CHICAGO, IL – JUNE 26: Starting pitcher Chris Sale #49 of the Chicago White Sox delivers the ball against the Toronto Blue Jays at U.S. Cellular Field on June 26, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Chicago White Sox pitcher Chris Sale spoke for the first time since Saturday’s well-documented incident in which he cut up the team’s 1976 throwback uniforms with scissors, and was sent home — on a day he was scheduled to pitch — before ultimately being suspended five games by the organization.

Sale told MLB.Com‘s Scott Merkin that he had no problem with how the uniforms looked, but that they’re bothersome to him as a pitcher because they’re “uncomfortable and unorthodox”:

“[The ’76 uniforms] are uncomfortable and unorthodox. I didn’t want to go out there and not be at the top of my game in every aspect that I need to be in. Not only that, but I didn’t want anything to alter my mechanics. … There’s a lot of different things that went into it. Looking bad had absolutely zero to do with it. Nothing.”

The left-handed ace said that “he lost it” when the organization “put business first over winning”, and said that manager Robin Ventura “has to fight for [the team]”:

“Robin is the one who has to fight for us in that department,” Sale said. “If the players don’t feel comfortable 100 percent about what we are doing to win the game, and we have an easy fix — it was as easy as hanging up another jersey and everyone was fine. For them to put business first over winning, that’s when I lost it.”

On the topic of a potential trade, Sale said that he wants to “win a championship in Chicago” and doesn’t expect to be traded:

“I want to win a championship in Chicago. That’s been my goal from Day 1,” Sale told MLB.com Monday afternoon during a 30-minute interview, his first public comments since Saturday. “It has never changed. I only get more passionate about it because I know that it’s not easy winning a championship. There’s a lot that goes into it.

“Our main focus should be winning. I know that every single player comes in ready to win every day. I can’t speak on anybody else. … I don’t think I would be traded. I don’t know for sure. I don’t know what they are thinking now or what’s going on.”

“People don’t talk about the guys who get paid the most. They talk about the guys with the rings and teams that won the rings. Our guys in this clubhouse deserve, in every single game, the best opportunity to go achieve that goal of winning a championship. That’s why we are all here. Nothing else matters.”

Sale apologized to the fans and his teammates “for not being there for [his] guys” after the missed start and suspension. But he said that he doesn’t regret standing up for what he believes in:

“I have regret, because I play 33 times a year at most in the regular season. So I put a lot of emphasis on when I play and I take a lot of pride in work that I do,” Sale said. “When I can’t or don’t do that, yeah, I have disappointment in myself for not being there for my guys.

“Do I regret standing up for what I believe in? Absolutely not. Do I regret saying business should not be first before winning? Absolutely not.”

[MLB.Com]

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor at The Comeback. He attended Colorado State University, wishes he was Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris, and idolizes Larry David. And loves pizza and dogs because obviously.

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