- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,195,804
- Reaction score
- 59
You must be registered for see images attach
Braves' Chris Sale matches Sandy Koufax in all-time MLB history originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Sandy Koufax had an odd MLB career. For half of it, he was a so-so pitcher. For the other half, he was the best pitcher on the planet.
And in one way, Atlanta Braves' lefty Chris Sale has caught up to the legendary Dodgers southpaw.
On Wednesday, Sale made the 314th start of his MLB career. That's the same total that Koufax had.
And in some ways, Sale has actually had a more impressive career than Koufax, if we just read the numbers:
MORE: Terrance Gore's son honors dad with perfect first pitch
It's obviously not as simple as just stats on a page.
Besides, the conundrum with Koufax's career is if you take just the good years, he was generational. But with the bad years mixed in, the stats end up great but not quite as unbelievable.
For Sale to have a 142 ERA+ compared to Koufax's 131 is notable, because that's related to the era they play in (and the higher number is better).
Sale has also struck out a higher percentage of hitters and walked a lower percentage of hitters than Koufax.
Again, these are all just numbers, and they're not to say Sale outdoes Koufax.
But if Sale has been a bit underappreciated at times, it's clear he should be much more noticed.
More MLB news:
- Wrigley Field wind impacted potential HR by more than 100 feet
- Is there a curse of Rafael Devers?
- Shohei Ohtani has most unstoppable hitting, pitching streaks at the same time
- The 1st game in MLB history to end on an ABS challenge
- This New York Times crossword clue is bizarre for baseball fans
- The rulebook strike zone doesn't actually match the ABS strike zone
Continue reading...
