C.C. Sabathia pitched until he couldn't anymore.
Literally.
On Thursday, the New York Yankees pitcher was pulled from a relief appearance in his team's 8-3 loss to the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series after experiencing shoulder soreness. With Sabathia having previously announced that the 2019 campaign would be the final of his 19-year career and the Yankees now trailing Houston, the former Cy Young Award winner has almost assuredly thrown his final pitch.
As Sabathia exited the top of the eighth inning after having thrown 20 pitches and recording two outs, he was showered with applause from the fans at Yankee Stadium.
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The ovation for the 6-time All-Star also extended to social media, where players, fans and analysts alike weighed in on the emotional moment.
Selected out of high school in the first round of the 1998 MLB Draft, the left-handed Sabathia made his Major League debut with the Cleveland Indians in 2001. In his rookie season, he amassed a 17-5 record and 4.39 ERA, finishing second in American League Rookie of the Year voting behind Ichiro Suzuki.
Sabathia would go on to spend the first eight seasons of his career in Cleveland, where he earned three All-Star appearances and won the 2007 American League Cy Young Award. After the Indians traded him to the Milwaukee Brewers midway through the 2008 season, Sabathia helped lead his new team to the playoffs before signing a free agent contract with the New York Yankees.
Sabathia would go on to spend the final 11 seasons of his career in New York, where he earned three more All-Star appearances and was named the ALCS MVP during the Yankees' World Series championship season in 2009. By the end of his career, Sabathia had built a Hall of Fame-worthy resume, having totaled a 251-161 record, 3.74 ERA and 3,093 strikeouts.
