In some ways, it feels weird to re-litigate this after the Braves won in Game 2 without Chris Sale starting, but what happened feels so weird that I still can’t wrap my head around it.
We basically have two things in play:
First, Chris Sale has gotten extra rest ahead of many of his starts this season. He hasn’t started on the standard four days’ rest very much.
Second, Chris Sale appeared out of the bullpen to finish off the NL Wild Card Series win over the Phillies.
There was a logical world where
that appearance functioned as a normal bullpen session, and Sale would’ve started on regular rest twice, once in NLDS Game 2, and once in NLDS Game 5, if needed. That seems like kind of a big deal, given that A) Sale is really good, B) Tyler Mahle would only appear once in the NLDS given the schedule, and C) the Braves don’t have any other starters.
But then, Sale didn’t start Game 2. A lot of discussion was focused on his bullpen appearance, and whether that was the culprit for knocking him back a game. Is that what happened? I have no idea. Or, would the Braves have knocked him back a game anyway for reasons that we aren’t privy to?
From reporting, it seems like it was a Braves decision and not a Chris Sale decision, which is not at all a surprise to me. There’s also some reporting that Sale wasn’t 100 percent heading into Sunday’s Game 2, but… it’s also unclear to me whether that would’ve been the case for him facing normal rest irrespective of the relief appearance.
Basically, I don’t expect anyone or anything to resolve this, but there seems to be this lack of a throughline between “Sale appeared out of the bullpen” and “Sale isn’t starting Game 2.” Maybe that throughline exists, or maybe Sale was going to get extra rest anyway.
The whole situation is just weird. In theory, the Braves’ odds of advancing are pretty dependent on how many Sale appearances they can cram into their remaining games. But, in practice, they could just out-slug the opposition, or even pull an NLDS Game 2, where they probably shouldn’t have won but did anyway.
(Game 2, Dodgers: .281 wOBA, .286 xwOBA | Game 2, Braves: .309 wOBA, .276 xwOBA)
