| Player | bWAR/IP | bWAR | IP | From | To | Age | SO | ERA | FIP | ERA+ | BB/9 | SO/9 | SO/BB |
| C.C. Sabathia | 0.0204 (14th) | 43.4 (7th) | 2127 (17th) | 2001 | 2010 | 20-29 | 1787 (4th) | 3.57 (97th) | 3.58 (101st) | 123 (21st) | 2.81 (79th) | 7.56 (19th) | 2.69 (14th) |
It was actually a tough call placing C.C. Sabathia over Hahn on this list. Hahn outdoes Sabathia in bWAR, bWAR/IP, and ERA+. I’m sure in some ways this reflects my implicit bias that the quality of baseball just wasn’t as high in 1905 as it was in 2005. Even with ERA+ adjusting to compare players against their competition it’s hard to say a guy who outpitched a bunch of people that tiled roofs in the offseason is as impressive as C.C. dominating baseball games while facing guys like Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez
But that’s not to say Sabathia’s spot on this list is just a product of my own biases. When Sabathia turned thirty he already had quite a long list of accolades to look back on. Between 2001 and 2010 Sabathia led all of baseball in wins. He also made four All-Star appearances, won an AL Cy Young award in Cleveland, and brought a World Series title to New York.
At almost every point in his career, C.C. found himself in the shadow of other pitching giants. In the early 2000’s, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, and Roger Clemens dominated the conversation. Then Roy Halladay and Johan Santana broke into the spotlight. Even this year, Sabathia’s fabulous season is losing all the press to Luis Severino‘s All-Star campaign. But his presence on this list should remind us that he’s one of the best lefties of our generation.