Boston Red Sox: Chris Sale will be just fine come October

Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale looked a little underwhelming in a 10-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night. However, I still think the hard-throwing lefty will be just fine.

Boston Red Sox fans, do not fret. Our coveted ace Chris Sale will be just fine, even despite some shoulder problems over the past summer, and four recent mediocre starts (by his standards).

In the second game of a double-header on Wednesday night, the lefty was limited to four and two-thirds innings pitched, surrendering three runs while obtaining eight strikeouts.

Ever since Sale has returned from the disabled list, manager Alex Cora has noticed something different about his mechanics. The New York Post reported that the manager noticed Sale’s inability to move his hips fluidly, something that’s worth mentioning considering Sale uses all of his body when winding up.

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Luckily, Sale is a competitor, and something tells me he won’t fall flat on his face. Yes, his stats in his first postseason ever back in 2017 were terrible (he had an 8.38 ERA against the Houston Astros according to Baseball-Reference), but he’s been looking at video to try and fix his motion before October hits. Both are aware of the issue, and while both seem frustrated, the fix is manageable.

Contrary to what people think, Sale’s actually been under his overall ERA of 2.11 over the past seven games, where the flamethrower has a 1.55 ERA, according to MLB.com.

Even more encouraging, despite the drop in velocity with his fastball (around four mph), Sale is still striking people out. In his last 29 innings pitched, he’s obtained 49 strikeouts, which is over a strikeout per inning.In the Baltimore game, he finished with eight. A lot of that has to do with his insane ability to mix up pitches to keep hitters off-balance. That’s what all the greats do, and Sale is no exception.

In a weird way, the shoulder injury has helped limit his workload as well. Tiredness was most likely the cause of his decline in 2017, as John Farrell threw him out there for 214 innings during the regular season. Heading into the final few weeks, Chris Sale is only at 158 for 2018. What most people would call frustrated, I call motivated.

Sure, he may unfortunately experience pain throughout the postseason, but that’s a little too hypothetical. He hasn’t been egregiously bad over the past month. Just kind of absent. And a limited workload can work in his favor ironically.

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Even in short outings, Sale still looks like a perennial Cy Young winner. He seems more driven than ever heading into the 2018 playoffs. Yes, his motion has been off recently, but something tells me that he will return to his normal self as his workload starts to increase.

Alex Cora managed him right, and while it initially seems like a lost cause, Sale will surely be ready to go in Game 1 in the ALDS.

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