I decided to base my decision on the best individual season by Yankees pitchers in the post Ruth era. Russ Ford and Jack Chesboro are technically 1,2 for this but baseball pre 1920 baseball is a completely different game, the 1919 Yankees led the league in Homers with 45.

Ron Guidry 1978: Guidry last pitched in the majors a year before I was born but my first girlfriend was a Yankees nut and her family was equally so, as a result her mom would tell her and about Ron Guidry a lot. In 1978 Louisiana Lightning was worth a league leading 9.6 WAR and won the CY young award. He pitched 273 innings over 35 starts, with 9 Complete game shutouts; Gator had 248 Strikeouts with an ERA of 1.74. Ron Guidry is arguably the greatest Yankees pitcher of all time and that’s why he leads my All time Yankees rotation

Lefty Gomez 1937: Lefty’s real name is Vernon so I get why he would go by Lefty instead. Gomez pitched 13 years for the Yankees and led the league in strikeouts three times, including 1937 when he also led the league in WAR with 9.2. He didn’t win the CY Young award because it hadn’t been invented yet, but leading the league in strikeouts, Wins and WAR means he probably would have won it in 1937.

Andy Pettitte 1997: Andy was obviously a Yankees staple for most of us growing up as the only starting pitcher of the Yankees Fab Five. In 1997 Pettitte led the league in games started and pitched 240 innings with an ERA of 2.88 which is espechially nice considering the league average that season was 4.57. However he only came in 5th In CY young because Rodger Clemens had an insane year in the great white north and voters only cared about saves and wins in 1997 for voting.

Catfish Hunter 1975: Baseball Reference says that Catfish Hunter’s nickname is Jim, which is just dumb when everyone calls you Catfish. In 1975 Catfish led the league in innings with 328 and 30 complete games over 39 starts, which is insane even for the 1970s. Any other year Catfish would have won the CY Young but fellow future Hall of famer Jim Palmer had an even better season in Baltimore, although neither the Orioles nor Yankees made the playoffs that year.

CC Sabathia 2011: Carsten Charles Sabathia is someone we all know and love and despite his brief flirtation with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Toronto Blue Jays he is back on the Yankees for 2018. CC had a brilliant season in 2011, he had 230 strikouts and an ERA of 3.00; he and 1997 Pettitte are the only pitchers to post a 3.00 ERA or lower in 200 innings for the Yankees since the Strike. CC came in 4th in the CY young that year, rightfully losing to Justin Verlander (who undeservedly won the MVP). I really hope that CC is not unappreciated in the future, because he has arguably their best free agent starting pitcher signing ever.

Honorable mention: Mike Mussina 2001. I was debating putting CC's 2011 or Mussina's 2001 season at the 5 spot, obviously I went with CC but Moose was really close. Mussina got his awesome Yankees career sandwiched between World series wins which sucks, and while his 2001 season was amazing the thing I will probably remember it the most for was his lost perfect game against the Red Sox.