Former New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia wrapped up one of the best careers from a MLB pitcher that we have ever seen in 2019, and he was named a first-ballot Hall of Famer because of it. Sabathia was in the league from 2001 until 2019. He played for the Cleveland Indians (now Guardians), Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees. He finished his career with over 3,000 strikeouts and over 250 wins.

When CC Sabathia was still in the league, he didn't think that he was going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. However, that's exactly what happened, and he thinks that the way that the game has changed over the years helped him out.

“I don’t think 10 years ago, I don’t think I’d go in as a first ballot Hall of Famer,” Sabathia said during an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show. “I think the way the writers have looked at the game, and the way the games changed has allowed me to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Which is awesome to me and now I look at myself and somebody like Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Greinke, we’re kind of starters, a dying breed. I feel like all those guys I just named will go in first ballot too.”

Going forward, Sabathia thinks that we are going to start seeing more and more pitchers with similar accolades as him, at least in one regard.

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“I think there will be a lot more guys with 150 wins and 3,000 strikeouts because if you look at it guys strike out 250 guys a year now, or getting close to 300 strikeouts a year just because hitters don’t care about striking out,” Sabathia said. “So I think we’ll get guys with 3,000 strikeouts, I think it will be harder to get guys to 200 wins.”

CC Sabathia is certainly one of the most impressive pitchers that we have seen in the game of baseball. He was dominant throughout his entire career. The game was definitely a lot different in 2019 when he ended his career compared to how it was when he started back in 2001. Now, just six years later, the game continues to change.

Baseball is a game that will continue to require a lot of adaptation from its players. Sabathia has already seen it recently during a short time period, and time frames are definitely an important thing to look at when comparing a player's career to someone else's.