Chris Sale Looks to Reignite Cy Young Form Against Diamondbacks

Apr 1, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale (51) throws during the third inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

To start off the series tonight in Arizona, both teams have something in common. The starting pitchers for tonight, Chris Sale for Atlanta and Zac Gallen for Arizona, have struggled a bit through the first weeks of this 2025 campaign. Chris Sale is the defending NL Cy Young winner, and Zac Gallen placed third in Cy Young voting just two seasons ago. The ability is clearly there for both pitchers; they just haven’t been able to channel that experience effectively yet in the 2025 season. Let’s look at Sale for a minute.

Chris Sale is still searching for that outing that he and everyone else will look at and feel good about. First of all, Sale is harder on himself than anyone, which is a good thing, I guess. After a recent start, Sale voiced his frustration with himself, “I feel like I'm close, but no one cares about that," and he went on to say, "This is a game of results. Until I go out there and get good results, nothing I say up here really matters.” As fellow teammate Austin Riley spoke about on Cellini & Dimino over a week ago, sometimes you may be pressing too hard instead of letting things come to you.

I don’t know if that is Sale’s issue or not, but you don’t just lose what has been working for you out of nowhere. Now granted, Sale is a veteran in the game at 36 years old. I don’t want to suggest that he is on the decline in his career. I am not saying that at all. He just came off an 18-3 season with an ERA of 2.38 and 225 strikeouts in 2024. However, with an 0-2 start, an ERA of 6.17, and some command issues, one would wonder exactly what is going on.

Tonight in Arizona, will Sale finally rediscover his old form? I sure hope so, but he will have to do it against a team that has been extremely effective at the plate. Arizona ranks inside the top 10 in every major batting category. They can hit, and they do it well. They are also aggressive, sitting at the top in extra-base hits. Tonight looks to be one of Sale’s toughest tests of the season. One thing that Sale oddly hasn’t struggled with much is his strikeout rate. 29.1 percent of the batters he's retired was via the strikeout, placing him in the top twenty in the majors.

Clearly, he has something working for him. Some of his tough outings might also be attributed to bad luck. Sometimes, balls just find their way to open spots, or the defense behind him doesn’t come up with a play, resulting in hits reflected by Sale’s .407 BABIP (batting average on balls in play).

What I am looking forward to tonight is seeing if Sale’s location and velocity are on point. He can’t afford to leave sliders or any kind of pitch hanging over the heart of the plate, which he has occasionally done during this unusual start. Arizona has hit 35 home runs this season, tied for fifth among all teams, and they also exhibit strong plate discipline. Let’s see if Sale can make it into the sixth inning tonight, and hopefully, the Braves' offense will provide him with early runs. Arizona’s Gallen was jumped by the Cubs his last time out, giving up six runs on seven hits in the first two innings. The Braves' bats have awakened quite a bit lately, so we'll see how tonight unfolds.

Braves at Diamondbacks tonight at 9:40 PM EDT, on FanDuel Sports Network. Braves fans can also catch the radio broadcast on 680 The Fan.