Chris Sale and the Atlanta Braves have agreed to a one-year, $27 million contract extension that includes a club option, ensuring the veteran left-hander will not reach free agency next winter. The deal, announced Tuesday, adds a guaranteed year to Sale’s current contract and includes a $30 million club option for the 2028 season with no buyout. It represents the largest single-season salary the Braves have ever guaranteed to a player.
Sale, who turns 37 on March 30, has revitalized his career in Atlanta following five injury-plagued seasons earlier in the decade. After capturing the National League Cy Young Award in 2024, he followed it with another strong campaign in 2025. Despite being limited to 125⅔ innings last season due to a rib injury, Sale posted a 2.58 ERA with 165 strikeouts against just 32 walks, emerging as one of the few bright spots during a disappointing 76–86 season for the Braves.
Atlanta’s decision to lock up Sale also comes amid concerns over rotation depth, with young starters Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep sidelined by injuries this spring. Over the past two seasons, Sale has compiled a 2.46 ERA across 50 appearances (49 starts) with the Braves and ranks 10th among all MLB pitchers with 390 strikeouts in that span. His 32.2% strikeout rate is second among starters, trailing only Garrett Crochet, further underscoring his return to elite form.
Now entering his 17th major league season, Sale remains one of the most dominant pitchers of his generation. He owns a career 3.01 ERA across 2,084 innings, with 2,579 strikeouts and 487 walks. Armed with a fastball that still averages 95 mph and touches 99, paired with one of the game’s most devastating sliders, the 6-foot-6 left-hander continues to overpower hitters deep into his career.
This marks the second extension Sale has signed with Atlanta, following his December 30, 2023 trade from the Boston Red Sox. Earlier in his career, Sale starred for the Chicago White Sox before a high-profile move to Boston in 2016, where he was dominant before injuries derailed multiple seasons. In Atlanta, finally healthy, Sale rediscovered his peak form, winning his first Cy Young Award after finishing in the top six of voting seven straight times from 2012 to 2018.
The new extension keeps one of baseball’s premier arms off a potentially volatile free-agent market and ensures Sale will remain in Atlanta through at least 2027. Having now signed four contract extensions across his career, Sale continues to defy expectations and anchor the Braves’ rotation as they look to rebound in the season ahead.
