The 2017 season will not go down as one of the best of New York Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia's storied career, but it has featured its share of milestones.

The 37-year-old entered Tuesday's game against the Minnesota Twins just one strikeout shy of matching Mickey Lolich for the third-most strikeouts by a left-handed pitcher in MLB history. Sabathia struck out Robbie Grossman and Chris Gimenez in back-to-back at-bats in the top of the second inning to move into third place.

RT SInow "CC Sabathia now sits at No. 3 on the all-time strikeout list by any LHP in MLB history (2,833) pic.twitter.com/JJBSvV11L8" — Dak (@dak2zeke) September 20, 2017

PITCHER YEARS STRIKEOUTS CAREER IP Randy Johnson 1988-2009 4875 4135.1 Steve Carlton 1965-88 4136 5217.2 CC Sabathia 2001-Present 2833 3301.1* Mickey Lolich 1963-79 2832 3638.1

*Sabathia's totals at time of passing Lolich

While catching either Johnson or Carlton is not in the cards, Tuesday's strikeouts pushed Sabathia to 18th among all pitchers. He could very easily surpass Jim Bunning's 2,855 career strikeouts for 17th most all time.

One key to Sabathia's success has been longevity, as he's never recorded a K/9 over 9.00 through a complete season. The closest he came was in 2008, when he mowed down 8.93 batters per nine innings between stints with the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers.

The next major milestone for the big southpaw will be 3,000 strikeouts, though he'll have to wait until next season. Only 16 players have ever reached that number, with Johnson and Carlton obviously the only lefties thus far.

Among active players, Sabathia is far and away the MLB leader in strikeouts. Bartolo Colon, the 44-year-old righty, is next with 2,446. Justin Verlander (2,399) and Felix Hernandez (2,336) are the only others to have recorded more than 2,300 for their careers.

Sabathia is a free agent following the season, though the team is interested in bringing him back for a 10th season in pinstripes.