Cam Schlittler’s name isn’t supposed to be in the AL MVP conversation. That’s usually reserved for the loudest bats, the biggest run producers, the guys who fill up highlight reels every night. But ESPN analyst Bradford Doolittle has slipped the Yankees right-hander into the mix anyway, and not as a token mention.
Doolittle’s advanced “AXE” rating has Schlittler sitting second in the American League, just behind Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros. The gap is small, too.
Doolittle wrote, “Front-runner: Yordan Alvarez, Houston Astros (146.9 AXE). Next nine: 2, Cam Schlittler, New York Yankees (143.0),” and while he also said Schlittler faces an “uphill battle” to win the award, the fact that he’s even this high in the standings is the eye-opener.
For the Yankees, it’s a strange MVP picture. Aaron Judge isn’t tearing it up this season, and Ben Rice has put together a strong year, but his defensive value keeps his chances from really taking off. That opens the door, at least in theory, for a pitcher like Schlittler to show up on an MVP board.
The problem is that the road is brutal. Schlittler is the favorite, according to Doolittle, to win the AL Cy Young Award, which fits the kind of season he’s put together.
Through 31 starts, he owns a 1.95 ERA and 7.1 bWAR. But MVP is a different mountain.
To even have a shot, he’d need at least one more start, probably a long one with no runs allowed, and he’d have to grab the MLB ERA title rather than just the AL ERA title.
And even that wouldn’t be enough on its own.
Doolittle’s path for Schlittler getting there would require Yordan Alvarez to lose the Triple Crown and the Astros to miss the playoffs. On top of that, Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays would need a rough finish that drops the Rays out of the AL East lead.
So yes, the odds are long. Long enough that Schlittler ending the 2026 season as AL MVP still looks nearly impossible. But that’s also the point: pitchers almost never get a real seat at this table, and Schlittler’s presence there says plenty about how dominant he’s been.
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