New York Yankees southpaw CC Sabathia left his start against the Oakland Athletics on Friday night after three innings due to soreness in his troublesome right knee. On Saturday, he was placed on the injured list due to the condition:

Sabathia is fighting the clock -- there are four weeks remaining in what's supposed to be his final regular season -- but he hopes to pitch again ahead of the postseason. Here's what Sabathia said, per ESPN:

"That's the plan," he said. "Hopefully I can just get enough rest where it'll calm down, and I'm able to get back out there and throw 90 to 100 pitches."

MLB.com's Mark Feinsand tweeted that Sabathia was as "dejected as I've seen him in some time" after the game.

It's worth noting that history suggests Sabathia should be back in time. Per Spotrac, he's missed time due to knee four times over the last three seasons, including twice this season. In each instance, he's been on the shelf roughly no longer than three weeks. In three of the four cases, he was absent no longer than two weeks.

There's room for variability whenever it comes to injuries, so it's possible Sabathia requires more time than normal. But for Sabathia and baseball's sake, here's hoping all goes well. Sabathia has started 20 times this season, tossing 100 innings of 4.93 ERA ball (91 ERA+). For his career, he's made 558 starts, thrown 3,570 innings, and has a 116 ERA+.

As for the Yankees, it's unclear how they intend to fill Sabathia's rotation spot in the interim. New York has James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka, J.A. Happ, and Domingo German healthy, and could deploy an opener in conjunction with Jonathan Loaisiga whenever Sabathia's spot rolls around -- remember, rosters expand on Sunday, meaning they can add to their bullpen. 

Alternatively, the Yankees could turn to another internal promotion -- say, Mike King -- or could wait on an injured arm to recover. Luis Severino is expected to pitch in a rehab game on Sunday, while Jordan Montgomery has already checked that box and could conceivably be an option down the stretch.

Whomever replaces Sabathia over the coming weeks will help dictate whether the Yankees have home-field advantage throughout the postseason. New York entered Saturday tied with the Houston Astros for the best record in baseball.