Nov 20, 2024, 06:34 PM ET
Chris Sale‘s comeback season has ended with the expected result: He’s the National League Cy Young winner, capturing his first Cy Young Award over Philadelphia‘s Zack Wheeler with 26 of the 30 first-place votes.
Sale, the 35-year-old lefty for the Atlanta Braves, finished 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts — leading the National League in all three Triple Crown pitching categories (wins, ERA and strikeouts). He joined Detroit‘s Tarik Skubal as a Triple Crown winner — the first by pitchers in a full season since Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander did it in 2011 (Shane Bieber did it in the COVID-shortened 2020 season).
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Sale’s resurgence was a blast from last decade, when he was one of the top starting pitchers in the sport. He had battled a series of injuries since 2019, including Tommy John surgery in March of 2020. From 2020 to 2023, he made just 31 starts, although 20 of those came with the Boston Red Sox last season, leading the Braves to take a chance and acquire him in an offseason trade.
“The biggest thing is health,” Sale said of his return to dominance. “I was healthy earlier in my career and I was able to sustain some success and stay out on the field. Ran into a buzzsaw over the past handful of years. Just couldn’t stay healthy, couldn’t stay on the field, and you’re not doing anything when you’re not on the field.”
He responded with a season that looked a lot like his prime years with the Chicago White Sox and Red Sox from 2012 to 2018, when he received Cy Young votes all seven seasons, although never winning. He made his most starts and pitched his most innings since 2017, not missing a start until the final week of the season, when he was scratched in a crucial season-ending series against the New York Mets due to back spasms and then missed the Braves’ wild-card series loss to the San Diego Padres.
Along the way, Sale won his final eight decisions as the Braves won a wild card, overcoming a disappointing first half to make a late run and capture a playoff spot on the final day of the season.
The Braves went 12-2 over Sale’s final 14 starts, with Sale posting a 1.93 ERA. He not only led the NL in the Triple Crown categories, but also led in ERA+, fewest home runs allowed per nine innings (0.5), strikeout rate (32.1%) and most strikeouts per nine (11.4). He led the majors in FanGraphs WAR (6.4) while ranking third behind Skubal and Cincinnati Reds‘s Hunter Greene in Baseball-Reference WAR (6.2).
He becomes the first Braves Cy Young winner since Tom Glavine won for the second time in 1998 and his ERA was the lowest for a Braves left-hander in the expansion era (since 1961).
With his signature unorthodox sidearm delivery, Sale’s stuff hasn’t lost anything from his prime, despite all the injuries. He averaged 94.8 mph on his fastball and batters hit just .171 with one home run in 280 at-bats off his slider. The Triple Cown capped it all off.
“It’s special and I appreciate it,” he said. “It wasn’t just me rolling out there and throwing the baseball. There were a lot of people who got me here: Teammates, family, training staff. For me to go out there and do what I was able to do, I wouldn’t have done it without them. The last few years were tough, so to go through what I went through with the support I had, I’m very thankful.”
