Earning bragging rights in the playoffs never seems particularly important, as every team is contending for a championship. Mocking another fan base can be quite trivial when the ultimate goal is still more than 10 wins away. However, when it comes to the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, mockery is required. CC Sabathia had no problem engaging in some taunting after his former franchise eliminated its most abhorred rival from the MLB playoffs on Thursday night.
Before a decisive Game 3 of the American League Wild Card Series, Red Sox legend and three-time Cy Young Award winner Pedro Martinez took aim at the Pinstripes. “Let’s beat those Yankees!” he exclaimed on X. “You know you’ve got this! Show them who’s their daddy!!!”
Martinez's motivational words did not translate to the diamond, as rookie Cam Schlittler suffocated Boston with an instantly classic postseason debut that led his team to a 4-0 victory. Sabathia, who won a championship with New York in 2009 and played 11 years for the organization, snapped back at his fellow Hall of Famer on Friday morning.
The former AL Championship Series MVP quoted Martinez's post and dropped a powerful visual that made Red Sox Nation seethe back in the day: Yankees fans holding a banner with the phrase “Who's Your Daddy!!”
Pedro Martinez has unique relationship with Yankees fans
Sabathia is of course referencing Martinez's famous, or infamous, soundbite in which he tipped his hat (not literally) and called the Yankees his daddy following a tough home loss in September of 2024. A moment of brutal honesty and humility provided fodder to one of the most outspoken fan bases in American sports. Boston got the last laugh a few weeks later after becoming the first and still only MLB team to overcome a 3-0 series deficit in the playoffs, which preceded a long-awaited World Series title.
Those three words still live on today, however. One of the greatest right-handed starting pitchers of the last century is reduced to a punchline whenever Yankees fans bring up his name. Pedro Martinez is a good sport who often pokes fun at himself, but one has to wonder if the five-time ERA champion wishes he chose different words all those years ago. Nevertheless, he will take his lumps and hope that the Sox can respond in 2026.
Meanwhile, CC Sabathia's beloved Yanks are preparing for a date with the Toronto Blue Jays, a club that edged out New York for the AL East crown and top seed on the final day of the regular season. If the squad can exhibit the same brand of relatively clean baseball it demonstrated in the Wild Card round, then No. 52 will have even more to celebrate this October.
