Atlanta Braves LHP (Left Handed Pitcher) Chris Sale enjoyed a tremendous bounce back 2024 season. Sale won the National League Triple Crown (unofficial title) by leading the NL in Wins, ERA, and Strikeouts. Sale also won the National League Gold Glove for the Pitcher’s Position. He is the heavy favorite, in my opinion, to win the National League Cy Young (League’s best Pitcher) and perhaps the Comeback Player of the Year. Heck, the only award escaping this postseason for Sale is Silver Slugger, which isn’t handed out to Pitchers anymore because they don’t swing a bat with the DH taken over the National League. Simply repeating, Chris Sale had a tremendous 2024 season.

Prior to 2024, Chris Sale pitched for the Boston Red Sox from 2017 to 2023. The Red Sox acquired Sale from the other Sox, the Chicago White Sox for 4 relatively unproven minor leaguer. 2 have since become proven MLB talents (Michael Kopech, Yoan Moncada). At the time, the trade seemed ridiculously lopsided in the Boston Red Sox favor. Looking back on Sale’s Sox career, I’m not so sure how lopsided it ended up being. Sale pitched in parts of 6 seasons for the Red Sox, amassing just 46 wins with 30 losses. He won 17 games his first year, over 300 strikeouts, and captured the attention of Red Sox nation just like previous Sox aces like Martinez, Clemens. The following year he won 12, then subsequent years of 6 wins, 5 wins, and 0 wins. Did MLB batters figure him out? Nope, it was injuries. A lot of injuries.

According to his transaction history on MLB.com, Sale begin an unfortunate string of injuries and disabled list stints starting in 2018. Here are the highlights, or should I say lowlights:

• 2018 – left shoulder inflamation
• 2019 – left elbow inflammation
• 2020 – left elbow, ulnar collateral ligament tear
• 2022 – right rib stress fracture
• 2022 – left finger fracture
• 2023 – here we go again, left shoulder inflammation

Sale just could not stay healthy enough to get on the mound for the Red Sox every 5th day. Shoulder, elbow, and freak accident type injuries contributed to an average season of about 8 wins and 5 losses for Sale in a Red Sox uniform, well below the expectations of an ace on a playoff caliber team. So, after 6 emotionally charged seasons, a World Series title, and many more questions than answers, Chris Sale was dealt to the Atlanta Braves in the Winter of 2023 for a relatively unproven minor leaguer named Vaughn Grissom. Again, it seemed like a good move for both the Braves and the Sox at the time. I won’t bore you with Grissom’s numbers Year 1 in a Red Sox uniform. I will just say the Braves, in the short term, got the better of the Sox on this one. Sale’s 2024 season was historic!

I always rooted for Chris Sale and I always will. It’s personal. Sale played his college baseball in Fort Myers, FL at Florida Gulf Coast University. FGCU is located not too far from where my father lived and worked in Fort Myers for many years. Sale pitched in the Cape Cod League for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. I have a game program from 2017 with a feature story on Sale’s time in the Cape, and his new team – The Boston Red Sox. Finally, my youngest son Harry (pictured above at around age 14) is a tall, left handed thrower who had a herky jerky motion on the mound, not unlike Chris Sale. And to put one last bow on why I root for him, Sale never backed down from his critics. He never shied away from the cameras or ducked out before the press could confront him. He was present and honest and disappointed in his performance and for that, I will always root for him. Red Sox or not, I will continue to root for Chris Sale. And will finish with this. I’m thankful for the short bursts of greatness, the Manny Machado strikeout, and the high moral character he showed this lifelong Red Sox fan.