Chris Sale firmly back in mix for back-to-back Cy Young awards

There was some concern early in the season with 2024 NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale. The velocity was down through his first few starts, his mechanics appeared to be off, and the results were rather abysmal, especially for Sale’s lofty standards.

The 36-year-old southpaw carried a 6.63 ERA going into his fifth start, and he didn’t make it to the sixth inning until his seventh start. However, Sale has now gone at least 5.2 innings in eight straight starts. Over that stretch, he has had 6+ strikeouts in every outing, recording double-digit punch outs four times to go along with a 1.38 ERA and 2.25 FIP.

Last night, the Braves needed him as badly as ever. Atlanta hobbled into their series in Milwaukee fresh off one of the most heartbreaking seven-game losing streaks in MLB history (I could be making that up, but I seriously can’t imagine many clubs have ever been through anything worse, given the circumstances).

The Braves entered Monday losers of five straight one-run games, 14 games back of the New York Mets for first place in the NL East, and 9.5 games back of the final wild card spot in the National League. Somebody had to make sure the bleeding stopped, and Chris Sale delivered another Cy Young caliber start. He struck out a season-high 11 batters over seven innings, allowing just one earned run on five hits and a couple of walks. When Sale exited, the Braves led 3-1, and the bats even added some insurance over the final couple of frames to ensure this one wouldn’t slip away.

It was the kind of start that’s become expected from the veteran, who has been arguably the best pitcher in baseball ever since he put on a Braves uniform. After winning the NL Triple Crown in 2024, Sale’s ERA is down to 2.79 on the season, and his 11.9 K/9 is even higher than it was a year ago (11.4). That’s got him squarely back in the mix for another Cy Young award.

According to DraftKings, Sale now has the fourth-best odds in the National League, trailing only Zack Wheeler, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and the heavy favorite Paul Skenes at -180. It’s a loaded race with a generational talent leading the way, but nobody has pitched better than Chris Sale over the last six weeks.