “If Cam was going to pitch, my decision was still going to be Dylan,” Schneider told reporters. That line is where the story gets interesting.

On one hand, Schneider had a strong case to select Cease, who is just the fourth Blue Jays pitcher to get the nod to start the All-Star game (joining Roy Halladay, David Wells and Dave Stieb). The Blue Jays' ace has been one of the American League’s most dominant arms this season. He leads the league with 148 strikeouts and has a 3.6 bWAR and 3.7 fWAR.

Schneider pointed directly to his strikeout lead as the deciding factor. “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,” Schneider said. “So came to that conclusion yesterday.”

That is a fair explanation. The All-Star Game starter is supposed to be a showcase choice, and Cease certainly fits the bill. A pitcher leading the league in strikeouts has an obvious claim to the honour, not to mention his almost no-hitter in his final game before the break. But because this is Schneider and the Blue Jays and he flat out admitted he wasn't going to pick a member of the Yankees, there was always going to be another layer, regardless of Schlittler pitching in the game or not.

Blue Jays - Yankees rivalry still carries some weight, despite the gap in the standings

It's funny how a year can change some perspective. This time last season, the Blue Jays had just recently leaped over the Yankees in the AL East standings and held onto that spot until the very end of the year. Even though the Yankees tied them with identical records, the Blue Jays took home the AL East title thanks to the in-season tie-breaker.

The two teams then met in the ALDS with the Blue Jays embarassing the Yankees for the majority of that series, driving the stake into the hearts of the Bronx Bombers' season by winning Game Four of that series at Yankee Stadium.

However, this year, the Yankees have stayed in playoff contention the entire season and the Blue Jays are letting the final Wild Card spot slip further and further out of their grasp. Both Cease and Schlittler are big reasons for either team's success this season, with Schilttler leading the league with a 2.05 ERA with 118.2 innings pitched (compared to Cease's 98.1).

Schlittler was also the Yankees player who stirred the pot earlier this season when the two teams met for the first time in Toronto. Schlittler told reporters tha the Blue Jays fan base is "easy to rage bait."

Some people may look at the admission by Schneider as a petty play by the Blue Jays, while others will point to the fact that the Blue Jays get over looked consistently by the rest of the league and when it's their turn to be in the spotlight, they should take as much of the credit as they can.

It's also not the first time a Blue Jays manager has stirred some controversy in the All-Star game. In 1993, with the game in Baltimore at Camden Yards, Blue Jays' manager Cito Gaston told Orioles starter Mike Mussina he likely wasn't going to use him as the game went on. Mussina warmed up in the bullpen anyway and the home town fans in Baltimore nearly revolted when Cito didn't bring him out of the 'pen to pitch.

So Schneider might just be taking a page out of that playbook, and look, it's got people talking. At the end of the day, Schneider and all of the Blue Jays would love to be making even more pressing decisions such as, who should be starting Game One of a playoff series instead of the All-Star game. But in a season that has dissapointed to this point, beggars can't be choosers, it seems.

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