The Atlanta Braves got six strong innings from Chris Sale on Wednesday, but here’s what makes it interesting: it was his 314th career start, matching the exact total of Hall of Fame legend Sandy Koufax.
Sale battled through illness to beat the Oakland Athletics 4-1 at Truist Park, allowing just one run on one hit. Not bad for a guy who wasn’t sure he’d even take the mound.
“He was sick as a dog,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said after the game. “We didn’t even know if he was going to be able to make that start. I was hoping to get three innings out of him. In the best-case scenario, maybe four.”
Instead, the 37-year-old lefty gutted through six innings with diminished velocity, surrendering only a home run to A’s slugger Shea Langeliers that barely cleared the left-field wall.
The Koufax Comparison
Now that Sale’s reached 314 starts – the same number Koufax made in his Hall of Fame career – it’s worth looking at how their numbers stack up.
Most baseball purists wouldn’t dare compare Sale to the Dodgers icon. But the statistics tell a compelling story.
Sale actually tops Koufax in several key categories:
- WAR: Sale 57.9, Koufax 48.9
- Strikeouts: Sale 2,588, Koufax 2,396
- All-Star appearances: Sale 9, Koufax 7
Koufax still leads where it matters most to voters:
- ERA titles: Koufax 5, Sale 1
- Cy Young Awards: Koufax 3, Sale 1
- World Series MVPs: Koufax 2, Sale 0
The way I see it, Sale’s 16-year career has been consistently dominant in ways that mirror Koufax’s legendary peak. That kind of sustained excellence usually gets rewarded in Cooperstown.
“You’re not going to have your best stuff every time,” Sale said postgame, not mentioning his illness. At 37, he’s still finding ways to win when he doesn’t have his A-game.
That’s exactly what Hall of Famers do.
