When the pitchers are doing well, it takes pressure off the offense, and when the offense is clicking, it takes pressure off of us” – Chris Sale, 2024 season.

This is what it comes down to at the end of the day. The fundamentals of baseball do not matter when runs are not being produced and the workload of a pitcher does not equate to a better outing. Pitchers blow up their arms trying to provide length for their ball club and in doing so put themselves at risk of injury.

Take Spenser Strider for example, he was looked at as the ace of the staff because of his magnificent 2022-2023 seasons where he went 31-10 with 483 strikeouts in 318 innings and an era of 3.20, he seemed destined for longterm greatness. That was until Strider hit the injured list with an elbow blowout taking him of play for all of 2024. Strider down after a season where he went 20-4 and led the league in strikeouts now will be out of baseball for a year.

This is a common theme for many pitchers in 2024 who carried a higher workload in the previous year or two and are now facing the consequences of overworking. Luckily the Braves never really have a pitching issue and can pull amazing pitching performances out left and right throughout the season. Coming into the season the Braves were going to be led by Spencer Strider and Max Fried, neither of them have made significant contributions to being the leaders of the staff this year. However the once underrated pitching moves they made are now looking like such a steal. Their rotation is currently led by former relief pitcher turned starter Reynaldo Lopez, who boasts a 1.34 ERA over 40 innings pitched this year. Lopez has already accumulated a 1.7 WAR, holds the 3rd best ERA in the NL, and is performing 210% better than the league average, with an ERA+ of 310.

To pair well with the hard throwing righty is a revitalized Chris Sale who looks to provide a serious shakeup for the Braves as their left handed ace in the rotation. Chris Sale at a ripe age of 35 looks back on track on his hall of fame trajectory. Though he had some minor issues and frequent injuries occur during the span after the Red Sox won the World Series till last season (2019-2023) he now looks healthier than ever and looks to remain that way. I predicted Chris Sale to win the comeback player of the year award in my 2024 predictions blog and it looks to be more correct every day.

Chris Sale currently has a 6-1 record and a 2.54 era, Sale hasn’t had more than 6 wins since his dominant 2018 season where he went 12-4 with a 2.11 era in 27 games. That seemed like eons ago and with all the injuries and bad luck Sale has accumulated it felt like he would never return to form. Well leading the team in wins with only a loss to show for definitely gives us hope a change is forthcoming. Sale may not have as low of an ERA as Lopez but his FIP is lower (2.47 compared to 3.00) and his strikeout rate is right around career average (11.1%)

The only concern with Sale is staying healthy. He has the stuff to show for it it’s just been a problem with being on the field consistently. Sale last pitched a full 32 games in 2017, at this rate he would be the #3 best pitcher in the NL

An era of 2.56, 197 innings and 244 strikeouts from vintage Sale is only something the Sox have been dreaming of unlocking for years and it only took a torn ulnar collateral ligament in 2020 that kept him out a good chunk of 2021, a right rib stress fracture prior to the 2022 season that landed him on the 60-day injured list, to a fractured left pinkie finger in his second start back, to a broken right wrist following a bicycle accident in 2023 and finally being traded to the opposing league with one year of control left all before he found his footing again in the MLB and turned into prime vintage Sale!

To say the Braves have one of the best rotations with two guys in the top ten in pitching this season and none of them are Spenser Strider or Max Fried is nuts! I knew it was a steal getting Reynoldo Lopez at $30/3 at the start of the offseason. With the cost of pitchers going up immensely the Braves were incredibly wise to sign a low tier relief pitcher convert him to starting pitcher and trade for one of the leagues best pitchers with a huge injury risk and turn them into actual beasts.

I never really doubted the Chris Sale trade, I always believed Sale had it in him to comeback to his form, it was just pitching in a hitters friendly park and not having decent strength and conditioning coaches at Fenway. It made Sales success all the less prominent and much more difficult to retain. Trading away Vaughn Grissom was the smart move to make since the MLB roster was already pretty locked up, plus Grissom has not succeeded well enough in Boston and has since been demoted from his bad struggles. Lopez has been a starting pitcher before while he was mainly a relief pitcher. He may have not been the most attractive pitching name on the market but he got the job done. More and more relief pitchers are turning into full time starting pitchers and are succeeding.

Look at the Giants who signed Jordan Hicks to a similar deal as Lopez and he is doing better than ever in San Francisco. The hard throwing righty has the fifth best ERA in the NL (2.38) and looks like a steal every day.

People need to give more praise to relief pitchers turned starters because clearly the Braves found something incredibly special with Lopez. It’s truly incredible what making the right moves and using the market to your advantage can accomplish. As much as I hate the Braves they’re doing something right.