Chris Sale's happiness in Braves' clubhouse perfectly contrasts with Red Sox's misery

Through the first month and a half of the regular season, Chris Sale has been like a hand in glove for the Atlanta Braves. He may be firmly on the back nine of his illustrious career, but he has been sensational in his first eight starts for Atlanta. He is 6-1 on the year with a 2.54 ERA, an 0.886 WHIP and 61 strikeouts so far. The best part might be that he has only walked eight batters in those starts.

Sale came over to Atlanta from the dysfunctional Boston Red Sox this offseason. Atlanta dealt popular infielder Vaughn Grissom to Boston, but it was the Red Sox who ate a good chunk of Sale's salary. While Boston has been slightly better than expected, Atlanta remains one of the best teams in baseball. More importantly, Sale has been such a tremendous fit into the lively Atlanta clubhouse.

For a guy who has seen some crap-tastic baseball over the last few seasons, Sale's quote says it all.

"I can't stress enough what this clubhouse is like. The energy that's in there, and just the group of guys that's in there, what everyone brings to the table and how laid back it is...it's fun. It's like playing college summer baseball with brighter lights."

Clearly, Sale is feeding off his teammate's energy and they in turn are feeding of his. You love to see it!

Since getting swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta has won six of its last seven ballgames.

Chris Sale is experiencing a career renaissance with the Atlanta Braves

When Sale is on, he is borderline unhittable. That was most certainly the case for the listless Chicago Cubs offense on Tuesday night. Sale threw seven shutout innings of two-hit ball, striking out nine and walking no one. Yes, he did hit to Cubs hitters, but that is just par for the course with an effectively wild pitcher like Sale. My favorite part about his early Braves success is how he looks on the mound.

For the first time since the Red Sox were even the least bit good, we are seeing Sale pitch truly unencumbered. It is a beautiful thing. The perpetual frustrations are long gone and all that remains is making the next pitch. Sale's brilliance and Reynaldo Lopez in the back-end of the rotation have been pleasant surprises to complement Max Fried and Charlie Morton amid Spencer Strider's absence.

Overall, what we are seeing is one of the best rotations in all of baseball that is never going to be at full strength. Honestly, it would not shock me if general manager Alex Anthopoulos aggressively tries to add a proven veteran pitcher on an expiring contract with a bad team at the deadline. That way, Atlanta knows every day it has a chance to win with no matter who is toeing the rubber for them.

Sale's elation in Atlanta coincides with the never-ending misery that seems to be Red Sox baseball.