Yankees: Will CC Sabathia make the postseason roster?

Wednesday night CC Sabathia made the final regular-season start of his career at Yankee Stadium. He gave up five hits, two runs and struck out four in 2.2 innings before he was removed from the game and greeted with a huge standing ovation from the crowd. It was a well-deserved sendoff for one of the greatest pitchers in Yankees history.

The Yankees failed to clinch the AL East Wednesday night but that didn’t take away from a moment CC and his family will remember for the rest of their lives. After 11 years in pinstripes, the Yankee fans let the future Hall of Famer know how much they appreciated his contributions during his time in the Bronx.

Now the question is whether or not we’ll ever see him pitch in front of the home crowd again? With just nine games to go before the playoffs begin the Yankees are going to have some tough decisions to make when it comes to choosing their pitching staff for October. You know CC would love nothing more than to be a part of another World Series run, but has he done enough to earn a spot on the roster?

I think he has and I’d be shocked if he wasn’t one of the Yankees 25 players when the ALDS starts October 4th. It’s even more likely now that CC will make the roster after his teammate and close friend Dellin Betances suffered a partial tear of his Achilles on Sunday. It was a heartbreaking blow for the Yankees and Dellin who was definitely going to play a big role out of the pen this postseason. Now that he’s out another spot has opened up for the taking.

Excluding CC, there are 10 pitchers who are pretty much guaranteed to make the postseason roster if they’re healthy. That probably leaves two or three more spots depending on whether the Yankees choose to carry 12 or 13 pitchers. My guess is they’ll carry 12 along with a four-man bench. In the mix for those final two spots are CC, Luis Cessa, Jonathan Loaisiga, and Stephen Tarpley because of his ability to get left-handed hitters out.

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Out of the four CC is the safest bet to be on the roster because this is his last hurrah and he’s got more postseason experience than anyone on the team. However, he won’t be used as a starter so he’ll have to pitch out of the bullpen which is something he hasn’t done since Game 5 of the 2011 ALDS against the Tigers.

I don’t expect CC will be one of the first options Aaron Boone calls upon especially if the Yankees have a lead in a close game, but he’ll have a role to play. He can be used to get out a tough lefty in a big spot because he’s still very effective against them and he can also go multiple innings if needed in an extra-inning game.

With his career nearing its end all CC cares about is going out as a champion so he’ll do whatever he’s asked to do to help the Yankees win #28.