Yankees’ CC Sabathia will enter alcohol rehab and miss postseason

New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia announced Monday that he is checking himself into an alcohol rehabilitation center and will miss the team’s playoff run.

“I love baseball and I love my teammates like brothers, and I am also fully aware that I am leaving at a time when we should all be coming together for one last push toward the World Series,” Sabathia said in a statement released by the Yankees. “It hurts me deeply to do this now, but I owe it to myself and to my family to get myself right. I want to take control of my disease, and I want to be a better man, father and player.”

The 2007 American League Cy Young winner was 6-10 with a 4.73 ERA this year but was 2-1 with a 2.17 ERA in five starts after returning from the disabled list and using a tighter brace on his surgically repaired right knee.

“As difficult as this decision is to share publicly, I don’t want to run and hide,” Sabathia said. “Being an adult means being accountable. Being a baseball player means that others look up to you. I want my kids — and others who may have become fans of mine over the years — to know that I am not too big of a man to ask for help. I want to hold my head up high, have a full heart and be the type of person again that I can be proud of. And that’s exactly what I am going to do.”

The Yankees pitching staff has struggled during the past month with a hamstring injury to Masahiro Tanaka and ineffective performances by Michael Pineda and Ivan Nova. The team hosts Houston in the AL wild-card game on Tuesday.