For the most of the first half of their season, Chris Sale was the Red Sox' beacon of light, the promise of things to come.
Sidelined even before spring training officially began with a broken rib, he diligently went through the rehab process -- again -- with the hope of returning to the Boston rotation at some point in July.
Waiting for Sale had become something of a rite of summer for the Red Sox in recent seasons. He missed all of 2020 recovering from Tommy John surgery, and the first four months of last year, too, before finally rejoining the team in August for nine starts.
He was not his dominant self over the final two months last year, but then, that was to be somewhat expected. Pitchers fresh off Tommy John were seldom at the top of their game immediately. Over the winter, for the first time in years, Sale experienced a normal offseason, dutifully building back arm strength.
But that plan, too, was thrown off when Sale suffered a broken rib while throwing off a mound in late February. The process began again, as Sale started from ground zero. As he grew closer to joining the Sox, there was optimism. This was not the same Sale the Sox welcome back in August of 2022. The stuff was sharper, the velocity back to pre-surgery and the changeup nasrier.
"Night and day,'' said Alex Cora more than once, when comparing what he saw from Sale this summer to what he saw last summer.
Even when injuries ravaged the rest of the rotation -- at one point, claiming four of the five starters and sending them to IL -- Sale remained the team's secret weapon, giving new meaning to the phrase "ace up their sleeve.'' And when he tossed five shutout innings against Tampa Bay Tuesday at Tropicana Field, the hype seemed entirely justified.
Finally, the real Chris Sale was on the mound again, giving the Red Sox hope that he could match or even outduel Gerrit Cole in the final game of the first half Sunday. Perhaps Sale alone could will the Sox to a series win against a division opponent, a feat that had, incredibly, eluded them all season.
Then came the first inning. Aaron Hicks hit a line shot up the middle that Sale tried to fend off with both hands -- his glove hand and his bare, pitching one. The ball clipped Sale's finger at nearly 107 mph, and then caromed into right field. Talk about a comebacker.
Sale stumbled momentarily, fell to the base of the mound, and when he got up, immediately sprinted for the Red Sox dugout. He had nearly crossed the third base foul line by the time the ball was fielded and returned to the infield. As he arrived at the dugout, he held up his left hand to reveal his oddly misshapen pinkie finger.
The hope, initially, was the finger had merely been dislocated. Innings later, came the news: it was broken.
"I've said it all along -- I just want to do my job,'' said an understandably downcast Sale after a 13-2 loss to the Yankees. "I just want to play baseball. I've had so many things take that away from me. It sucks. This is almost a bigger blow than the other (injuries) because it's unexpected. I felt good. It's par for the course. Think about it. Think about my timeline. It has just been (crap) after (crap) after (crap). Just more (crap) to deal with.''
It's unknown whether Sale will return this season, though both Cora and Sale gamely held out hope that he could begin throwing again in four-to-six weeks. But that timetable would have Sale not doing much with a baseball until September 1 -- in a best-case scenario.
So much for the grand plans for the second half.
So much for the optimism that they would soon be hold.
Only days ago the Sox welcomed back Nathan Eovaldi to the rotation and Garrett Whitlock to the bullpen. Soon after the resumption of the second half, they would get both Michael Wacha and Rich Hill back to the rotation, too. Those additions, coupled with a shrewd bullpen acquisition and perhaps a first baseman or right fielder obtained at the deadline would point the Sox in the right direction for the final two months.
Oops.
So now, what? Now where do they go?
The second-half schedule is a bear. Although they play the first 10 games after the All-Star break, all 10 games are against contenders -- Toronto, Cleveland and Milwaukee. Then a trip to Houston for three, just as the trade deadline arrives.
They had hoped to survive the end of the first half gauntlet, and instead went 4-10. Along the way, they lost the guy who was going to lead the rotation. He didn't even get to pitch six innings before injury struck him again.
Maybe Chris Sale's finger wasn't the only thing broken Sunday. Maybe the Red Sox' spirit was broken, too, and with it, their hopes of returning to the postseason.