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Atlanta Braves May Not Pitch Cy Young Favorite This Weekend

The Atlanta Braves enter the weekend at 1.0 game back in the chase for the third and final wild card spot in the National League, but they apparently won't use starting pitcher Chris Sale unless they have to.

Brady Farkas

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale (51) tags first base against the Colorado Rockies in the second inning at Truist Park on Sept 3.
Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale (51) tags first base against the Colorado Rockies in the second inning at Truist Park on Sept 3. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images
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The Atlanta Braves reportedly may not pitch ace Chris Sale unless they absolutely have to.

Atlanta enters the weekend at 1.0 game back of the third and final wild card spot in the National League, but according to Ken Rosenthal of 'The Athletic,' they are trying to hold out from using Sale, who is the presumptive National League Cy Young favorite.

The @Braves may not use Chris Sale unless they're on the verge of elimination, says @Ken_Rosenthal

The Braves are taking on the Kansas City Royals this weekend for three games before hosting the New York Mets for a makeup doubleheader on Monday. The Braves have played two less games that the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are tied with the Mets, so perhaps they can make up ground on Arizona by just beating the Royals. The D'Backs are playing the San Diego Padres this weekend, so it's certainly plausible that Atlanta reaches a spot where Sale pitching on Monday doesn't really matter.

Sale has had an incredible year with the Braves since being traded from the Boston Red Sox in the offseason. He's gone 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA and has struck out 225 batters in 177.2 innings.

An eight-time All-Star, this is set to be his first Cy Young season. He's 35 years old.

The Braves and Royals are scheduled to start their series on Friday night at 7:20 p.m. ET.

Right-hander Brady Singer will pitch for the Royals while left-hander Max Fried will pitch for Atlanta. Fried is a free agent at the end of the season so this could be his final regular season start in a Braves uniform.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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