page_title: CC Sabathia
section_title: 2010–2012: Continued dominance
hierarchical_section_title: CC Sabathia / Professional career / New York Yankees (2009–2019) / 2010–2012: Continued dominance
caption_attribution_description: New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia pitching against the Baltimore Orioles during Game 5 of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York, NY on October 12, 2012
context_page_description: Carsten Charles Sabathia Jr. is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, and the New York Yankees. Sabathia batted and threw left-handed.
  Sabathia made his major league debut with the Indians in 2001 and placed second in the 2001 AL Rookie of the Year voting behind 2001 AL MVP Ichiro Suzuki. Sabathia played the first seven-and-a-half seasons of his career with the Indians, with whom he won the 2007 Cy Young Award. He led the Indians to the 2007 AL Central Division title and their first postseason berth since his rookie year. Following a trade, Sabathia played the second half of the 2008 MLB season with the Milwaukee Brewers, helping them make the playoffs for the first time in 26 years.
  In the 2008 offseason, Sabathia signed with the New York Yankees for seven years and $161 million; at the time, this was the largest contract ever signed by a pitcher. With the Yankees, Sabathia led all of Major League Baseball in wins in both 2009 and 2010 and won a World Series ring in 2009. He was also voted the 2009 American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player.
context_section_description: On July 4, 2010, Sabathia earned his fourth All-Star selection, and his first as a Yankee. At the time of the All-Star break, Sabathia was 12–3 with a 3.09 ERA in 131 innings (19 starts). On August 22, Sabathia recorded his 16th consecutive start of at least six innings allowing three earned runs or less, breaking a tie with Ron Guidry (from his Cy Young Award-winning 1978 season) for the longest streak in franchise history. His streak was snapped in his next start on August 28, where he allowed five earned runs in seven innings to the Chicago White Sox. The 2010 season was the first in Sabathia's career in which he won 20 games. He ended the season with 21 wins, the most in the major leagues, against just 7 losses. In ​237 ²⁄₃ innings pitched, Sabathia posted a 3.18 ERA and 1.19 WHIP, gave up 209 hits, struck out 197 batters against 74 walks, threw two complete games, and held opponents to a .239 batting average. 26 of his 34 starts were quality starts, a career-high. The Yankees won the AL Wild Card after finishing second in the AL East to the Tampa Bay Rays with a 95–67 record. Despite posting a 2–0 record in three playoff starts that year, Sabathia posted a 5.63 ERA across 16 innings as the Yankees were defeated in the ALCS by the Texas Rangers in six games. He finished third in the AL Cy Young Award voting behind Félix Hernández and David Price, as well as 13th in the MVP voting.
  During the offseason, Sabathia was diagnosed with a torn meniscus in his right knee, requiring arthroscopic surgery performed by Dr. Christopher Ahmad to repair. Sabathia began therapy immediately after the surgery and began his regular routine in preparation for spring training after three to six weeks. He lost weight in an effort to prevent future problems with his knee.
  In 2011, Sabathia was the opening day starter for the Yankees for the third year in a row. Sabathia was named to his fifth career All-Star game, replacing James Shields on the roster; however, he elected to pitch the Sunday before the All-Star game and his spot on the active roster was given to Alexi Ogando. In his final start before the All-Star break, Sabathia threw a complete game, four-hit shutout against the Rays at Yankees Stadium, his first at home since he joined the Yankees. He struck out nine and walked one, outdueling Shields as the Yankees beat the Rays 1-0. He became the first Yankee pitcher to have 13 wins by the All-Star break since Andy Pettitte in 1996, and his 2.72 ERA was the lowest ERA by a Yankee starter in the first half of the season since David Cone in 1999. On July 26, 2011, Sabathia took a perfect game through ​6 ¹⁄₃ innings against the Seattle Mariners, retiring the first 19 batters he faced in a game interrupted twice due to rain. He ended up striking out 14 batters through seven innings (setting a career high), and pitching a combined one-hitter. For his performance in July 2011 (a 4-1 record in 5 starts with a 0.92 ERA, just one home run allowed, 50 strikeouts in 39 innings pitched, and a .140 batting average against), Sabathia was named the AL Pitcher of the Month, his fifth career Pitcher of the Month award and second with the Yankees. Sabathia recorded his 2,000th career strikeout on September 10, 2011 against Torii Hunter of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in a 6-0 Yankees loss.
  Across 33 starts in 2011, Sabathia had a 19–8 record, a 3.00 ERA, and a 1.23 WHIP. Across ​237 ¹⁄₃ innings, he struck out 230 batters against 61 walks (good for 8.72 K/9 and 3.72 K/BB ratios), held batters to a .255 batting average, threw three complete games (one shutout), posted 22 quality starts, and gave up just 17 home runs for a career-low rate if 0.64 home runs per nine innings. His 230 strikeouts marked the third-highest number of strikeouts in a single season in franchise history, the most since Ron Guidry's franchise record 248 strikeouts in 1978, and the second-most in the American League behind Justin Verlander's 250 strikeouts. Sabathia also became the first Yankee pitcher to strike out more than 200 batters in a single season since Randy Johnson in
caption: Sabathia pitching in Game 5 of the 2012 AL Division Series
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 60D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2012:10:12 05:07:19", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "348", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9156", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "13664", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/800", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1000", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "1000", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:10:12 05:07:19", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:10:12 05:07:19", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "77/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "300", "EXIF SubSecTime": "10", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "10", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5184", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3456", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "8858", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1036800/181", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "691200/119", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": "", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "1671007024", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[70, 300, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "000015cf16"}