CC Sabathia, New York’s ace, is a four-time all-star. He is also a World Series Champion, won a Cy Young Award with the lowly Cleveland Indians in 2007, finished in the top five in voting two other times, finished runner-up for Rookie of the Year in 2001, and has even made a couple of attempts at league MVP. At 29-years of age, Sabathia has already had a better career than most. Despite all of this, he has never been a 20-game winner.

Thursday’s 5-0 win over Oakland gave Sabathia his third 19-win season and now, barring injury, will have five chances to increase his league-leading wins total and reach the 20-win plateau for the first time. Considering how good he’s been in his career, with a lifetime 155-86 record, 3.56 ERA and 1,755 strikeouts, it’s pretty unbelievable that he hasn’t achieved even more success. But then again, he did spend seven-and-a-half years in Cleveland. Plain and simply, New York is a better place to be successful.

The unfortunate part of Sabathia’s success is that guys like A.J. Burnett get to ride his coattails to World Championships. It’s pretty safe to say that the Burnett Experiment has failed. A.J. being loved by fans is about as likely these days as the Mets becoming the favorite of New York’s two franchises. CC being loved by fans is about as likely as getting a cheap home run in right field at Yankee Stadium. You know it’s going to happen.

For a guy with such an awful body for an athlete, it’s hard to imagine the level of success he’s capable of. He’s on pace to win another Cy Young Award, and with his delivery, you have to think he’ll avoid injuries better than some other guys. If the Yankees can go three-rounds deep into the playoffs, Sabathia is also fully capable of giving New York three 1-0 series leads, at least, and in a short series, 1-0 is tremendously important. But it all starts with win number 20.