Red Sox Nation: All eyes on the return and dominace of Chris Sale
While Chris Sale celebrated his 34th birthday, the Boston Red Sox arms were getting shellacked by the Baltimore Orioles on Opening Day at Fenway Park.
It wasn’t the way the team wanted to start the 2023 MLB season. It was the worst possible scenario for a Red Sox team needing to get out to a good start. Fortunately, it was just one game and fortunately the Sox get to see the return of their ace on Saturday.
Finally, back on the mound after missing most of the 2022 MLB season, Sale is highlighted as one of the starting pitchers to watch this weekend by MLB.com and Red Sox fans will certainly be watching. MLB.com’s David Adler writes:
"“It’s the long-awaited return of Sale to the Red Sox. A healthy Sale can be one of baseball’s elite strikeout aces, but he’s made only 11 starts over the last three seasons, and he last pitched in July 2022. Will the lefty have his electric fastball-slide combo back? Tune in.”"
Red Sox Nation are holding their breath when it comes to Chris Sale
It is because Sale hasn’t been on the mound since July of 2022 that Red Sox manager Alex Cora decided to go with Corey Kluber as the Opening Day starter. In hindsight maybe not the best option, but it’s understandable why Cora didn’t want to put too much pressure on Sale’s return. Given how amped up Sale is to return to dominance, it probably doesn’t matter when he is handed the ball.
As far as the pressure?
Well, not only will Sale look to erase the Opening Day loss from memory, but he is also out to give Red Sox fans some belief, some reason for optimism in himself and in his squad. A strong performance on Saturday could put a jolt into that starting rotation that could be good even despite Kluber’s rough outing.
After a strong Spring, it is health in the way of Sale returning to dominance. Mentally, he’ll be ready, and he made that clear following the team’s loss on Thursday.
"“Tell everyone that I love them and that I’ll be ready,” Sale said in a message to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier."
Confident and hyped up, blazing fastball mowing down the Orioles lineup is exactly the remedy Red Sox Nation and the team need to spark some enthusiasm and momentum following a 10-9 loss in which walks were the story of the game.
"“We’ve got to do a better job,” Cora said following the game. “All around, it wasn’t a great game. The score is what it is. We were one spring away from winning this, but overall there’s a lot of stuff that we saw today that we didn’t do in Spring Training, and we’ve got to be better.”"
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As a whole, the Red Sox pitchers had a tough time finding the strike zone. While the bats woke up to make it a game, the team needs a better start from the pitching and that’s where Sale comes in. There hasn’t been a SALE Day at Fenway Park for quite a while. It will be the perfect time for one…with the MLB world watching to see if Sale will be Sale once again.