Chris Sale’s revival in Atlanta has been one of the more striking turnarounds in recent Red Sox memory, and the left-hander made it clear at the All-Star Game that Boston still sits close to his heart.
Sale, now with the Braves and back on the National League All-Star team, has been excellent since leaving the Red Sox nearly three seasons ago. Over 401.1 innings with Atlanta, he has put up a 2.40 ERA, a 1.054 WHIP and a 31.4 strikeout percentage. He won his first Cy Young Award in 2024, and he would have been in the mix last year too if not for losing seven or eight starts to the injured list.
That resurgence has naturally stung plenty of Red Sox fans, especially with Boston’s return in the trade, Vaughn Grissom, not working out in the organization. Sale also spent a lot of time on the IL during his final four years in Boston, which only added to the frustration around how things ended.
But when David Ortiz asked him at the All-Star Game how he got back to this level, Sale’s answer sounded like a player who never stopped carrying Boston with him.
"I just felt like I owed it to Boston. Like hey, I need to give them everything I have because I really felt guilty for those years of not being able to show up and not play and that weighed on me heavy," Sale said. "After the '23 season I was like, 'I'm gonna train like I'm 23 years old again, I'm gonna launch baseballs, I'm gonna lift,' and then about halfway through all that I get traded."
Sale also told Ortiz that he was pushing harder than ever in an effort to make his final year in Boston as productive as possible. That effort came after a rough stretch in which he had thrown just 151 innings from 2021-23 following the five-year, $145 million extension he signed in 2019.
Boston still ended up paying the full freight of his 2024 salary while Sale thrived in Atlanta, a bitter pill for the Red Sox after watching him return to top form at 34 years old.
Even so, his affection for the city and its fans hasn’t changed. Sale told Ortiz, "I don't know if they'll love me forever, but I'll always love them," and that sentiment will land with plenty of people in Boston.
His Red Sox tenure didn’t finish cleanly, but the early years were unforgettable. Sale was electric in his first two seasons with the club and closed out the 2018 World Series by striking out Manny Machado to seal the title for the winningest Sox team in franchise history. The extension, the injuries and the trade all left a complicated ending, but Boston will always remember the champion.
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