ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Chris Sale – who the Atlanta Braves traded for during the last offseason and became a prized all-star pitcher for America’s team during its injury-plagued 2024 campaign – was awarded the National League Cy Young Award on Wednesday.
Sale is the first Brave to win the Cy Young Award since Tom Glavine in 1998.
The other finalists were Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Phillies’ Zach Wheeler.
This is Sale’s first Cy Young award. Sale finished among the top six in American League Cy Young Award balloting over seven straight seasons between 2012 and 2018.
Sale, 35, won the NL Triple Crown by leading the league in wins (18), ERA (2.38) and strikeouts (225). He was the first NL pitcher to lead in each of these categories since the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw in 2011.
His 2.38 ERA was the lowest by a Braves starter since Greg Maddux pitched to the tune of a 2.22 ERA in 1998.
Back discomfort sidelined Sale during the regular season’s final week and through the Braves’ playoff series against the San Diego Padres.
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Sale totaled 151 innings for the Red Sox from 2020-23, a stretch including Tommy John surgery and other ailments. But Braves’ General Manager Alex Anthopoulos traded for Sale during the offseason in exchange for utility infielder Vaughn Grissom. Sale then signed a two-year, $38 million deal with the Braves that lasted through 2025.
Sale posted a 2.12 ERA through his first 10 starts, earning him his eight All-Star nod and his first since 2018. He then posted a 1.96 ERA over his final 18 starts of the season.
He was named the NL Comeback Player of the Year last week.
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