The Atlanta Braves reached the NL playoffs in 2024 to make their seventh straight trip to the postseason.
Although the Braves lost to the San Diego Padres in the wild-card series, just making the postseason could be viewed as a success due to the amount of injuries the team had.
After the loss of Ronald Acuna Jr. and other valuable players, the Braves made the postseason largely due to the starting pitcher they acquired from the Boston Red Sox.
Chris Sale was traded to the Braves for infielder Vaughn Grisson and went on to win the 2024 NL Cy Young Award.
It could have worked out very differently, as Sale revealed what his plans were prior to landing with the Braves.
“Before I got traded last offseason, we were planning that this year was probably gonna be my last year playing,” Sale said, via Foul Territory.
Chris Sale was initially planning on 2024 being his last season before he got traded to Atlanta. pic.twitter.com/G0YDZVTcGf
Sale came into the league in 2010 with the Chicago White Sox and played seven seasons for them before going to the Red Sox for the next six seasons.
In his first season with the Braves, Sale started 29 games and was 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts in 177.2 innings pitched.
Sale added that he decided to home-school his kids to allow them to get the full baseball life experience throughout the season.
After having the best season of his career, it is unknown how many more years Sale plans to play.
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