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Braves Make Official Contract Decision on Pitcher Chris Sale
After two All-Star seasons with the Braves, Atlanta chose to pick up pitcher Chris Sale’s $18 million club option on Wednesday, New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported. He will remain in Atlanta for the 2026 season.
Next offseason, when Sale is 37 years old, he will become a free agent.
The 2024 Cy Young award winner started in 20 games this past season. Sale posted a 2.58 ERA and a 1.066 WHIP—His ERA was the best amongst his fellow Braves starting pitchers this past season. He threw 165 strikeouts (a team-high) over 125.2 innings pitched, while giving up 102 hits, 36 earned runs and 11 home runs.
Atlanta is believed to be in the market for another starting pitcher this offseason, so we’ll see who the team shows interest in to possibly join Sale in the rotation in 2026.
The Braves went 76–86 this past season and missed the playoffs after going to seven consecutive postseasons.
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Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.