He's already shown he can force himself into the race and win the award Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

It's Early Enough For Braves Chris Sale To Build Another Cy Young Case

Originally posted on Atlanta Braves on SI
By Harrison Smajovits | Last updated Jun 10, 2025 7:00 AM ET

Chris Sale put on another dominant showing for the Atlanta Braves Monday night. He gave them seven strong innings of one-run ball, allowing five hits and having another double-digit strikeout night.

This was Sale's fifth consecutive game of pitching at least five innings and allowing one run or fewer. It was also his second-straight game with at least 10 punchouts and his four total on the season. In his last nine starts, he has a 1.41 ERA.

Sale's night also saw him move up the ranks all-time for strikeouts. He passed former All-Star pitcher AJ Burnett on the all-time strikeout list.

His recent run continues to put him back in the race for potentially another Cy Young Award. He's up against stiff competition, notably his fellow 2024 Cy Young finalist, Paul Skenes. However, if he can get on a dominant run for the remainder of the season, he'll at least be a finalist again.

Sale has managed to bring his ERA down to 2.79 when it was 4.84 about six weeks ago. It's actually lower than it was at this point in the season last year. He had a 3.01 ERA on June 9, 2024. Despite the tough start, he is back in the top 20 in ERA and with each start can climb higher up the list.

If you doubt that it's possible, no one would've though he had a shot at the Cy Young Award in the early going last year either.

For sure, he's looking like he can be one of the Braves reps at the All-Star Game this year, something that has been difficult to pinpoint. If he can get back to that point, he'll be in striking distance of the Cy Young race again.

A fair counter argument is that other pitchers might have to slump for this to happen. It's a long season. That can definitely still happen too. All he can do is control is own success and that is already a major step toward his resume coming together.

Last season, Chris Sale won the award with an 18-3 record, a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts. These three stats led the National League, winning him the pitching Triple Crown along with his first career Cy Young.