Braves' initial plan for Chris Sale will put newcomer to test right away

Chris Sale was always going to be a middle-of-the-rotation pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, but he will be called upon perhaps a little bit earlier than expected. While it made all the sense in the world for Spencer Strider to be the Opening Day starter at the Philadelphia Phillies, given his dominance over them during the regular season, Sale will follow Max Fried in the rotation, and not Charlie Morton...

This is to get a pair of left-handed pitchers back-to-back to close out the three-game series to start the season at Philadelphia. Morton will toe the rubber in the next series at the Chicago White Sox. Fried will be the home-opening starter for the Braves when they host the Arizona Diamondbacks in a few weeks. Reynaldo Lopez will be the fifth starter after having beaten out Bryce Elder for the gig.

Overall, Atlanta traded for Sale with the hopes of giving the team the firepower it needed in the middle of the starting rotation. He may not be the same pitcher he was during his zenith with the White Sox, but he is certainly capable of helping his new team win big in the latter part of his illustrious career. Atlanta needs to assert its dominance over the Phillies by taking two of three.

David O'Brien of The Athletic outlined what the Braves' plans will be for the rotation to start the year.

Games are not won on paper, but I would put the Braves' rotation up with anybody else's this season.

Chris Sale will be put to the test early in his Atlanta Braves' debut

It may only be the first series of the season, but it could foreshadow what is to come for Atlanta, good, bad, great or ugly. Along with Philadelphia, the Braves have serious World Series aspirations out of the NL East. Although Atlanta has won the division each of the last six years, Philadelphia has ended the Braves' season prematurely in the NLDS. Of course, Philadelphia has no ring to show for it.

Sale is already a borderline hall of fame pitcher, but needs to be as advertised to get the Braves over the top. It is not exactly World Series or bust for this team, but another NLDS exit is not going to sit well with Braves Country. It may indicate that 2021 was the anomaly, and this is just more of the same when it comes to Braves baseball in October. Sale won a ring when he was with the Boston Red Sox.

Ultimately, I expect that manager Brian Snitker will mix and match his rotation throughout the year. Fried and Strider will be at the top of it, Morton and Sale will be in the middle of it, and the likes of Lopez, Elder and even young pitchers like AJ Smith-Shawver and Hurstron Waldrep will be at the bottom of it. Atlanta has options to start games, plenty of good ones. It is all about the right mix.

There is never a better time to see what Sale is all about than up against the Braves' biggest rival.