Chris Sale’s comeback season with the Atlanta Braves, 10 months after being traded by the Boston Purple Sox, got here rewarded when the 35-year-old was named the 2024 Nationwide League Cy Younger Award winner.
It’s the primary time in Sale’s 14-year profession that he took house the award, as 26-of-30 first-place votes put the southpaw over Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zach Wheeler. Sale went 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA throughout 29 begins — probably the most logged by Sale since 2017 (32) — making him the NL’s chief in wins, strikeouts (225) and ERA. He joined Detroit Tigers right-hander Tarik Skrubal (18-4, 2.39 ERA), the American League’s Cy Younger Award receipt, as the 2 highlighted hurlers of the previous season.
Sale needed to endure a mountain climb to return to his dominant type after the 2018 World Sequence champion departed Boston in bittersweet style.
There was no dangerous blood between Sale and the Purple Sox. He embraced the town — even attending a New England Patriots and Boston Celtics sport this previous week — and took full accountability for the cut up, striving to show himself well worth the five-year, $145 million contract signed in 2019.
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“The largest factor is well being,” Sale stated, per ESPN’s David Schoenfield. “I used to be wholesome earlier in my profession and I used to be in a position to maintain some success and keep out on the sphere. Ran right into a buzzsaw over the previous handful of years. Simply couldn’t keep wholesome, couldn’t keep on the sphere, and also you’re not doing something once you’re not on the sphere.”
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The ultimate three-year stretch in Boston was probably the most daunting of Sale’s profession. He made a mixed 31 begins, struggling a torn ulnar collateral ligament, a fractured rib and left shoulder irritation which positioned him on the 60-day injured listing in 2023. It wasn’t a memorable send-off, however recording the ultimate out towards the Los Angeles Dodgers to seize Boston’s ninth title is sufficient for Purple Sox followers to carry Sale in excessive regard.
Atlanta traded infielder Vaughn Grissom to Boston in buying Sale, giving the Purple Sox a younger future piece who didn’t have room to develop with the Braves. The brand new change of surroundings proved to be simply what Sale wanted to flip a downward profession development right into a resurgence of what Boston acquired again in 2017.
Sale’s victory makes him the primary Braves pitcher to win the Cy Younger Award since Tom Glavine in 1998.
