Yes Yankees fans you are about to read some optimism. No I’m
not sick and yes I really mean it. CC Sabathia has undoubtedly quieted many of
his doubters and haters this season the way he has pitched including myself
which has given me lots of joy and optimism while eating my crow. Now granted
it’s still early and my crow eating may be a bit premature but I am more than
willing to give credit where credit is due and credit is due to Mr. Sabathia this
season. What does it mean if he can find that fountain of youth while
reinventing himself and continue to pitch this well this season?
Even the deepest teams in the league have holes and flaws,
the league calls it parity, and on any given day the worst team can beat the
best team in the league and so do decisively. What sets apart first place teams
and playoff contending teams is just how deep the team is on the field and just
how much depth they have behind the team from top to bottom. Adding a sub-3.00
ERA (that’s his ERA currently and not nearly what I expect out of him when the
season is in the books) pitcher to the back end of a rotation is almost like
having a leadoff type hitter batting ninth in the batting order and then
another one batting first in the order. It just makes you that much better. The
Yankees may have that if CC keeps pitching at the clip he’s currently pitching
at.
With CC pitching so well, Tanaka being the ace the Yankees
paid for and Nathan Eovaldi constantly eovolving towards the better the Yankees
pitching staff is looking deeper and deeper all the time. If the team could get
any sort of consistency out of Michael Pineda or Luis Severino if and when he
returns along with strong outings from Ivan Nova and this team could be scary
and could compete again. Especially when you consider that even on the Yankees
off days they could still simply throw their bullpen at the problem and shut
down a game for five or six innings.
If CC continues to pitch this well the Yankees continue to
climb in the AL East. It’s as simple as that. If he reverts back to his near
5.00 ERA then the Yankees continue to fall. It sounds simple enough on paper
but it’s simple enough in real life as well if you let it be. CC pitches well
and the Yankees win. Bottom line.
It's been great watching CC finally figure it out. He and the rest of the rotation actually seem pretty good, maybe not good enough to win the division but definitely good enough to compete for and win a wild card spot.
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