Chris Sale of the Braves and Tarik Skubal of the Tigers were both named first-time Cy Young Award winners on Wednesday night. They are both power lefties who led the charge for playoff teams, but where the two diverge is much more interesting. Before the season, Sale looked washed up, a last-ditch effort from the Braves to squeeze out whatever talent was still left in the 35-year-old veteran. Skubal was a promising up-and-comer who probably needed another year post-surgery before truly contending for the Cy Young while his Tigers too seemed a year away.
And here they are, two stud southpaws polishing their trophies after stellar work in 2024.
Sale finally breaks through
After five seasons, the easy and obvious bet was that Chris Sale would retire as one of the great close-but-no-cigar Cy Young candidates. It had been enough time that this win — which once looked like a foregone conclusion — had become a total longshot.
A phenom from the start, Sale was a first-round pick in 2010 and debuted later that season, making 21 appearances in relief. He headed into the next season as a top-20 prospect. He was one of the better relievers in baseball in 2011, then the White Sox correctly decided to move him into the rotation.
Sale kicked off a seven-year run where he made the All-Star team every single time and his average season was 14-8 with a 2.91 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 240 strikeouts in 198 innings, along with 5.6 WAR. His finishes in Cy Young voting, respectively: 6th, 5th, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 2nd and 4th. That was through his age-29 season, culminating with the 2018 Red Sox World Series championship.
One of the few things missing from his resume was that elusive Cy Young and he was so close. Surely one day he’d break through and win it, he and I and you said.
Instead, he took a big step back in 2019, missing out on the All-Star Game and failing to get a single Cy Young vote. Then he needed Tommy John surgery. He only returned to make nine starts in 2021. Injuries continued to plague him, as he made only two starts in 2022 and 20 in 2023, pitching to a 4.30 ERA.
The Braves traded for Sale for his age-35 season. He hadn’t put together a good, full season since 2018. And he went out and had one of the best seasons of his career.
Back in 2010, a Cy Young seemed a decent bet. Maybe not inevitable, but the pure talent was there. Fourteen years later, he finally got there.
Skubal’s insane run after injury
Like Sale, when Skubal was younger, few would have argued a statement like,