Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale has clinched the National League Triple Crown. He finished the 2024 regular season with a league-leading 18 wins, 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts.
He joins Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal in winning the Triple Crown – he won it in the American League.
Sale is the first National League pitching Triple Crown winner since Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw took it home in 2011. Both he and Skubal are the first to win the Triple Crown in either league since Cleveland Indians pitcher Shane Beiber won it during the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
It’s the first time that the Triple Crown was won in both leagues in the same year since the aforementioned Kershaw and then-Tigers ace Justin Verlander were the champions in 2011.
Verlander and Kershaw both won the Cy Young that season. That bodes well for Sale and Skubal, who would win it for the first time in their careers.
While injuries ironically took him out at the end of the season, Sale enjoyed a renaissance season. The 35-year-old lefty looked like his old self after struggling with injuries for the better part of five seasons.
In his comeback season, Sale earned his eighth all-star nod and was voted the 2024 Brave of the Year by the Atlanta chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. He also won National League Pitcher of the Month in May after having a 0.56 ERA in five starts.
It’s to be determined when we will see Sale pitch in the postseason. He hasn’t made an appearance in a game since Sept. 19. There were hopes he’d pitch the regular season finale on Monday, but he was still experiencing back spasms. It’s already confirmed
he will not pitch in the Wild Card round against the San Diego Padres.
Whatever his fate is for the postseason, it doesn’t take away from the stellar season that reminded the baseball world of the great career he has had.
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