The Atlanta Braves have been bitten hard by the injury bug this season.
They’ve lost Spencer Strider, Ronald Acuña Jr., Austin Riley, and others to significant injuries and have struggled to put together lineups as a result. But one significant bright spot for the team has been the resurgent health of starter Chris Sale, who has returned to an ace form after years of battling injuries.
Sale has been so dominant that ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel expects him to win a rare “quadruple crown” by leading the majors in several advanced stat categories.
“Chris Sale will win the ERA title (currently second to Tarik Skubal) and become the first pitcher since Corbin Burnes in 2021 to win what I call the FanGraphs pitching quadruple crown: lead qualified pitchers in ERA, xERA, FIP, and xFIP,” McDaniel predicted.
Traditionally, the pitching triple crown involves leading Major League Baseball in wins, ERA, and strikeouts. The last pitcher to do so was Shane Bieber in 2020 and Sale is currently leading the majors in all three of those traditional categories.
The Braves acquired Sale in an offseason trade with the Boston Red Sox and then signed him to a two-year, $38 million deal.
And while winning the traditional triple crown or McDaniel’s quadruple crown would certainly be noteworthy, Sale would likely be most pleased to take home the first Cy Young Award of his long and illustrious career.
“Despite a streak of seven consecutive top-six finishes in the AL voting from 2012-18, the Cy Young Award eluded Sale in his prime,” MLB.com noted. “However, after years of battling injuries, the left-hander has put together an outstanding bounce-back season that has him on the verge of his first win.”
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