Braves' Chris Sale Emerging Among Cy Young Frontrunners

Bleacher Report’s Tim Kelly argued that Atlanta Braves starter Chris Sale is one of a few candidates who could win their first career Cy Young award this season in the National League.

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale. / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves may be struggling on offense this season. But there’s not much wrong with the pitching staff, and it could potentially result in some hardware at the end of the year.

On June 7, Bleacher Report’s Tim Kelly placed Braves starter Chris Sale on a short list of National League Cy Young award candidates who could be first-time winners this season.

“Sale recently had a clunker, surrendering eight runs over four innings against the Oakland Athletics on June 1,” Kelly wrote. “Still, he's having his best season in half a decade, as he leads the NL in FIP (2.48), BB/9 (1.3) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (8.20).”

Sale, though, bounced back from that “clunker” against Oakland. Although he suffered the loss, in his most recent start on Friday, Sale only allowed 2 runs on 5 hits over 7 innings. He also struck out 10 and walked just 1.

Despite taking the loss on Friday, Sale owns an 8-2 record this season. His .800 win percentage is the best he’s posted in his career during a season when he’s made at least 10 starts.

Sale has been impressive in the new age baseball statistics as well. He leads the National League with a 2.32 FIP. His 8.36 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 1.3 BB/9 is best in the league too.

Sale has 92 strikeouts and just 11 walks in 74.2 innings. He also possesses a 3.01 ERA this season.

That ERA is good enough to be the best mark on a lot of starting staffs around the league. Incredibly, the Braves have two other starters with lower ERAs, which speaks to how much Atlanta’s pitching has carried the team this year.

Sale has made seven All-Star teams in his 15-year career, all of which occurred from 2012-18. If he continues to pitch well for a couple more weeks, he’s all but guaranteed to make his first All-Star team in six years.

But Sale could also contend for his first Cy Young award. He’s finished in the top five of Cy Young voting six times but never won the award.

In 2017, Sale went 17-8 with a 2.90 ERA and 308 strikeouts to finish second in AL Cy Young voting to Corey Kluber.