Former Red Sox ace Chris Sale caps off triumphant comeback season with first Cy Young award

After years of surgeries, setbacks, injuries, and freak accidents that prompted then-Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom to ask if someone had a voodoo doll, Chris Sale has finally reached the mountaintop.

At 35 years old and 14 years into his major league career, he’s won his first career Cy Young Award.

Absolutely, call it a comeback. (He was named NL Comeback Player of the Year last week.)

Between his 2010 debut and the end of 2018, Sale was one of the game’s most dominant arms.  Pitching in 287 games (207 starts) between the White Sox (2010-16) and Red Sox, he posted a 2.89 ERA (never worse than 3.41 in any season). Beginning in 2012, he put together seven consecutive All-Star seasons and finished no worse than sixth in Cy Young in each. He capped off the 2018 season by striking out Manny Machado to defeat the Dodgers in the World Series.

Sale’s pitching elbow became an inescapable issue in the summer of 2019. He finally underwent Tommy John surgery in April 2020 and didn’t return to the major league mound until August 2021.

Over his final three years in Boston (‘21-23), he only made 31 starts (151 innings) as various roadblocks arose. There was a rib stress fracture, the fractured pinky on a line-drive comebacker by Aaron Hicks, and the broken wrist when he fell off his bicycle one day while rehabbing said pinky. Last season, he missed two months due to a stress reaction in his scapula, but managed to make 20 starts.

The Red Sox traded Sale to the Atlanta Braves last winter. Whether it was the change of scenery, new routine, a much-needed spate of good luck on the health front, or some combination of the three, ‘Vintage Sale’ took the mound in 2024. Over 29 starts (177.2 innings) – his most since 2017 – the veteran southpaw went 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA and an NL-leading 225 strikeouts. He led the Majors in pitching wins (18), win-loss percentage, ERA and ERA+, FIP (2.09), HR/9, and K/9.

His first Cy Young is the enormous exclamation point that ends this triumphant season-long sentence, which included his first All-Star selection since 2018 and his first-ever Gold Glove.

He’s always been a fierce competitor, relentless in the pursuit of excellence, and rarely satisfied. (Remember when he struck out 17 Colorado Rockies and tried to convince manager Alex Cora to let him go for 20?) Even on his best days in Boston, he was exceedingly hard on himself; early in spring training 2023, he told the Herald he had trouble celebrating his accomplishments. When he endured setback after setback, no one was more frustrated than the man himself.

As for the Red Sox, they’ll have to wait to see how their half of the trade, infielder Vaughn Grissom, pans out.