St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright pumps his fist as he gets Pittsburgh Pirates Andrew McCutchen to ground out to end the fifth inning at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on July 7, 2014. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright pumps his fist as he gets Pittsburgh Pirates Andrew McCutchen to ground out to end the fifth inning at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on July 7, 2014. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

Mike Matheny, manager for the National League, gets to choose his starting pitcher…many outside of St. Louis are probably thinking Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers should have been the pick, but Matheny went with his own guy in Adam Wainwright. Matheny admits Wainwright may have had an unfair advantage of the Kershaw and others, because Matheny gets to see Wainwright every day.

Wainwright is 12-4, 1.83 ERA. Kershaw is 11-2, 1.78 ERA. You can flip a coin on the better stats this year.  What this comes down to is giving Wainwright his due respect.  He’s been passed over three times for the Cy Young and twice he should have won instead of taking runner-up and one of the perks of winning the pennant is that the manager can pick his guys.

In today’s video, I explain how Matheny didn’t abuse that privilege and why this is the right decision to have Wainwright start.