While the Boston Red Sox remain very much in the AL wild-card hunt, the 2022 season could largely be classified as a disaster thus far. Perhaps no single player exemplifies the summer of gloom in Boston more so than seven-time All-Star starting pitcher Chris Sale.

The lanky southpaw suffered a stress fracture in his rib cage during the late stages of the offseason — making him unavailable for the start of the spring — and on top of that, Sale revealed that he was still unvaccinated against COVID-19. After his fracture healed, Sale’s return was then delayed an additional few weeks in early May due to a reported “undisclosed, non-COVID-19, non-baseball injury.”

The 33-year-old finally made his return to the bump in mid-July, going five shutout innings against the Tampa Bay Rays, before taking the mound against the New York Yankees on July 17. Sale exited after just 2/3 innings pitched after being hit by a come-backer and suffering a nasty finger injury. He then had surgery and was placed on the injured list.

The Florida Gulf Coast University product’s bad luck didn’t end there.