One win, three losses, a 9.47 ERA and 27 hits allowed in 19 innings pitched. Those are CC Sabathia’s aggregate statistics from his last four postseason starts.
At first glance, those numbers should make any Yankees fan cringe, but there is reason to believe that Sabathia will buck the trend this October.
Sabathia was with the Cleveland Indians in 2007, when he won the Cy Young Award with a 19-7 record, 3.21 ERA, and phenomenal 209-to-37 strikeout-to-walk ratio. But the then 27-year-old also pitched a whopping 241 innings during the regular season, which at the time was by far the most in his career.
So when the Indians handed Sabathia the ball once in the division series against the Yankees and twice in the championship series against the Red Sox, he looked fatigued. After whiffing nearly six batters for every one that he walked during the regular season, Sabathia collected just 14 strikeouts against 13 walks in the postseason. Sabathia’s control wavered, and while he was effectively wild in a five-inning victory over New York, Boston made him pay twice.
In 2008, Sabathia was involved in a blockbuster midseason trade that sent him to Milwaukee, where he helped the Brewers reach the postseason for the first time in 26 years. Unfortunately, he was worked to the bone in the process, tossing a major league-high 3814 pitches over 253 innings, while routinely pitching on three days’ rest at the end of the campaign.
Again, after striking out 251 batters and walking only 59 during the regular season, the big lefty barely had anything left in the tank for October. He issued four free passes to the Phillies in only 3 2/3 frames, allowing five runs in a losing effort.
Some will attribute Sabathia’s erratic performance in the playoffs to jitters and call him a “postseason choker,” but given his tremendous poise and brilliance in leading the Brewers’ last summer when he faced October-like pressure every time he took the mound, it’s unlikely that the spotlight suddenly brought out the worst in CC.
With the Yankees wrapping up the AL East division title and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, Sabathia gets another chance to silence his critics and lead his team to a world championship next month. He is the ace of the Yankees, and the weight of the Big Apple will be squarely on his $161 million left shoulder when he takes the mound in Game 1 of the ALDS.
Sabathia – a gargantuan 6-foot-7, 291-pound workhorse – will not be able to attribute yet another postseason meltdown to being overworked, because he’s been asked to throw a comparatively low 227 1/3 innings by manager Joe Girardi in 2009. Sabathia will pitch once more in the regular season, but his arm should be used to the high mileage by now, and his likely opponent in the playoff opener — Tigers ace Justin Verlander — will have thrown nearly 200 more pitches before they square off.
If Sabathia can deliver a strong outing and spearhead a run to the World Series, he’ll be a hero in the Bronx and the albatross will be lifted. Of course, if he tosses another dud, the “postseason choker” label will stick.
