McAdam: At midway point, all signs pointing up for Chris Sale

The All-Star break is still three full weeks away, but don't let the calendar fool you: the 2018 Red Sox season is very nearly half over.

The Sox played their 79th game of the season, meaning after Wednesday's game with the Angels, the Red Sox will have played exactly half of their 162 games. And since Chris Sale has already started 17 games -- major league starters almost never make more than 34 outings these days -- and won't start again until Saturday night in New York, Sale's season is half complete.

Sunday, he was brilliant in the Red Sox' 5-0 shutout of Seattle, with seven shutout innings, 13 strikeouts and a handful of pitches measured at 100 mph.

So, it seems a good time to evaluate where he is, and try, as futile as it might seem, try to predict where he might be in another three months.



Recall that under new manager Alex Cora and new pitching coach Dana LeVangie made it clear from before spring training that they were implementing a new program that would more carefully monitor workloads, side sessions, pitch counts and rest, with the goal of having everyone healthy and in good shape for the postseason.

Again, the program was designed for every member of the pitching staff, but you didn't need a degree in baseball analytics to see that a lot of this was designed with Sale in mind.

Sale faltered in the final two months and was hammered in his first career postseason start in the Division Series. And that second-half drop-off merely continued a trend that dated back to his time with the White Sox. Slight of frame and with a lot of innings shouldered by his valuable left arm, Sale needed to be protected.

The Sox have been more than careful with him. When an off-day has arisen on the schedule, they've kept everybody on turn, giving Sale -- and the rest of the starters -- an extra day of recovery time. When the innings and games began to pile up a few weeks ago, the Sox plugged in Jalen Beeks from Pawtucket following an off-day on the schedule, effectively giving Sale and the others two additional days of rest.

To date, at the exact same benchmark from a year ago, Sale has thrown 138 fewer pitches than last year, with 11.2 fewer innings. The Sox, then, have effectively shaved an entire start -- and then some -- from his workload.

"The plan all along has been getting to this point and still feeling good,'' said Sale. "I think (this is geared) more towards the end of the year. Dating back to spring training, we put a lot of work into efficiency and feeling good and recovery. I don't know how many times I've thrown over a 100 pitches this year, but it's probably less than last year as well.''

LeVangie, too, said it's premature to be judging the success of a program whose payoff can't fully be judged until October.

"The goal of it all is for him to get to the end of the year feeling the same (as he does now),'' LeVangie said. "That's the goal.''

For now, LeVangie added, the emphasis is on ensuring that Sale and his fellow starters feel good when it comes time to make each start. Toward that end, much of the focus is on between-start routines and throwing program, and making sure that energy and effort aren't wasted.

There are other variables to take into consideration in each start: How rested is the bullpen? Is there an off-day coming up, providing additional recovery opportunity? What's the score?

During the seventh inning, as Sale was completing another shutout inning, LeVangie and Cora discussed their options.

"I said to Alex, 'Do you (care) about complete games?','' LeVangie recalled. "He said, 'No.' Alex said, 'Does he?' And I said, 'No man, he's bought in.'''

So when Sale threw his 93rd and final pitch of the afternoon a 100 mph fastball on which Seattle catcher Mike Zunino had no chance -- his day was done.

"For what purpose (would he keep going)?'' asked LeVangie. "What are we trying to accomplish to send him out there for 20 more pitches? Those are stressful pitches.''

Occasionally, Sale will try to push himself harder. He recently joked with LeVangie: "I'm done with the Suburban; I'm going to drive a Ferrari.''

"I think it meant it was time for him to move on,'' offered LeVangie. "(He was saying) 'I did what I wanted to accomplish in spring training and through the first month of the season, worked my way into shape, had some success, but now it's time to go.' If you look at it like that, he kind of saved a month in there, when does that add up? At the end of the year.''

That, of course remains to be seen. There are lots of games and innings awaiting, and ultimately, the whole experiment won't be judged until the post-season.

But for now, the Ferrari that is their most important pitcher seems to be revving up well ahead of the finish line.