Greg Maddux pays homage to Braves history of Cy Young dominance in Chris Sale reveal

A formality was made reality on Wednesday night as Atlanta Braves ace Chris Sale officially received the NL Cy Young Award. That transpiring hadn't been in question for several months now with the way that the southpaw thoroughly dominated throughout the 2024 season, his first with the Bravos.

However, despite Sale's victory in the award race being a foregone conclusion by the time the reveal happened, that didn't stop everyone involved from creating a special moment — with the help of Braves legend Greg Maddux, of course.

Maddux appeared on the MLB Network broadcast as the award was given to Sale and the former Braves ace was the one who officially presented the award. Naturally, he had to show a little bit of "homer" as he did it, paying homage to his own work but also the work of his peers and predecessors as he noted he was happy the award was "staying in Atlanta."

Greg Maddux congratulates Chris Sale for helping Cy Young 'staying in Atlanta'

Maddux knows a thing or two about the Cy Young Award, winning four straight, the first with the Cubs and the latter three for the Braves, from 1992-95. Bookending him, however, was Tom Glavine bringing home the award with Atlanta in 1991 and John Smoltz doing the same in 1996. Glavine brought it back tot he Braves again in 1998.

Sale, however, is the first Braves pitchers to win the NL Cy Young Award since Glavine did so in 1998. So while Maddux may have said "staying in Atlanta", it was more actually bringing it back to Atlanta.

Having said that, Maddux delivering the news and the award to Sale on Wednesday night is truly awesome stuff, not just for the recent award winner but for Braves fans everywhere. The holy triumverate of Atlanta pitching in Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz raised expectations seemingly forever for pitchers in the organization. Sale clearly lived up to that, just as Spencer Strider, who lost out to Blake Snell, did the year before.

Again, though, there was never any question that the Cy Young was "staying in Atlanta", or at least coming back. In his first season with the Braves after being traded from the Red Sox in exchange for Vaughn Grissom in the offseason, the 35-year-old lefty struck out 225 batters over 177.2 innings while posting a pristine 2.38 ERA with a minuscule 1.013 WHIP. He was as dominant as he'd ever been and, more importantly, healthier than he's been in a long time.

Braves fans hope this is just the start of things to come. Alex Anthopoulos was quick to lock up Sale to an extension not long after the initial trade, keeping him in Atlanta for at least 2025 and with an $18 million club option for 2026. If Cy Young-caliber stuff is what they get from the southpaw, that's an absolute steal. But even if there's a slight decline, it still looks well worth every penny.