Evan Longoria really likes to face CC Sabathia

Tonight, the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays will play their second game of the regular season. Going to the mound for the Yankees will be CC Sabathia, that’s extremely good news to a certain bearded member of the Rays.

Over his career, Evan Longoria has faced Sabathia 86 times, the second most times of any active batter behind former Ray, Ben Zobrist.

Over the course of those 86 plate appearances, Longoria has slashed .403/.500/.819 with 7 HR. He has struck out just seven times and he also has 13 walks against CC. The 7 HR are the most Sabathia has allowed to any batter, while Longoria leads all active hitters in OPS with 1.319.

CC Sabathia made his major league debut back in 2001 and from then to the end of the Devil Rays era following the 2007 season, he made 11 starts against the Rays. Over those starts, he had an ERA of just 2.44 with a record of 7-1. Once Longoria made his debut and Sabathia took his place with the Yankees, Sabathia’s numbers against the Rays went south in a hurry.

Since 2008, Sabathia has made 30 starts against the Rays and over those outings, he has a record of 7-13 with a 4.40 ERA. There are many things that led to this, like of course the Rays becoming a perennial contender, but Longo has been a large part of it.