The headline speaks for itself,
Officially a week a way, The Atlanta Braves will be taking on the Kansas City Royals at Truist Park with Chris Sale (2025 ERA: 2.58) taking the mound.
He will be facing Royals’ starter Cole Ragans (2025 ERA: 4.67 ERA), who will be looking for his first Opening Day victory out of his past two starts.
Making his seventh career Opening Day start (second with the Braves) the 2024 NL Cy Young award winner will look to kick the Braves off on a high note in contrast to last
year’s start on the West Coast. Picking up where he left off, Sale pitched in a total of 21 games after coming off of a back spasm set-back in 2024, that took him out of the remainder of the post-season competition in September.
Fast forward to 2025, Sale started a healthy campaign during his return, despite the overall team’s disappointing record. Though being moved to the 60-day IL list due to suffering a fractured rib cage in June, he made a successful comeback in late August to finish up his 21 game and 125.2 inning stint to complete the year with 165 total strikeouts, 161 ERA+ and 2.67 FIP.
It was also announced a month ago that Sale and the Braves had agreed to a one-year, $27 million extension that includes a $30 million option for 2028. This will guarantee him for next year and was noted by Braves’ reporter Grant McAuley, that the deal represents the highest AAV (Average Annual Value) ever given by the club.
Sale remarked prior to the extension that he wanted to retire as a Brave when the time came, but don’t think he won’t give the remainder of his career all he has to close out on a high note.
His 2026 campaign is officially a week away, and this start also makes him the 14th-oldest pitcher in Braves franchise history to start on Opening Day, as well as the sixth left-hander in franchise history to start multiple Opening Day contests.
