Now back to whether this might be the best season of Sale’s career. He’s certainly not going to throw 200-plus innings like he did in 2013 and 2015-17. So, previous strikeout totals, like 308 in 2017 and 274 in 2015, will dwarf this year’s mark. But we can still compare rates and other metrics.
ERA
Sale ranks second in the Majors with 2.06 ERA. This would be the best ERA he has ever produced as a starter, trumping the 2.11 ERA he posted over 27 starts in 2018.
ERA+
This metric accounts for whether a pitcher has a hitter-friendly ballpark and league averages for that specific season.
Sale’s 203 ERA+ is trumped only by the 209 he produced in 2018. His next best marks were 174, produced during his Cy Young Award season two years ago and 173 in 2014.
His current ERA+ means he has been 103 percent better than the average pitcher this season.
Strikeouts
Sale ranks seventh among MLB pitchers with 177 strikeouts. As mentioned above, he’s not going to flirt with any of his career-high totals. Assuming he has four starts remaining, there’s a chance he becomes just the ninth pitcher to record at least nine 200-strikeout seasons. The only current lefty in this group is Sale’s childhood idol Randy Johnson.
Strikeout rate
Sale’s 30.7 percent strikeout rate is down from the 32.4 (2025) and 32.1 (2024) marks he produced the past two seasons. But this is the fourth best rate ever recorded by a pitcher at 37 or older.
The only better marks were posted by Johnson (37.4 percent in 2001 and 32.3 percent in 2002) and Nolan Ryan (30.9 in 1987).
Whether or not this has been Sale’s greatest season is debatable. But the further it’s progressed, the harder it is to argue against the expectation he’ll one day be enshrined with Johnson and Ryan in Cooperstown.
