Chris Sale is back to Cy Young form for the Braves

Chris Sale became the first Braves pitcher to win a Cy Young since Tom Glavine did it in 1998, but the grizzly veteran struggled out of the gate as the reigning winner.

In his first five starts, Sale only went more than four innings twice and never more than five innings, while accruing a 6.63 ERA, but his 3.35 FIP suggested regression was coming, and boy, has it.

Since then, Sale hasn’t gone less than five innings and has pitched six or more innings in five of the seven starts, including going seven or more innings three times. Across those seven starts, Sale is sporting a 1.42 ERA, bringing his season ERA down to 3.06 with an 11.4 K/9, which is the same mark he had during his Cy Young campaign.

He’s coming off a gem of an outing in the second game of a split doubleheader against the Phillies, limiting Philly to two hits over six scoreless innings while punching out eight batters, the last of which was the 2,500th of his career.

Chris Sale became the 38th pitcher in modern history to reach that mark, but even more impressive, he is the first pitcher to ever reach this mark in 2,026 innings or less, beating Hall of Famer Randy Johnson, who accomplished the feat in 2,107.2.

The Braves’ ace is back to Cy Young form, and the club needs it more than ever. The offense can’t seem to get out of its own way, Spencer Strider is struggling in his return, and AJ Smith-Shawver was just lost for the season.

Chris Sale (+2000) is quite a ways behind the betting favorite, Paul Skenes (+140), but there’s plenty of time to make up ground, and these days, injuries are inevitable. There’s no telling what happens to the arms between Sale and Skenes — Yoshinobu Yamamoto (+300), Zack Wheeler (+425), Logan Webb (+1100), and Hunter Green (+1200).

Either way, it’s nice to see Chris Sale find his groove again.