Braves Chris Sale's Hall of Fame Case Stronger Than You Think

The reigning Cy Young Award winner in the National League is back on course to Cooperstown since joining the Atlanta Braves

A late-career resurgence revived his HOF case | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

At this time last year, the Chris Sale renaissance was officially on. The Atlanta Braves starter was named the National League pitcher of the month, and he never looked back. He went on to have an all-star season, winning the Cy Young Award, a Gold Glove, the pitching triple crown and comeback player of the year.

Suddenly, a head-scratching move to acquire him from the Red Sox was brilliant. It also reminded the world how phenomenal he could be and has been during his career. The narrative went from how the mighty have fallen to how he's back on track to be inducted into the Hall of Fame when his career is over.

One award-winning season and continued success in the follow-up is all it's taken. He wouldn't get it if he retired today, but the resume is strong.

Entering his start on Wednesday, Sale has a career 3.04 ERA with 2,500 career punchouts in 2,026 innings pitched. Despite his rough patch, he has a career ERA that is better than Justin Verlander (3.31) and Max Scherzer (3.16), two first-ballot hall of famers. He has a lower career WHIP than both of them too (1.05 vs 1.12 and 1.07).

He's an eight-time All-Star who has finished top five in Cy Young voting seven times in his career. He's led the league in strikeouts three times, including a year he had 308. He's also got a ring, closing out the Red Sox World Series win in 2018. This screams at minimum that he's on track.

If he wants to lock it in his immortality in Cooperstown, he'll likely have to reach the 3,000 strikeout plateau. All but four pitchers who have reached the mark have been inducted. Two of them are Verlander and Scherzer, who are still active. The other two are Roger Clemens - who fell off the ballot due to speculations over steroid use - and Curt Schilling - who failed to receive enough votes on the ballot and via the committee. Getting to that point nearly ensures Sale gets in.

It's not guaranteed he's a first-ballot honoree. He likely isn't, and he'll have to win some people over. But he'll very have a plaque in Cooperstown in his first few years on the ballot. A late, strong finish to his career will help leave a lasting impression.

For the fun of it, we'll discuss his cap too. The short answer is it likely will be and should be blank. He had most of his All-Star appearances with the White Sox, won a ring with the Red Sox and won his top awards with the Braves. Having a logo or not is up to him, but all three stops in his career played key roles in his path.