During this past offseason, the Atlanta Braves acquired Chris Sale from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for infielder Vaughn Grissom. The Red Sox also sent $17 million the Braves’ way in the move for the Braves to take on Sale’s contract. In his final season with the Red Sox in 2023, Sale had a 6-5 record and a 4.30 ERA in 20 starts. This was after he had just 11 starts over his two previous seasons and missed the entirety of the 2020 season due to injury. Thus, he had immense injury trouble over his final years in Boston.

However, Sale stayed healthy during his first season as a Brave and dominated. In 29 games, he had an 18-3 record, an MLB-best 2.38 ERA, and a National League-best 225 strikeouts. With this, he won the Pitching Triple Crown, as his 18 wins were also the most in the NL. In addition, he won the NL Cy Young Award and Gold Glove Award while also being named NL Comeback Player of the Year and to his eighth-career All-Star Game. It was a historic season for Sale, and he revealed on the Baseball Isn’t Boring Podcast that it was almost his last.

“I thought that it was gonna be my last year, so I went into that offseason on a mission like ‘one more year left,’ Sale said. “Cause in mind, I wasn’t walking away from baseball. I was walking away from getting hurt.” It is remarkable how quickly things changed for Sale after last season’s dominance. Instead of going through with hanging up the cleats, the 35-year-old will be pitching again for Atlanta in 2025. It will be fun to see how he responds to his outstanding 2024 campaign from here.