Two-Minute Drill: Ole Miss plays at Gators, Dolphins host Patriots
The Gators can become bowl eligible if they upset Ole Miss on Saturday; the Miami Dolphins look for their third straight win when they host New England.
Healthy for at least 27 starts for the first time since 2018, Lakeland-grad Chris Sale showed he’s still one of the top pitchers in Major League Baseball and for this season, the best pitcher in the National League.
In his first year for the Atlanta Braves, Sale went 18-3 with 2.38 ERA and was named the National League Cy Young Award winner on Wednesday. Sale received 26 of 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America. He finished head of Philadelphia’s Zack Wheeler and Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes.
“It means a lot,” Sale said. “I just can’t express how thankful I am for everybody that stuck by me. It would have been easy to jump ship and write me off.”
Atanta acquired Sale from the Boston Red Sox in the offseason and was rewarded with one of the best seasons of Sale’s career. His 18 wins were a career high and his 2.38 ERA was his third-lowest over a full season of his career. Sale led the league in both categories and complete the pitching Triple Crown by leading the NL with 225 strikeouts.
During his seven years in Boston, Sale had at least 30 wins in just four seasons. He missed all of 2020 after recovering from Tommy John surgery and missed most of 2021 and 2022, making just 11 starts combined.
Sale showed the potential of moving back to the top of the league if he could remain healthy last year in Boston when he went 6-5 with a 4.30 ERA in 20 starts. Despite the high ERA, he was mostly effective as he posted a 3.08 ERA after taking out his first three starts against the Orioles.
In his first National League season, Sale did not miss a start until the final week of the season. He was scratched in the season-ending series against the Mets because of back spasms and then sat out the wild-card series against the San Diego Padres.
Sale got off to a solid start for the Braves with a 3-1 record and a 3.69 ERA in April and then went 15-2 with a 2.10 ERA the rest of the season. His 177 2/3 innings were his most since his career-high of 214 1/3 innings in 2017 when he went 17-9 with a 2.90 ERA for the Red Sox and finished second in the American League Cy Young voting.
Sale completed his 15th season in the majors after being drafted out of Florida Gulf Coast. He graduated from Lakeland High in 2007. He was a first-team, all-county selection as a senior when he went 8-3 with a 1.24 ERA with 99 strikeouts.
