Braves veteran Chris Sale wins first NL Cy Young Award in 15th MLB season

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale is the winner of the 2024 National League Cy Young Award.

With 177 2/3 innings pitched, 225 strikeouts, 2.09 FIP and a 2.38 ERA, he beat out strong second-place finisher Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies for the award. Wheeler prevented Sale from being unanimous, taking four out of 30 BBWAA first-place votes. Sale got the other 26.

Sale, who won NL Comeback Player of the Year award last week, is also the winner of the NL Triple Crown, meaning he led the league in ERA, strikeouts, and wins (18). The last Braves pitcher to win the Cy Young was Tom Glavine in 1998.

Sale, 35, engineered an incredible comeback season. The 15-year MLB veteran had a dismal 2023 with the Boston Red Sox, but got the chance to start over when they traded him to the Braves in December. Sale then signed a two-year, $38 million contract with the Braves and became their latest Charlie Morton-style reclamation project.

Calling Sale a "reclamation project" isn't quite correct, though. He spent years as the ace for the Chicago White Sox as well as the Red Sox. Drafted 13th overall by the White Sox in 2010, Sale made his debut in the same season, but he really broke out in 2012. That began a fantastic seven-year run in which he made the All-Star Game and finished in the top six of Cy Young voting every single season. He didn't miss a step after being traded from the White Sox to Red Sox in 2016.

The injuries began to pile up for Sale in 2020, a season he entirely missed after getting Tommy John surgery in March. Then, due to illness and continued elbow recovery, he didn't make his 2021 debut until late summer. The 2022 season was somehow even worse. His season started with a rib stress fracture he sustained while throwing batting practice. He finally returned to the Red Sox in July, then shortly after, broke the middle finger on his pitching hand. That was followed by a bike accident that resulted in a broken wrist that ended his season.

After that awful 2023 season, during which Sale was battling a shoulder issue, Sale wasn't the hottest commodity on the trade market. All the Braves shelled out to get him was second baseman Vaughn Grissom and some cash. But it's a move that paid off for them — and for Sale — in the biggest of ways.