Yankees fans know very well that Chris Sale is going to crush them in Braves opener

After getting rolled over by the Baltimore Orioles at home, the New York Yankees will welcome the red-hot Atlanta Braves to the Bronx on Friday night for a three-game set. Just in time! The Bombers are falling flat and the Braves are on fire.

And guess who's on the mound for the series opener? That would be former hated Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale. Yup, he's now a Brave after the Sox ate his salary and traded him to Atlanta in exchange for Vaughn Grissom, who has done nothing this year. Good job, Boston!

Though New York will sent Carlos Rodón to square off with Sale, it probably won't matter. Rodón's been great outside of his recent blowup against the Red Sox last week, but this game will come down to the offense gagging against Sale.

For his career, the left-hander is 6-9 (but don't let that fool you!) with a 3.12 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 157 strikeouts in 22 games (19 starts), totaling 121 1/3 innings pitched. That's pretty much as good as it gets for a sample size that large against a single opponent.

Though Sale wasn't his usual self from 2019-2023, he's now put injuries in the past and is a whole new man with Atlanta. He's back to 2018 Sale, who murdered the Yankees.

Yankees fans know very well that Chris Sale is going to crush them in Braves opener

We would love nothing more than for the Yankees to bludgeon Sale, who was nothing but a malcontent until he apparently became a changed man this year. Before his arrival in Boston, he was a basket case with the White Sox, staging a uniform shredding with scissors because he didn't like the team's throwback threads. And let's not forget about the protest about Adam LaRoche's son not being permitted in the clubhouse after the team's ruling.

Then, in Boston, Sale was the textbook Red Sox agitator. And when he wasn't doing that, he was insufferable. From destroying televisions after a minor league rehab assignment to crashing his bike while getting lunch and injuring himself, he was always in the news for the wrong reasons, trying to defend his indefensible actions.

That's why it's harder to stomach this guy mowing down the Yankees almost every chance he gets. And even when the Yankees rocked him, he would melt down and act like a child.

Expect one or the other on Friday night, Yankees fans, with the former being the heavy favorite and the Yankees playing with their backs against the wall on Saturday and Sunday.