CC Sabathia keeps trying to start fights with the Rays, and the Rays won’t take the bait.
This is fine—it’s all fine, but credit is due to Sabathia for refusing to let this feud die. And while the Rays don’t seem intent on starting anything, and the Yankees, for the most part, appear similarly disinterested, it only takes one pitch, in the right place at the right time, for things to blow up. And given how often these teams play each other, and given that they seem to be headed towards a tight division race, it’s worth keeping an eye on things.
So, if you’re unfamiliar with the situation, read this from Yahoo Sports. Then, let’s look at how we might get a fight out of all this.
Possibility #1: Luke Voit gets drilled again.
Last Saturday, in the incident that reignited Sabathia’s rage, Yonny Chirinos hit Luke Voit high in the left arm with a fastball immediately following a DJ LeMahieu home run.
Voit didn’t charge the mound at the time, but he was upset:
“It’s just up and in on me, it’s the top of my shoulder, it’s frustrating. I am not saying he was or he wasn’t [trying to hit me]. He can hit me anywhere else. It’s just when it is up and in, it’s a sketchy situation that can be career-ending.”
Responding in this way by Voit was a power grab. Luke Voit now controls the inside part of the plate above the elbow, and if a Rays pitcher comes up there, Voit has justified himself in taking action. And Luke Voit is definitely someone we want taking action:
Screenshot taken from Google where the information maybe came from Wikipedia.
Possibility #2: CC Sabathia finds someone dumb enough to fight him.
There are good reasons the Rays aren’t taking CC Sabathia’s bait. He’s going to get ejected and suspended anytime he hits somebody now, so they don’t have to police him themselves. They don’t want to lose any valuable players for any period of time when they’re trying desperately to make the playoffs in a bid to get their city to make some sort of attempt to keep them there. And perhaps most importantly, CC Sabathia is a big man. A big, big man.
Screenshot again taken from Google where the information maybe came from Wikipedia.
Still, it’s possible there’s someone on the Rays roster dumb enough, or born with a big enough temper, to take on Sabathia when correctly provoked. Over a quick scan of their roster, no one jumps out who meets either of these criteria, except for possibly Tommy Pham, who does not take shit. But Pham is smart, and values his money, and in a previous incident, back in 2017 against the Cubs, in which he thought he was hit on purpose, he cited losing pay during a suspension as a reason for not charging the mound. Not taking shit doesn’t necessarily mean choosing to fight CC Sabathia. But we can hope.
Possibility #3: CC Sabathia just goes into the Rays’ dugout on his own.
There’s always the chance CC Sabathia’s urge to fight the entire Rays organization becomes so irresistible that he acts on it, conventions be damned. Picture Sabathia taking off directly for the Rays dugout, going in there alone like a soldier in one of those World War I movies going solo over the barricades into the enemy trench (editor’s note: NIT Stu hasn’t seen such a movie, but seems confident at least one exists).
In the end, this might be our most likely scenario, given that, again, the Rays are pretty smart (nerds). And honestly, it’s the best scenario: original, but not at all contrived. Does it get any better than a team doing all they can to avoid fighting CC Sabathia and CC Sabathia not letting them not fight him? I don’t think so either.
