When Chris Sale fractured his right wrist in a bicycle accident in 2022, a 10th trip to the All-Star Game felt almost impossible. He had already endured Tommy John surgery, a rib stress fracture and a broken left pinkie. Another operation ended another season before it could truly begin.
Four years later, Sale reached the 2026 break with a 2.20 ERA through 17 starts and a place on the National League roster. It is his third straight All-Star nod since joining Atlanta and the 10th of his career.
This is no brief burst of good health. Sale won the National League Cy Young Award in 2024, returned from another painful injury in 2025 and again pitched like an ace at 37. A career that once seemed trapped inside a training room is now moving toward Cooperstown on its own power.
Boston became a cycle of pain and rehabilitation
Sale once made dominance look routine. From 2012 through 2018, the left-hander reached seven straight All-Star Games and finished inside the top six of Cy Young voting every season.
His fastball jumped on hitters from a low arm slot. The slider swept across the plate late enough to make good swings look badly timed. Then his body stopped cooperating.
Elbow trouble ended his 2019 season and led to Tommy John surgery in 2020. Sale returned in 2021, but the setbacks kept coming. A rib stress fracture delayed his 2022 debut. One line drive broke his left pinkie after only two starts. Weeks later, the bicycle crash fractured his right wrist and required surgery. Shoulder trouble followed in 2023.
Over four seasons, he managed only 31 regular-season starts.
That stretch left Sale with more than physical scars. During a FOX Sports conversation with David Ortiz around the 2026 All-Star festivities, he admitted that he still felt he owed Boston more.
“I don’t know if they’ll love me forever, but I’ll always love them,” Sale said.
The words carried regret, not bitterness. He remembered the 2018 championship and the support that remained even when he could not stay on the mound.
Later that week in Philadelphia, Sale reflected on how unlikely his recovery once appeared. “You go back five or six years ago, I don’t think a whole lot of people had this on their bingo card,” he told Grant McAuley.
Atlanta gave him the opportunity to change that outlook. More importantly, the Braves provided the stability and regular work needed to turn another comeback attempt into a genuine revival.
Atlanta found the Ace still hiding under the injuries
The Braves acquired Sale from Boston in December 2023. Atlanta sent Vaughn Grissom to the Red Sox and received $17 million to help cover Sale’s salary.
That trade offered him exactly what he needed: a healthy winter, a fresh clubhouse and regular work without carrying every failure from the previous four years.
His revival was not built on empty talk about experience or toughness. The baseball changes were visible.
Tracking data showed that Sale’s average fastball velocity climbed from 93.7 mph between 2019 and 2023 to 94.7 mph early in 2024. More importantly, he sharpened the location of his slider. Fewer breaking balls leaked into the center of the plate. Many more finished on the edges or beyond the strike zone, where hitters chased and missed.
During his early 2024 surge, batters whiffed on 53 percent of the sliders he placed in the shadow and chase areas.
Sale turned that command into the finest season of his career. He finished with 18 wins, three losses, a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts. Those numbers gave him the National League pitching Triple Crown and his first Cy Young Award.
The old violence remained in his delivery, but the pitching had become cleaner. He could still overpower hitters. No longer did every fastball need to touch 97 mph.
Another broken rib could not stop the revival
The next interruption arrived in a cruel way.
On June 18, 2025, Sale carried a shutout into the ninth inning against the Mets. He dived off the mound to stop a soft ground ball and recorded the out. Atlanta later confirmed that the play fractured the left side of his rib cage.
That injury cost him more than two months.
Sale returned on August 30 and finished the season with a 2.58 ERA, 165 strikeouts and 125 2/3 innings. His workload was limited, but the quality never disappeared.
Even after another bone healed and another rehabilitation program ended, hitters still faced the same uncomfortable angles and the same slider disappearing beneath their bats.
Sale’s value inside the Braves clubhouse also became easier to see. Before the 2026 season, manager Walt Weiss praised his work, competitiveness and lack of ego.
The veteran had even made his only relief appearance of 2025 so Charlie Morton could take the ball for a final regular-season start. Grant Holmes called him a leader, teammate and friend while Sale was injured.
Those moments say more than a generic label ever could. He leads by taking the ball, doing the work and making room for somebody else when the situation calls for it.
The 10th nod changes the shape of his career
Baseball Reference’s count of seasons on an All-Star roster supports the historical claim surrounding Sale’s latest honor.
He became the eighth starting pitcher to reach the event in 10 different seasons. That group includes Warren Spahn, Tom Seaver, Roger Clemens, Steve Carlton, Randy Johnson, Tom Glavine and Clayton Kershaw.
This distinction measures separate All-Star seasons. It matters because pitchers from the era when Major League Baseball held two games in the same summer could record 10 appearances without reaching the roster in 10 different years.
Sale has now earned three consecutive nods with Atlanta after going five years without one. His latest trip confirms that 2024 was not a lucky escape from the injured list.
The fastball has held near 95 mph. Slider command remains the foundation. Most importantly, Sale keeps returning to the mound and giving the Braves elite innings.
Those lost seasons in Boston still belong to his record. They no longer control the conversation.
Fans do not watch Sale and wonder what might have been. Instead, they see a 37-year-old ace attack hitters with the same edge that defined his prime, only with a deeper understanding of how quickly the game can disappear.
The 10th All-Star nod does more than decorate his career. It marks the distance between the operating table and the center of baseball’s summer stage.
Sale did not simply survive the injuries. He rebuilt enough of himself to become feared again.
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FAQS
1. How many All-Star teams has Chris Sale made? Sale has made 10 All-Star teams. His 2026 nod was his third straight since joining Atlanta.
2. When did Chris Sale join the Atlanta Braves? The Braves acquired Sale from Boston in December 2023 in a trade that sent Vaughn Grissom to the Red Sox.
3. Has Chris Sale won a Cy Young Award? Yes. Sale won the 2024 National League Cy Young Award after leading the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts.
4. What major injuries did Chris Sale overcome? Sale endured Tommy John surgery, rib fractures, a broken pinkie, a broken wrist and shoulder trouble during his injury years.
5. How did Chris Sale perform before the 2026 All-Star break? Sale recorded a 2.20 ERA through 17 starts before earning his 10th career All-Star nod.
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