In what is likely going to be the final appearance of his career, Charlie Morton will have the opportunity to go out on his own terms while in an Atlanta Braves uniform. The team confirmed on Thursday afternoon that Charlie Morton will be making his 2025 Atlanta Braves debut during the season finale on Sunday against the Pirates. Once Morton is done (likely after an inning or so), Chris Sale will enter the game and make his scheduled appearance. Mark Bowman shared the news via social media:
So far this season, Morton is sporting a 5.89 ERA (145 ERA-) and a 4.97 FIP (120 FIP-) across 26 starts with both the Orioles and the Tigers so far this season. However, it’s clearly not about the Braves trying to get any type of clear advantage over the Pirates, as both of these teams will be busy going golfing once October rolls around. This is all about giving Morton the opportunity to end his career with a bit of dignity.
It’s a classy move from the Braves and a great way to send off one of the more influential members of that 2021 World Series-winning Braves team. It’s also a lot more fun to actually get to participate in a game on your way out instead of signing one of those one-day contracts and then calling it a career right after that. Morton’s earned the right to go out the way he wants and while it was understandable for the Tigers to do what they did by DFA’ing him, it’s great that the Braves are able to do this in order to give him his time in the sun in order to finish things off this season.
I’m sure everybody would’ve preferred to see the Braves actually competing in the Postseason race (or actually just using this final series to gear up for the Postseason, itself) but if they can’t, you may as well have fun. This will be a fun way to close out what’s been a very underwhelming season for the Braves and Morton as well.
