Chris Sale’s season added another line to the résumé on Wednesday night, as he was named to the 2026 All-MLB First Team.
The announcement came during the MLB Awards show presented by MGM Rewards at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Sale was the lone Braves player recognized on the All-MLB Team, which honors the top players at each position.
This is the second time Sale has landed on the First Team. He was also selected in 2024.
The other First Team starting pitchers were the Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski, the Yankees’ Cam Schlittler, the Blue Jays’ Dylan Cease and the Phillies’ Cristopher Sánchez.
The All-MLB Team is now in its eighth season and is based on regular-season performance. The voting included both fans and a panel of experts.
Sale also finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting, which was announced earlier Wednesday. His numbers backed up the recognition: a 2.16 ERA, a 0.98 WHIP, 200 strikeouts and a .215 batting average against. Among qualified MLB pitchers, that placed him third in ERA, fifth in WHIP, 11th in strikeouts and 12th in batting average against.
Sale reached his 200th strikeout by getting the final batter he faced in the regular season on Sept. 23 against the Reds.
That milestone put him in rare company. Sale joined his idol Randy Johnson as the only left-handed pitchers in MLB history with nine 200-plus-strikeout seasons. Only Nolan Ryan (15), Johnson (13), Roger Clemens (12) and Tom Seaver (10) have more such seasons overall.
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Chris Sale Just Added Another Milestone To His Braves Case
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The award race eventually settled elsewhere, but Sales place in it only reinforced how important his season was to Atlantas rotation. He also reached 200 strikeouts for the ninth time in his career, another marker that deepens the case that his Braves stint was more than a strong rebound, it was another chapter in a career that keeps adding rare milestones. [Read more 🡒]
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Chris Sale's Cy Young Finish Will Frustrate Some Braves Fans
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The award ended up going to Milwaukees Jacob Misiorowski in a sweep of the voting, a reminder of how dominant his season was from start to finish. He led the league in strikeout percentage and FIP, and his ERA+ of 232 underscored how overwhelming he was, leaving the rest of the NL chasing a standard few pitchers could even approach. [Read more 🡒]