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McKnight: Postseason history has Sale's full attention

1908 was a long, long time ago. Ask anyone in town.

Baseball has as a way of bringing back its history, however, and through Chris Sale, the game did exactly that in the 2015 season. On Oct. 2, in his final start of the year, Sale struck out seven Detroit Tigers en route to breaking the Chicago White Sox single season strikeout record.

For 107 years, Ed Walsh had held the mark at 269.

It took Sale 18 fewer starts, 213 ⅔ fewer innings and 901 fewer batters than Walsh to tally his 274 strikeouts. That's both a testament to the modern game - the power and importance of pitching - and to Sale's incredible talent.

Sale is one of three American League pitchers to top the 270 mark since 1972 (David Price, 2014 and Randy Johnson in 1993, 1995 and 1997). Sale and Pedro Martinez are the only pitchers to sit down 10-plus hitters in eight consecutive games. Sale and Sandy Koufax are the only two, since 1900, to fan 12-plus with one or no runs allowed in three straight starts.

Price, Johnson, Martinez, Koufax. That's good company to keep.

In many ways, Sale is unique in baseball. His delivery induces squirms from batter and fan alike. When Sale pitches, it seems the baseball hooks around first base before it gets to the hitter. His left arm cares nothing about concern over an inverted W.

There was another moment in history, on a road trip to Cleveland in 2012, when the White Sox moved Sale back to the bullpen. Concerned about a sore elbow, the team moved Sale into the closer role. On May 8, he blew a save against the Indians. By the end of the season, he had started 29 games and finished sixth in the Cy Young voting.

He has finished in the top five every year since but would gladly trade in the personal achievements for a chance to start a playoff game.

Sale's focus is different this year. With an infield defense behind him that's vastly improved over 2015, he says he'll focus more on getting hitters early with ground outs - there's less of a need for him to do it all by himself. Plus, with Todd Frazier, Brett Lawrie and even Jimmy Rollins, there's more pop in the lineup.

Chris Sale has already made history for himself. What he wants now - what everyone in the White Sox clubhouse wants - is for that history to live into October.

Even in what looks to be a crowded AL Central, the White Sox have made the adjustments to help their franchise starter gather even more elite company - perhaps the postseason kind.

•Connor McKnight is the pregame and postgame host for Chicago White Sox games on WLS 890-AM. He also can be heard on sports reports for WKQX, WLUP and WLS-FM. Follow him on Twitter @C1McKnight.

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