Braves relying on Sale in season opener against Royals

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves are leaning on Chris Sale to provide much-needed stability for a rotation that has been decimated by injuries this spring.

Sale, 36, will start Atlanta’s season-opening game tonight against Kansas City. It will be Sale’s second-straight opening day start and seventh of his career.

Sale, who won the 2024 National League Cy Young Award in his first season in Atlanta, has never been more important for a team’s hopes entering a season. A devastating series of injuries to starting pitchers has forced first-year manager Walt Weiss and the Braves to remake the rotation behind the left-hander.

The bad news began at the start of spring training when right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach was placed on the 60-day injured list due to inflammation in his right elbow. Schwellenbach had surgery Feb. 18 to remove “loose bodies” in the elbow and rotation candidate Hurston Waldrep had a similar procedure later in the month.

On March 9, the Braves announced left-hander Joey Wentz, another rotation candidate, would miss the season after he tore the ACL in his right knee while covering first base in an exhibition game.

On Monday, the Braves said right-hander Spencer Strider, one of the team’s top starters, will start the season on the injured list because of a strained oblique.

Schwellenbach and Waldrep could return around the middle of the season. The Braves are hopeful Strider, who was placed on the injured list retroactive to Sunday, may return in April.

For now, Reynaldo Lopez, Grant Holmes and Bryce Elder are expected to line up behind Sale. Rookie Didier Fuentes, who made the opening day roster as a middle reliever after an impressive spring, could be needed as a starter. JR Ritchie, who will open the season at Triple-A Gwinnett, is another option.

There is some irony Sale is almost the last man standing from the Braves’ original projected rotation. He hasn’t been known for good health in his 15-year career with the Chicago White Sox, Boston and Atlanta.

Sale made only 31 starts for the Red Sox from 2021-23. He missed the 2020 season after having Tommy John surgery. He made only two starts in 2022 after he fractured a rib and then broke his left pinkie. His final season with Boston ended in August 2023 when he broke his right wrist riding a bicycle.

Sale was 7-5 with a 2.58 ERA with Atlanta last season, when he landed on the injured list June 21 with a fractured left rib cage and didn’t make his next start until Aug. 30.

Sale posted a 2.75 ERA this spring and said he is excited to make another opening day start.

The start will come three days before Sale’s 37th birthday.

Sale is 25-8 with a 2.46 ERA in 49 starts and one relief appearance with the Braves. He made the All-Star team in 2024 and 2025, raising his career total to nine.