Chris Sale returns to Rate Field on Wednesday with the kind of season that once made him the centerpiece of the White Sox rebuild and now has him back in the Cy Young conversation. The Braves left-hander is 8-4 with a 2.23 ERA, and Chicago will get a close look at the pitcher it drafted in the first round in 2010.
This time, though, the matchup carries a different weight. The White Sox are no longer a team looking up from the bottom of the standings, but one sitting in the AL playoff race and holding a Wild Card spot as they face MLB’s best team by record.
Sale’s comeback-level consistency
Sale has been a major driver of Atlanta’s success, which also includes the second-best ERA in MLB. He has allowed more than three earned runs only once in 12 starts, given up one or no runs eight times, and averaged six innings per outing while piling up 86 strikeouts, tied for third-most in the NL entering the week.
The numbers look a lot like the peak version of the lefty that White Sox fans watched from 2010 through 2016, when he won 74 games and posted a 3.00 ERA before being traded to the Red Sox in the deal that brought Michael Kopech and Yoán Moncada to Chicago.
Sale also reached this start after a rougher outing than usual against the Blue Jays, when he allowed 10 hits over 5 2/3 innings and gave up three earned runs in a 7-2 loss. It was the second straight start in which he failed to get through six innings, but his four-seam fastball averaged 97 mph for a second consecutive outing, his highest average velocity since 2019.
After that game, Sale said, “You’ve got to chalk it up to just being one of those days, really.” He added, “I just felt like anything that got put in play was a hit. My command was in and out at times. My stuff was pretty good, but it just seemed like they always found holes.”
A tougher White Sox backdrop
The White Sox are presenting a very different backdrop than in Sale’s recent trips back to Chicago. After three straight 100-plus-loss seasons, including an MLB-record 121 losses in 2024, they have re-entered the AL Central race and are in the thick of the AL Wild Card picture.
Chicago cooled a bit to open June, but it went 18-10 in May and had two separate five-game winning streaks. That makes Wednesday’s game more than a nostalgic reunion, because the White Sox are now competing with real stakes instead of simply trying to avoid another lost season.
How the matchup could play out
Sale has made six career starts against the White Sox and is 2-2 with a 2.92 ERA. His last outing against them came during his 2024 Cy Young season, when he threw seven innings, struck out 11, and still took the loss in a 1-0 White Sox win.
Among current White Sox players, only outfielder Randal Grichuk and catcher Drew Romo have faced Sale in the regular season. Grichuk is 6-for-27 with two home runs and eight strikeouts against him, while Romo is 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
Chicago is 9-10 this season against left-handed starters, and Sale’s return gives the White Sox another test against a pitcher who knows their ballpark, their history, and the expectations that once followed him out of it.