Sabathia would, for example, pitch on a Monday and get drunk Monday night, Tuesday night, and Wednesday night. He would then sober up Thursday and Friday before his next start.
“I didn’t really think I had a problem until about 2012, maybe 2013,” Sabathia, 40, said on The Zach Gelb Show. “And that was only because I was slowing down body-wise. It still hadn’t affected anything I was doing off the field. My relationships I was ruining with my family, different things that was going on personally, that still didn’t affect me. It was not until I felt like I was slowing down on the field that I said, ‘Maybe I [have] a problem.’”
Once Sabathia realized he needed help, he entered rehab.
“When I got sober and came out of rehab in 2016, I didn’t know if I could pitch sober,” he said. “I had pitched on that routine that you hear about in the doc for so long, that had [become] part of my routine. I didn’t know if I could pitch without the alcohol, which was crazy. But at 36 years old, I’m grateful that I did get the help because it allowed me to pitch for four more years after that.”
Sabathia played in the big leagues from 2001 to 2019. A six-time All-Star, he led the majors in wins in both 2009 and 2010.
But when he entered rehab, his motivation wasn’t baseball; it was life.
