Chris Sale Makes His Feelings Clear Ahead of a Pivotal Game 3 Back in Atlanta

Chris Sale wanted the ball Sunday, but Walt Weiss and the Atlanta Braves decided against that — opting to send him to the mound at full strength for Game 3.

That decision looked considerably better after Atlanta won Game 2 without him, setting up a situation the Braves were hoping for when they chose to hold their ace back in the first place.

“I really felt confident in myself in starting Game 2,” Sale said, via Mark Bowman of MLB.com. “I reiterated that plenty of times to them. But this is a team game. This isn't about me. This isn't about one guy.”

That last part may explain Atlanta’s thinking better than anything else.

Sale had already thrown 95 pitches in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against Philadelphia before coming out of the bullpen two days later to record the final four outs. Using him again Sunday would have meant asking the 37-year-old to make his third appearance and second start in six days.

Instead, the Braves trusted Ray Kerr, Robert Suarez, Didier Fuentes and Raisel Iglesias to get them through the bullpen game.

They did. Now Sale gets the Dodgers with a full week between starts.

“If you have Sale in Game 2 and Game 5, as people were screaming about, we saw it as you're getting a diminished Chris Sale twice at that point,” Weiss said, via Bowman. “We wanted to get a full-strength Chris Sale, and that's Game 3.”

There is plenty of reason for Atlanta to feel good about that matchup.

Sale has already faced the Dodgers twice this season, and the second meeting might be the one that matters most tonight. On Aug. 27, he threw a five-hit complete-game shutout at Truist Park, striking out 11 without issuing a walk.

That night also produced one of the more memorable moments of his season when Sale reached 100 mph in an eventual strikeout of Shohei Ohtani. It was the first triple-digit pitch of his career since 2018.

The Dodgers know what they are getting. So does Sale.

He isn't approaching Game 3 as a chance to settle anything from the regular season or prove that August outing wasn't a fluke.

“This is playoff baseball,” Sale told reporters. “That's a helluva team across the way. I'm just preparing for another grind. I'm preparing for another battle and to leave it all on the field.”

The Braves will need that version of him.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto is starting for Los Angeles after putting together the best regular season of his career, and Atlanta knows from that August matchup that he can keep the game under control. Yamamoto allowed one earned run over 6.1 innings against the Braves in that game, with eight strikeouts and one walk.

Atlanta's best chance may again come from making him work. The Braves lead all postseason teams in walks and have also produced the most home runs and total bases.

They haven't always cashed in their opportunities, but they have continued creating them.

Now they have Sale back on the mound with the series tied, at home, and exactly when Atlanta wanted him most.

The decision to wait finally gets its test.