Boston Red Sox
The 2018 World Series champion still has “it” as his esteemed career continues with the Braves.
Despite the success of the 2026 Boston Red Sox — particularly their strong starting rotation since Opening Day — watching Chris Sale dominate for another club does sting a bit.
Sale, who was the Red Sox’ ace from 2017-2023 and a key member of the 2018 World Series-winning team, still has “it” for the Atlanta Braves at age 37.
The esteemed southpaw tossed a complete-game shutout against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday — the fourth of his career since debuting for the Chicago White Sox in 2010. Sale struck out 11 batters on 109 pitches (80 strikes) and allowed only five hits on the night. He didn’t give up a walk.
Not only did Sale produce an outstanding line in the box score, but he reached an inconceivable personal milestone: he threw a 100.1-mile-per-hour fastball to Shohei Ohtani.
The last time Sale hit 100 on the radar gun? In 2018 with Boston.
Naturally, after the game, Sale was asked how he managed to throw triple digits in his 16th season. Sale provided a classic response:
“With my arm,” he said.
Trading Sale to the Braves in exchange for Vaughn Grissom was one of the first moves by chief baseball officer Craig Breslow after being hired in 2023. At the time, Sale was due to go elsewhere considering his injury troubles in the latter half of his Boston tenure. Sale pitched just 42.2 innings in 2021, 5.2 in 2022, and 102.2 in 2023 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2020.
Unfortunately for the Red Sox, Sale experienced a second wind the moment he arrived in Atlanta. He won the National League Cy Young Award in 2024 and has been named an All-Star in all three of his seasons with the Braves.
2026 has been much the same.
In 24 starts, Sale owns a 2.06 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 6.32 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He’s recorded 177 strikeouts, and batters are hitting .218 against him.
Over Sale’s last three starts, he struck out 60 batters. In comparison, he walked just three over that stretch.
His 0.5 HR per nine innings is a league-best 0.5, a mark he also held in 2024. His 1.8 walks per nine is the best in the National League.
Sale hasn’t allowed a home run since he gave up two on July 4 against the New York Mets.
37 is the new 27 for Sale, whose Hall of Fame candidacy becomes more legitimate by the day.
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