This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
ATLANTA — Chris Sale’s story just keeps getting better. Two years after winning both the National League Cy Young and Comeback Player of the Year Awards, he is constructing what could be considered one of the best seasons ever put together by a Braves pitcher.
Warren Spahn, Phil Niekro, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz all spent a majority of their respective Hall of Fame careers with the Braves. When looking at ERA and Adjusted ERA+, you can argue that Maddux is the only member of this esteemed group to enjoy a better season than Sale in a Braves uniform.
Sale exited his determined effort in Friday’s 11-inning win over the Phillies with a 2.18 ERA. Jacob Misiorowski (1.95) and Cam Schlittler (2.01) are the only qualified MLB pitchers with a better ERA this season.
Which Braves pitchers have posted a 2.18 ERA or lower over 25 starts or more in a season during the Live Ball Era (since 1920)?
1994 Maddux (1.56)
1995 Maddux (1.63)
2024 Reynaldo López (1.99)
1953 Spahn (2.10)
Yep. That’s how good Reynaldo López was for a few months, before he began dealing with the arm issues that have sidelined and limited him the past couple seasons. A pitcher has posted a sub 1.70 ERA over 25-plus starts in the Live Ball Era nine times. Maddux accounts for two of those nine.
How do you compare ERA produced during different eras and in different ballparks? Well, Adjusted ERA-plus adjusts for ballpark effects and the average ERA of the league that season. The baseline score is 100. So, if a pitcher has a 120 ERA+, he is 20 percent better than the average pitcher.
Sale has a 194 ERA+ through his first 26 starts.
How many Braves pitchers have produced this mark or better over at least 25 starts in a season?
1994 Maddux (271)
1995 Maddux (260)
2024 López (208)
Where’s Spahn? He had a career-best 188 ERA+ in 1953. It should be noted that Maddux’s two incredible marks were produced when he was 28 and 29 years old.
So, we can certainly argue that the 37-year-old Sale has had the best season of any Braves pitcher from the senior division. He’s actually had one of the best seasons ever recorded by any pitcher his age or older.
Pitchers who have produced a 194 ERA+ or better at 37 or older while making at least 25 starts in a season:
2005 Roger Clemens (226)
2022 Justin Verlander (218)
2002 Randy Johnson (195)
1908 Cy Young (195)
Clemens and Verlander are great, and being grouped with Cy Young is also pretty cool. As for Johnson, that’s the guy Sale idolized throughout his childhood days in Lakeland, Fla. It’s been really cool to see how frequently he’s been linked to his fellow lefty this year.
Sale actually still has a chance to join Johnson as the only left-handed pitchers to record at least nine 200-strikeout seasons. The Braves’ ace needs 10 more strikeouts to reach this mark.
What’s Sale’s remaining schedule? The Braves created some cushion with their series win over the Phillies this weekend. So, they don’t necessarily need to pitch Sale on Wednesday at Wrigley Field. It would be just his third start of the season on regular rest.
Instead, the Braves could hold Sale until Friday’s series opener in Houston. Pitching once a week has been beneficial over the past couple months. But to make sure he would be ready to start Game 1 of the Wild Card Series on Sept. 29, he may be asked to throw a few innings during the Sept. 23 home game against the Reds.
The other option would be to have Sale pitch on regular rest against the Cubs on Wednesday and then wait another week before making that final postseason tuneup during the middle game of the three-game set against the Reds.
Whatever the Braves choose to do will be done with the intention of allowing Sale to complete his incredible season in fitting fashion.