They will now meet Northampton at Twickenham down the on Saturday, a show between top two finishers in the Premiership.
"It will be a huge day for the club," said Bath head coach Johann van Graan. "What we have gone through has been incredible. Victories like this show that the human spirit is alive. We have gone from hoping that we can win to believing that we can and the support we had was incredible.
"Credit to Sale. They are a very good side and after we got the start that we wanted they came back to take the lead. Then it was a case of whether we could handle the pressure. We did." The party atmosphere at the end of the match was overshadowed by an alleged altercation between Sale's England second row Jonny Hill and a home fan immediately after the final whistle.
Hill, whose season ended in January when he suffered a dislocated kneecap against La Rochelle that has scuppered a potential move to France, was sitting with Sale's coaching team at the back of the main stand.
It is understood there had been verbal exchanges with fans sitting a couple of rows in front during the game.
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