Sale, Acuña Share Quips with Each Other During Braves Live BP Matchup

It's spring training; most teammates are going to have some fun, including two stars on the Atlanta Braves

Two Braves stars went head-to-head, and the results were unserious | Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

A debate was arguably settled on Thursday. Who would win? Chris Sale or Ronald Acuña Jr. The old saying is that good pitching beats good hitting, and that was still the case for the Atlanta Braves ace.

The face went head-to-head during Sale's live batting practice. Acuña put up somewhat of a fight, but in the end, he was sat down on strikes twice.

Chris Sale vs. Ronald Acuña. Sale struck him out twice. pic.twitter.com/pCKAI5Ko2A

— Gabe Burns (@GabeBurnsAJC) February 12, 2026

Sale was quick to make a joking comment. Before he had even thrown a pitch, he looked to the coaching staff and said, “First live BP, and this is who I get?!”

Yes, yes they did. For what's worth, he was up for the battle, and he won.

Manager Walt Weiss jumped in and said, “Acuña is thinking the same thing.”

If he didn't think that before the matchup, he was after. When walking away from the batter's box, he can be heard saying "I don't see."

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Clearly, that was the reason that he wasn't able to get to Sale. Then again, perhaps there is a good chunk of the league that would feel the same way when facing the same pitcher.

Perhaps it would go differently if it were in a live game. Yeah, about that. The small sample size that the two have against each other would say otherwise. Acuña has three career plate appearances against Sale. He's reached base on a walk. We'll give him that credit. However, in the other two trips to the plate, Acuña struck out both times.

It's possible that this is some cruel and unusual joke on Acuña. He had fun at the Super Bowl. No one else did. Put him in against Sale. This implies that they actually knew the stats for this matchup. They probably don't, but it's fun to imagine all of this being the case.

Fortunately for Acuña, he gets to rely on having Sale get his team in the win column once every five days instead of having to worry about getting past him. The feeling it probably mutual. In the long run, thing would probably start to go Acuña's way at least a little.

Sale likely prefers having him as a teammate for run support. In the end, this whole thing reflects how relaxed spring training can be. There is plenty of time to be serious when the games actually matter. The training is still for real, but you can prepare for the season while enjoying yourself.