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MLB’s best hurler clashes with one of MLB’s best teams as Chris Sale faces the Dodgers

The Dodgers missed Chris Sale when they swept the Braves back in May, but they won’t get so lucky this time. After not faring quite so well against Spencer Schwellenbach, they’ll now have to deal with MLB’s best pitcher — a title Sale has earned with superb performance that’s really put him in a class of his own.

Yes, Sale’s 6.2 fWAR is not only tops among all pitchers in MLB, it’s nearly 1 fWAR better than his next-closest competitor, Tarik Skubal (5.4), despite the fact that Skubal has two more starts than Sale thus far. Among the 155 starters with the most innings, Sale is first in FIP-, second in xFIP-, second in SIERA, fourth in xERA, and third in ERA-. He’s been pretty consistent, too, as he doesn’t have a single calendar month where either his FIP or xFIP has crested above 3.50. Even on a game-to-game level, we’re talking just three starts all year with an FIP- above 100 (and only two above 110), and just two with an xFIP- above 100 (and just one above 110). He’s unquestionably the best pitcher in baseball this year, he’s one of the best contributors in baseball this year overall, and the Braves’ hopes on making the playoffs rest, in large part, on them actually turning whatever contributions he has remaining this season into wins.

But, as Sale faces the Dodgers tonight, things won’t be that easy, because the Braves have to contend with Jack Flaherty. The 28-year-old right-hander came over from Detroit at the Trade Deadline, and while he’s been worse in Los Angeles (64/87/83, compared to an absurd, Sale-esque 73/76/63 before the trade; Sale is at 57/51/64 for the season), he’s still been nails. The Dodgers have gone 5-2 in his seven starts since coming over, and aside from a two-start stretch where had “just” a 10/3 K/BB ratio and allowed two homers, he hasn’t really even had any bad outings.

So, it’s looking like once again, Chris Sale will have little margin for error, and the Braves will have a tall task ahead of them. With the Phillies starting Kolby Allard against the Mets (after lining up their top four to face the Braves a few weeks ago), the Braves will need to figure out a way to come out victorious to hold on to relevance in the chase for a playoff spot.