MLB All-Star Game 2018: 5 most likely MVP candidates

4. Max Scherzer, P/Washington Nationals

For the first time in almost 50 years, our nation’s capital will host the MLB All-Star Game. You’d have to go back to 1969 to find the last D.C.-hosted event at the old RFK Stadium. Here, we’ll take a look at Max Scherzer, the first of two gentlemen that happen to have starring roles on the local team.

Since coming over to the Nationals from the Tigers, Scherzer has been one of the few bright spots of a team that has had much higher expectations than they’ve met. He’s averaging nearly nine strikeouts per start on a season where he’s posted 11 wins as of this writing. But he’s no stranger to several of the American League batters, given that he was once part of that league. So if he can find his rhythm with the baseball world watching, he could easily take home the MVP trophy. It might even help him light a fire under a Nationals team that needs a strong second half finish to catch up with the Braves.

He’s got three Cy Young Awards, a pair of no-hitters and a 20-strikeout game on his resume and most of the hitters he’ll face that night will be more than familiar with what they’re about to deal with

If Max can get some solid run support in the second half, the Nationals could get interesting to watch. But for this night, we forget about all of that for a few innings and will watch him go up against the best the American League has to offer. This will be the sixth consecutive All-Star appearance for Scherzer, and he’d love to make the most of it.