Chris Sale's pitching career has endured more twists and turns than his famous unorthodox delivery.
From 2012 to 2018, Sale -- first with the Chicago White Sox and then, following a trade, with the Boston Red Sox -- was one of the best starting pitchers in the majors, receiving Cy Young votes each season (although never finishing first). He looked like a future Hall of Famer, even helping Boston to a World Series title in 2018. Since then, though, a series of injuries over the next five seasons seemed to sidetrack his career.
Until this year. In a 2024 resurgence with the Atlanta Braves, Sale is 16-3 with a 2.38 ERA and 213 strikeouts, leading the National League in all three pitching Triple Crown categories (wins, ERA and K's). He's the clear Cy Young favorite, attempting to become the first pitcher to win the Triple Crown since Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw did it in 2011 (Tarik Skubal might do it in the American League, as well). Sale joined Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton as the only left-handers with at least eight 200-strikeout seasons, and Sale's value to a Braves team fighting with the New York Mets for the final wild-card playoff spot has been off the charts, especially after Cy Young favorite Spencer Strider went down for the season in April.
There's also this: Sale's tremendous season might have put him back on a Hall of Fame path.