If you bet on MLB odds and were following the All-Star Game, you were likely as surprised as the rest of the sports betting world when it was announced that New York Yankee ace C.C. Sabathia was left off the original roster. Sabathia was eventually named to the American League team when Tampa Bay’s James Shields was ruled ineligible because he was slated to pitch on the Sunday ahead of the game, but Sabathia also had to pitch on the same day. He hasn’t said anything publically, but Sabathia could use this motivation to roll through the second half and carry the Yankees to the postseason. Sabathia was 13-4 in 20 first-half starts with a 2.72 ERA, but the 2007 Cy Young winner wasn’t named to the team by Texas manager Ron Washington and he was named the biggest (literally and figuratively) All-Star snub of them all. It led the MLB baseball news until he was named to the team, and then the situation was made more ridiculous by the fact that he couldn’t pitch. But Sabathia doesn’t seem to be bothered by it and came out after the All-Star break with both guns blazing on the road in Toronto, who had scored 23 runs in the first two games of their four-game set with the Yankees. Sabathia even had a fellow All-Star lefthander on the hill in the other dugout in Ricky Romero, but he raised his game to lead the Yankees to a 4-1 win, allowing a run on three hits over eight innings with eight strikeouts and three walks. He has now won his last five starts, giving up two earned runs over that period, and Sabathia has a strikeout/walk ration of 50/9. Sabathia would be large enough to be a WWE superstar, but it is baseball fans who benefit from his athletic skill (he moves a lot better for a big man than you would think), and he may just be hitting his stride. Sabathia is a better second-half pitcher than in the first half, lowering his ERA, WHIP and opposing batting average, and he has the same amount of second-half complete games (16) in 49 fewer starts. He has also won over 53% of his starts after the All-Star break, which is a boost from 46% in the first half, and that doesn’t bode well for the rest of the American League. Phil Hughes is back in the rotation, which could make up for Bartolo Colon, the 38-year-old wonder who is due for a slump and didn’t make it out of the first inning against the Blue Jays, and A.J. Burnett is still his usual, inconsistent self. But if the Yankees are going to find their way to the Fall Classic, Sabathia is the one who will lead them there, and he is worth a wager for the Cy Young when you’re betting online.
