Chris

Sale

Sale gave up five hits, but most of them were weak, with the lone extra-base hit being a 67-mph double. He wound up striking out two and walking one in his second start of the spring.

Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela homered off him, but Sale said afterwards that he was encouraged by the outing. He topped out at 97.5 mph, and he had a 36% CSW.

The contract includes a team option for $30 million in 2028. Sale was going to be a free agent after this season, so this extension now means the 36-year-old will remain in Atlanta for the next two years. Sale has been tremendous when he’s been on the mound for the entirety of his career. After throwing 177 2/3 innings in his first season in Atlanta, he was limited to just 125 2/3 last season due to injury. While he has all the talent to be a fantasy ace, he’s best relied on as an SP2 due to his potential innings concerns.

Sale averaged 95.1 mph with his fastball in his spring debut, a slight improvement over his 94.8-mph average from last year. He also threw a first-pitch strike to all eight batters he faced today.

This isn’t much of a surprise. Sale was great when he was on the mound in 2025, posting a 2.58 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and 32.4 percent strikeout rate in 125 2/3 innings. The issue is that he battled injuries again, and this is now the fourth season in his last five that Sale has failed to top 126 innings. He’ll be 37 years old next season, and while his performance has not dipped at all, fantasy managers and Braves fans should probably set expectations at around 130 innings for the left-hander.

Sale relieved the retiring Charlie Morton, and the left-hander dominated the Pittsburgh lineup sans a run-scoring single by Joey Bart in the sixth. The 36-year-old’s campaign was shortened by injury, but he was excellent when on the bump with a 2.58 ERA and 165/32 K/BB over 125 2/3 innings. There’s risk in Sale’s profile — especially when you consider he’ll be 37 in March — but that comes with a ton of potential reward.

Morton will finish his career back where it started, in Atlanta, facing the team he spent seven of his 18 seasons with. All told, 281 of his 408 career starts have come with the Pirates (142) and Braves (139). This will probably be a rather brief outing for him, and Sale, who will be making his first relief appearance since 2012, should still be in line for a win if all goes as hoped.

Sale received a touchdown and a two-point conversion worth of run support from Atlanta’s offense by the fifth inning and was cruising along, despite coughing up early solo homers to Nasim Nuñez and Dylan Crews, before Andrés Chaparro delivered a bases-clearing three-run single with two outs in the frame that slashed the deficit to three runs at the time. He managed to wriggle out of the jam without any further damage, finishing with six strikeouts and two walks in the shortened outing. He’ll close out the season on Sunday with a home matchup against the offensively challenged Pirates.

Sale struck out nine, just as he did in each of his first three starts back from the injured list. Dating back to April 3, he has an incredible 1.35 ERA and a 114/19 K/BB in 86 2/3 innings, though he possesses only a 4-3 record to show for it. Sale will again take on the Nationals next week, probably on Monday.

Sale came out of the gate blazing hot here. Each of the first eight outs he recorded came via a strikeout. All of those punch-outs drove his pitch count up though and the Cubs mustered five hits over the next two innings to push three runs across and knock him out after five. Still, we love to see those strikeouts and Sale certainly looks back to full strength after missing nearly three months with a fractured rib. It’s almost a shock that he’s back at all considering the Braves being far outside the playoff picture, but he’s still a stud. Next up is a matchup with the Nationals.