Why Chris Sale Could Have Won the NL CY Young

The Chris Sale NL Cy Young case came up short on Wednesday evening. Jacob Misiorowski of the Milwaukee Brewers won the 2026 NL Cy Young Award unanimously. He is the first Brewers pitcher to win it since Corbin Burnes in 2021, after a 1.80 ERA and 252 strikeouts in 174 2/3 innings. Misiorowski is certainly deserving of the award, but that will not stop us from looking back on a strong season from the Atlanta Braves left-hander. Sale finished third with 98 points, one behind Cristopher Sánchez for second place. The Chris Sale NL Cy Young Case Sale, 37, put together one of the best seasons of his career in Atlanta. He went 14-9 with a 2.16 ERA, 200 strikeouts and a 0.98 WHIP in 162 2/3 innings over 27 appearances. He earned his 10th All-Star selection and was named NL Pitcher of the Month for July, when he posted a 2.00 ERA over five starts with 34 strikeouts and four walks in 27 innings. The Sale NL Cy Young case was already taking shape by midseason. LWOS noted in June that he was 8-5 with a 2.14 ERA and 99 strikeouts in 84 innings, and that his 2.71 FIP showed the results were not luck. On Aug. 27, he struck out 11 in a 1-0 complete-game win over the Dodgers, his first complete game since 2019, and threw his first 100 mph pitch since 2018. The competition was strong. By August, the Cy Young race had Sale likely third behind Misiorowski and Sánchez, and that is how the voting finished. Misiorowski led the majors with 252 strikeouts and a 1.80 ERA, holding opponents to a .157 average. Sánchez posted a 2.91 ERA with 231 strikeouts in 207 innings and set a Phillies record with a 50 2/3-inning scoreless streak. Misiorowski took every first-place vote, and Sánchez edged Sale 99 points to 98, with 17 second-place votes to Sale’s 11. Sale did not have the lowest ERA or the most strikeouts among the finalists, so his case rested on run prevention and efficiency. His 2.16 ERA ranked second in the NL and was 0.75 lower than Sánchez’s, and his 0.98 WHIP showed how few runners he let on base. That was enough to put the Sale NL Cy Young case in third place, a single point behind Sánchez, in a year when Misiorowski was unanimous. Chris Sale Would Have Joined Elite Company A win in the Sale NL Cy Young case would have been the second Cy Young Award of his career, and the second with the Braves. He would have joined Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux as the only pitchers in franchise history with more than one. Atlanta’s list is a strong one: Warren Spahn won in 1957, Glavine in 1991 and 1998, Maddux with three straight in 1993, 1994 and 1995, and John Smoltz in 1996. Sale’s 2024 award was the franchise’s eighth. Sale has been in this conversation for a long time. He finished in the top six of the AL Cy Young voting for seven straight seasons from 2012 to 2018, placing third in 2014 and second in 2017 behind Corey Kluber. He finally won in 2024, his first season with the Braves, going 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts. He led the NL in all three categories and received 26 of 30 first-place votes, the first NL pitching triple crown since Clayton Kershaw in 2011. What the Season Means for Atlanta Missing out on a second award does not change what Sale is to the Braves, and the Sale NL Cy Young case showed why. He followed a 2.58 ERA in 21 games in 2025 with another top-tier year, and before 2026, the Braves agreed to a contract that adds $27 million for 2027, with an option for 2028. That keeps a 37-year-old ace in the rotation for at least one more season. A strikeout total of 200 and a 0.98 WHIP suggest he has plenty left, and the Braves will lean on that again next year. The Last Word The Sale NL Cy Young case did not end with the award, and it finished a single point short of second place, but that does not take away from a remarkable 2026. At 37, Sale posted a 2.16 ERA with 200 strikeouts and remains one of the best pitchers in the sport. The open question is how long he can sustain that level, and whether Atlanta can turn his best seasons into a deeper October run. For now, he is a big reason the Braves still have an ace at the top of the rotation. Main Photo Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images More Baseball News: Yankees’ Cam Schlittler Wins 2026 Cy Young Award Padres Sign Right-Handed Starter in First Offseason Move of 2026 Report: Dodgers Hire Pedro Guerrero as New Hitting Coach