Yankees fans know all too well that Chris Sale will destroy them in the Braves opener

After being overwhelmed at home by the Baltimore Orioles, the New York Yankees will host the red-hot Atlanta Braves for a three-game series in the Bronx on Friday night. Just in time! The Bombers are struggling and the Braves are in top form.

And guess who’s on the mound for the series opener? It’s former hated Boston Red Sox standout Chris Sale. Yes, he’s a Brave now after the Sox swallowed his salary and traded him to Atlanta in exchange for Vaughn Grissom, who hasn’t done anything this year. Great job, Boston!

Although New York will start Carlos Rodón against Sale, that probably won’t matter. Aside from his recent lapse against the Red Sox last week, Rodón has been great, but this game will come down to the offense failing against Sale.

For his career, the left-hander has a 6’6″ (but don’t let that fool you!) ERA of 3.12, WHIP of 1.03, and 157 strikeouts in 22 games (19 starts) and 121 1/3 total innings pitched. That’s about as good as you can get for such a large sample size against a single opponent.

Although Sale wasn’t the same guy from 2019-2023, he has put his injuries behind him and is a completely new man in Atlanta. He is back to being the Sale he was in 2018, who crushed the Yankees.

We’d love nothing more than for the Yankees to smack down Sale, who was nothing but a complainer until he seemed to be a different person this year. Before arriving in Boston, he was a nervous wreck with the White Sox and staged a uniform-shredding incident with scissors because he didn’t like the team’s throwback uniforms. And let’s not forget the protest over Adam LaRoche’s son not being allowed into the locker room after the team’s decision.

Then, in Boston, Sale was the typical Red Sox agitator. And when he wasn’t doing that, he was insufferable. From destroying televisions after a minor league rehab stint to injuring himself in a lunchtime bike accident, he was always in the news for the wrong reasons, trying to justify his inexcusable actions.

That’s why it’s even harder to take that guy mowing down the Yankees at every opportunity. And even when the Yankees beat him down, he broke down and acted like a child.

Expect one or the other on Friday night, Yankees fans, with the Yankees being the clear favorite and the Yankees playing with their backs against the wall on Saturday and Sunday.