NEW YORK — Yankees’ CC Sabathia walked into Cooperstown on his first ballot. But another Bronx legend Andy Pettitte might never walk through those doors at all. The two Yankees left-handers posted nearly identical career numbers. One is a Hall of Famer. The other is running out of time.
Pettitte enters his eighth year on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot in 2026. He has three chances left to reach the 75 percent threshold required for induction. The Yankees icon current support sits at 27.9 percent. The math is brutal.
But here is the twist that has Yankees fans scratching their heads. A pitcher with far fewer career innings just leapfrogged Pettitte in the early voting returns. Felix Hernandez has surged to 61.1 percent in his second year on the ballot. Cole Hamels sits at 34.4 percent as a first-year candidate. Both now stand ahead of the Yankees icon who owns more postseason wins than any pitcher in baseball history.
Sabathia comparison adds to Pettitte’s case
The numbers between Pettitte and Sabathia are remarkably close. Pettitte finished with a 256-153 record, a 3.85 ERA and 117 ERA+ across 3,316 innings. Sabathia posted a 251-161 mark with a 3.74 ERA and 116 ERA+ in 3,577 innings.
Pettitte won five more games. His ERA+ was one point higher. Baseball Reference lists Sabathia as the No. 1 most similar pitcher to Pettitte in baseball history. They were teammates in the Bronx. They combined to anchor the Yankees rotation that won the 2009 World Series.
Sabathia himself believes Pettitte belongs in Cooperstown.
“For me, Andy is a Hall of Famer,” Sabathia said after learning of his own induction. “Getting a chance to pitch alongside him, getting a chance to still talk to him pretty much all the time, I believe he’s a Hall of Famer.”
Sabathia added a direct plea for voters to reconsider his former teammate.
“Hopefully [with] my getting in, people reconsider his candidacy and put him in,” Sabathia said. “Anybody that wins 19 games in the playoffs, I think, deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.”
The postseason record that separates Pettitte from the pack
No pitcher in baseball history has more postseason victories than Pettitte. His 19 wins in October came across 44 playoff starts. He threw 276 innings with a 3.81 ERA when the games mattered most. He won five World Series rings with the Yankees.
Pettitte pitched 8.1 scoreless innings in Game 5 of the 1996 World Series against Atlanta. He tossed 7.1 scoreless frames in the clinching Game 4 of the 1998 Fall Classic against San Diego. He delivered again in the deciding Game 5 of the 2000 Subway Series against the Mets.
In 2009, at age 37, Pettitte won the clinching games of the Division Series, Championship Series and World Series. Only one other pitcher has accomplished that feat.
His teams won eight postseason clinchers he started. No other pitcher has more than five.
The PED admission that hangs over everything
Pettitte admitted to using human growth hormone in 2002 and 2004 to recover from injuries. The substances were not banned by Major League Baseball at the time. They were not tested for either.
The admission came after Pettitte was named in the 2007 Mitchell Report. He showed candor and public remorse. He explained that he used HGH on two occasions strictly to accelerate his recovery.
Voters have not forgotten. Pettitte received just 9.9 percent in his 2019 ballot debut. He spent five years stuck in the teens before jumping to 27.9 percent last year. The Sabathia comparison helped. But the connection to performance enhancing drugs remains an obstacle.
No player who has admitted to using PEDs has ever been inducted into Cooperstown by the BBWAA.
How Hernandez and Hamels jumped the line
Felix Hernandez debuted on the ballot last year at 20.6 percent. His early returns in 2026 show him rocketing to 61.1 percent. He gained 20 votes from returning voters. He captured 93.3 percent support from newcomers to the voting body.
Hernandez won the 2010 American League Cy Young Award with Seattle. He was dominant from 2008 to 2015. But his career was over by age 33. He threw 2,729 innings compared to Pettitte’s 3,316. He never reached a World Series.
Hamels entered the ballot as a first-year candidate. The former Phillies ace won World Series MVP in 2008. He posted 163 wins and 2,560 strikeouts across his career. His early voting stands at 34.4 percent.
Both pitchers now sit ahead of Pettitte. The Yankees legend with more wins, more postseason dominance and a longer career finds himself chasing candidates with shorter resumes and higher peaks.
The path forward for Yankees’ Core Four hero
Derek Jeter walked into Cooperstown. Mariano Rivera was a unanimous selection. Both were Pettitte’s teammates for the dynasty years in the Bronx. Jorge Posada fell off the ballot. Pettitte appears headed for a similar fate.
Only one player with under 30 percent of the vote and three years remaining has ever climbed to induction via the writers. That was Larry Walker. The odds are not in Pettitte’s favor.
His best hope might be a future Era Committee. Jim Kaat never reached 30 percent on a BBWAA ballot. He was selected by the Golden Days Era Committee in 2022. Pettitte could follow a similar path.
For now, the Yankees left-hander remains stuck in a strange middle ground. His numbers mirror a first-ballot Hall of Famer. His postseason resume stands alone in baseball history. His admission of HGH use continues to cost him votes.
Sabathia made it clear where he stands on his former teammate.
The voters have not agreed. With three ballots remaining, time is running out for the greatest postseason pitcher the Yankees ever produced.
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