All Hail Chris Sale! The southpaw pitcher on the southside of Chicago has been absolutely nothing short of spectacular for the Chicago White Sox during their rough 75-85 season near the bottom of the pack in the American League Central. But he wrapped up the end of a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers with a total of 274 strikeouts on the season, and with the season ending in two days, there is not much likelihood for Sale to retake the mound again this year.
The previous mark for the White Sox was when Ed Walsh had thrown 269 strikeouts for the team back in 1908.
But another major question is whether or not the White Sox pitcher is going to be able to win the Cy Young Award for the American League. His 274 strikeouts dwarf the other pitchers in the AL this season, as Chris Archer (249), Corey Kluber (236), David Price (225), Carlos Carrasco (216), and Dallas Keuchel (216) are the only other players to top 200 strikeouts in the American League.
Price and Keuchel are probably the biggest threats to win the Cy Young instead of Sale, simply because they have more wins and a lower ERA. Price comes in at 18-5 while Keuchel has 20-8 and both their ERA's are sub 2.50. Sale, meanwhile has an ERA of 3.41 and is 13-11 on the season. The win loss total though is largely due to his lack of offensive run support.
But those things shouldn't overshadow how hard he has worked since missing games at the beginning of the season to getting a franchise record for strikeouts in a season. Also, all the fans at U.S. Cellular Field know that he is the main reason that people are coming out to see games. Well, him and Jose Abreu.