Chris

Sale

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.

Sale gave up four hits, walked none and struck out nine. The 36-year-old left-hander has 18 strikeouts and a 1.42 ERA in two starts since returning from the injured list. Sale has been great when healthy this year with a 2.38 ERA. He’s lined up to face the Cubs at home next week.

Sale’s velocity waned some as the game went along, but that’s not surprising after a couple of months off. He was at full strength early on and just about as sharp as he’s been at any point this season. This makes seven straight starts, dating back to May 16, in which he’s allowed no more than one run over at least six innings. He’ll face the Mariners next Friday.

Sale returns to face the Phillies on Saturday in his first major-league start since June 18 when he suffered a fractured left rib attempting to make a diving play against the division-rival Mets. The 36-year-old fantasy ace was putting together a carbon copy to last year’s Cy Young campaign prior to the two-month absence with a sparkling 2.52 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 114/26 K/BB ratio across 89 1/3 innings (15 starts). There may be some creative workload decisions made by Atlanta over the final four weeks since they’re out of playoff contention, but Sale should make a significant impact for fantasy managers.

The 36-year-old southpaw struck out five batters over 4 2/3 innings of one-run baseball in his latest minor league rehab start at Triple-A Gwinnett on Saturday. He allowed four hits in that one and didn’t walk a batter while throwing 51 of his 77 pitches for strikes. Fantasy managers should confidently deploy Sale next week without hesitation.