Chris Sale was ejected from Sunday's Braves-Yankees finale before a single pitch had been thrown, still steaming over a balk call that helped sink Atlanta a day earlier. The left-hander wasn't even scheduled to pitch in the series finale — he wanted a word with the umpiring crew anyway, and it cost him.
According to the New York Daily News, umpires were walking onto the field past Atlanta's third-base dugout when Sale began shouting at plate umpire Dan Merzel about Saturday's balk call. Merzel ejected him on the spot, and Sale kept arguing with crew chief Dan Bellino at the rail before finally heading back to the clubhouse, according to the Associated Press. Yankees starter Cam Schlittler was still finishing his first-inning warmups when it all went down, per the Daily News.
It marked Sale's fourth career ejection and his first since August 3, 2019, when he was tossed while pitching for the Boston Red Sox during a loss to the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, the wire service notes. Braves manager Walt Weiss was also ejected Saturday — his first since taking over as Atlanta's skipper — after rushing onto the field to argue the balk call and shield Sale from getting thrown out mid-game, as detailed by Heavy.com.
What Actually Triggered the Balk
The controversy traces back to Saturday's fifth inning, when Sale allowed three earned runs over six innings but ran into trouble with a rule most casual fans have never heard of. Sale is classified as a hybrid pitcher, meaning his foot placement doesn't clearly signal whether he's about to pitch from the windup or the stretch — and MLB rules require hybrid pitchers to explicitly declare their windup stance to the home plate umpire when runners are on base, batter by batter.
Sale had properly declared his windup before striking out José Caballero with Spencer Jones on third base, but he failed to re-declare before facing the next batter, Austin Wells, according to the Associated Press. Merzel called the balk, which brought in the Yankees' go-ahead run in what became a 5-4 New York win. The infraction was only the third balk charged against Sale across a 16-year career spanning more than 2,200 innings, per Yardbarker.
Umpires Defend a Rule Sale Says He's Never Faced
Bellino told a pool reporter, per the Associated Press, that traditional windup pitchers don't need to announce their delivery, but hybrid pitchers face a stricter standard precisely because umpires can't determine intent from initial foot placement alone — the AP notes Sale has a tendency for his right leg to twitch before pitching from the windup, which further complicates the read. Weiss and Sale pushed back, expressing confusion and frustration that Sale has thrown this way for years without ever facing such a call. Sale reportedly did not discuss the rule in depth with reporters Saturday.
The dispute over how a fairly obscure procedural rule got enforced in a pivotal moment carried straight into Sunday's pre-game blowup, underscoring lingering friction between the Braves and this umpiring crew. Merzel, who has served as an MLB umpire since August 2020 and had logged nine career ejections before the series, issued both the balk call and the ejection, according to Baseball Almanac.
Sale's Big Season Barely Dented
Despite the drama, Sale entered the weekend with a 12-7 record, a 2.20 ERA and 143 strikeouts across 21 starts in 2026, and Saturday's loss was just his first since June 28. He's been Atlanta's rotation anchor since arriving on the heels of his 2024 National League Cy Young Award and NL Pitching Triple Crown, when he led the league with 18 wins, a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts in his debut season with the club, per the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Because Sale wasn't slated to pitch Sunday, the pre-game ejection didn't touch Atlanta's actual lineup for the finale. Saturday's game also had other storylines worth noting: Yankees starter Gerrit Cole reached 1,000 career strikeouts as a Yankee, becoming the 13th pitcher in franchise history to hit that mark, while rookie George Lombard Jr. delivered the go-ahead home run in the seventh inning, according to CBS Sports.
Sale has been the centerpiece of Atlanta's staff all season, a role Hoodline has tracked since a strong Denver outing back in May, and one that only grew larger after the rotation took an early hit when Spencer Strider was shelved for Opening Day. For now, the balk rule that sparked this weekend's chaos remains exactly as written — leaving Sale, Weiss and the Braves to simply live with it heading into their next outing.
