Reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale threw his best game of the 2025 season on Wednesday, as the Atlanta Braves shut out the reeling New York Mets 5-0. Sale lasted 8 2/3 innings, just one out short of his first complete game shutout since June 5, 2019 â more than six years ago.
On that date, Sale was pitching for the Boston Red Sox when he went the full nine to blank the Kansas City Royals 8-0.
If the Braves are hoping to showcase Sale for an upcoming trade they could not have asked for a better outing. Sale punched out seven while allowing just five hits and a single walk on his way to handing Atlanta’s NL East division rivals a fifth straight loss.
Braves Could Still be Sellers at the Deadline
The 33-39 Braves, however, remain 11 games in back of the division-leading Mets, and six games out of the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League. They have now won six of their last eight games, turning their fortunes back around after a seven-game losing streak that saw them drop to 10 games under .500 â just three weeks after they rose above the break-even mark for the first time all season.
Despite their solid run over the past week, Atlanta’s struggles have led baseball experts and observers to believe the Braves â who finished second in the NL East last year after six straight seasons at the top â will be sellers at the trade deadline, unloading some of their high-salaried players with the hope of receiving prospects in return.
At the top of the list of those big-ticket trade candidates â Sale himself, who has been the subject of trade rumors and speculation for weeks with teams ranging from the New York Yankees to the Detroit Tigers to the Red Sox, the team that traded Sale to Atlanta less than two years ago, proposed as destinations for the 36-year-old southpaw.
But all of those rumors are “ridiculous.” And that’s not a random opinion, coming as it does from the man who would have to make the decision to trade Sale, Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos.
Anthopoulos Adamantly Rules Out Sale Trade
Anthopoulos, who has presided over the Braves’ entire six-year run of NL East pennant-winning seasons as well as assembling the roster that won the 2021 World Series, finally weighed in on the widespread Sale trade rumors in an interview with Atlanta radio station 680 The Fan â and he took the opportunity to shut down those rumors completely.
“Iâve seen the speculation. Itâs completely ridiculous to me. We are not selling, especially someone that has club control beyond the current year,â Anthopoulus said in the radio interview. âWill not happen. I never make definitive statements unless Iâm going to stick to them. Once you make definitive statements and then you go back on them, youâre a liar and youâre done.
But even though the Braves’ top baseball exec was adamant about not “selling” on Sale, adding “Will. Not. Happen. Bold, italicize it, caps,” Anthopoulus did appear to leave a very slight crack in the door for a Sale trade.
“You get to the end of July and things are completely changed, I guess we would reevaluate,” the 48-year-old baseball executive said. “But youâd have to be extreme. Weâre built to win. Our expectations are to win. Our expectations are to go for it the entire time.â
Sale signed a two-year, $38 million contract with the Braves after being traded from the Red Sox. The contract comes with a club option after the current season, so in theory the Braves could simply decline to exercise it and allow Sale to become a free agent. Otherwise, the 15-year veteran and eight-time All-Star would not hit the open market until after the 2026 season.
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