CINCINNATI — Beneath every striped cap on Monday, somewhere in the psyche of each player in the All-Star Game, were two competing emotions.
“You’ve got to pinch yourself and go, ‘What am I doing here?’ ” said Mark Melancon, the closer for the Pittsburgh Pirates. “And on the other side you go: ‘I belong here. This is me.’ ”
The feeling is most acute, it seems, for pitchers, no two of whom dominate in quite the same way. Even at a game in which every pitcher was among the best in the world, envy was everywhere.
“The guy that absolutely makes me go ‘wow’ is Chris Sale,” said Max Scherzer, the Washington Nationals’ ace.