Chris Sale is one of the best pitchers of his generation, and had his career come to an end after his tenure with the Boston Red Sox, that would still be true. But the 34-year-old left-hander has done something this season that not many anticipated.
When Sale was traded to the Braves from Boston before this season, the veteran southpaw was seen as a great complement to hard-throwing ace Spencer Strider. But Strider, who came into 2024 as one of the best pitchers in baseball, ended up missing the entire season after undergoing elbow surgery, leaving Sale and Max Fried to carry Atlanta’s rotation.
Soon, with Fried’s injuries, as well as many others on Atlanta’s roster throughout the season, the onus was on Sale to lead the team’s pitching production — something he hadn’t done for quite some time.
Throughout the first half, Sale showed that he could carry a rotation again once Strider and Fried went down, but the question became: Could he stay healthy enough to be dominant once again? Well, even with his teammates’ injuries stacking up, Sale hasn’t spent a day on the injured list this season, marking a first for him in seven years.
In staying on the mound, Sale has reminded many just how good he can be when he’s at his best. This season is the first time since 2017 that Sale will pitch more than 177 innings, and he has reached the 200-strikeout plateau for the first time since 2018. The eight-time All-Star is 18-3 with a minuscule 2.37 ERA and 225 strikeouts this year, putting him No. 1 in MLB in all three categories and on pace to win the Triple Crown.
No one knew what to expect when Sale was acquired by the Braves. While the name still carried plenty of weight, the production from one of the league’s best hadn’t been there in recent years. Yet an older, wiser Sale has figured out how to keep himself healthy and on the field for a full season — something that in the past was sometimes difficult for him and other elite starters around baseball.
Sale has finished in the top five of Cy Young Award balloting six times, earning a second-place finish after he struck out 308 batters in 2017. One week away from capturing the first pitching Triple Crown in a full season since Justin Verlander (AL) and Clayton Kershaw (NL) in 2011, Sale is on the precipice of finally winning that elusive first Cy Young Award.
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This season has not only put Sale back in the conversation as one of baseball’s best active pitchers, but it has also put him back on track for Cooperstown. With his first Cy Young on the way, the Braves’ ace will soon have earned the highest individual achievement for a pitcher, to go with the Boson Red Sox’s 2018 World Series title already on his résumé.
After dominating for more than a decade during his time with the White Sox and Red Sox, the last marker on Sale’s checklist would be the illustrious milestone of 3,000 strikeouts. He currently has 2,414 in his career, which puts 3,000 well within reach, especially if he continues to pitch at this elite level.
Sale’s Cy Young season will go down as one of the more improbable performances in baseball in recent memory. Not because he has never been capable or close to this, but because at this point in his career, it seemed like those days were behind him. Instead, this version of Sale is showing that he can still perform at a high level, and there’ll be no slowing down anytime soon.
