C.C. Sabathia tried to remain stoic as the baseball world said its farewell. The scoreboard played one touching video after another on Sunday, from his past and present Yankees teammates, as well as rivals from other teams. Sabathia was alone at home plate, soaking up the love, until his mother, wife and children appeared on the gigantic screen reading letters of thanks to the man who proved he wasn’t afraid to cry.

More than once Sabathia wiped away his tears; who knew he was such a softy? But, no, the old war horse wasn’t embarrassed, not in what was probably the final home game of his career. And Sabathia wasn’t alone in his emotions, either. In the Yankees’ dugout, Aaron Judge was swallowing hard. Brett Gardner reached for sunglasses to hide his moistening eyes. And Aaron Boone, who is both Sabathia’s manager and friend, didn’t just weep, he nearly had to retreat into the tunnel to avoid making a scene.

“I was going to really lose it,” Boone said after the ceremony, which was only one of multiple story lines for the Yankees on Sunday. They flattened the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-3, kept pressure on the Houston Astros for the American League’s best record, and watched Luis Severino fine-tune his arsenal in preparation for their division series, which begins in less than two weeks.