Cam Schlittler walked into October with Boston already knowing the headline version of him. They’d seen the heater.
They’d seen the poise. They’d seen the rookie turn into a postseason headache a year ago.
Tuesday, he added a new wrinkle.
Schlittler carved through the Red Sox for 6 1/3 scoreless innings in the Yankees’ 9-0 win at Yankee Stadium, giving up just two singles and a walk while striking out 10. He needed 117 pitches, a career high, and threw 77 strikes as New York grabbed a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three AL Wild Card Series.
What made this outing different was the way he got there. Boston came in prepared for velocity, but Schlittler leaned far harder on his curveball than he had during the regular season and forced the Red Sox to deal with a much more complicated version of the pitcher they thought they knew.
Pitch Profiler showed 32 curveballs in his 117 pitches, or 27.4%, a huge jump from the 9.8% he used in the regular season. The pitch averaged 85.8 mph, generated a 50% whiff rate and accounted for four strikeouts. Aaron Boone said it may have been Schlittler’s best curveball of the season.
Schlittler explained the growing confidence in the pitch this way:
“The amount of miss and weak contact I’m getting with that (the curve), I’m feeling like I’m in a really good spot with it,” Schlittler said.
The fastball was still plenty nasty, too. Schlittler’s four-seamer averaged 98.6 mph, and Boston had to cover both the power and the softer break from the first inning on.
The Red Sox had plenty of scouting material before first pitch. They had already faced Schlittler five times in his career, and he had blanked them for eight innings with 12 strikeouts in the deciding game of the 2025 Wild Card Series last October. This time he came in as a 25-year-old ace after a 14-6 season in which he posted an MLB-best 1.95 ERA, struck out 239 and logged 193 2/3 innings over 33 starts.
Even with all that evidence, Boston still couldn’t solve him. Schlittler retired 13 straight hitters at one point and finished with a career-best 24 swings and misses. He got 18 of those whiffs in the first four innings, tied for the second-most in that stretch of a postseason game since pitch tracking began in 2008.
The numbers against Boston are getting ridiculous. In six career starts against the Red Sox, including the postseason, Schlittler has a 0.47 ERA with 49 strikeouts in 38 2/3 innings, an 11.41 strikeouts-per-nine rate. Since 1913, no other MLB pitcher has matched a sub-0.50 ERA and at least 11 strikeouts per nine over his first six starts against any opponent.
He’s also climbed into a tiny postseason club. Schlittler became the 56th pitcher to make multiple postseason starts against Boston, and only the second to strike out at least 10 in both of those games. The other was Bob Gibson.
That postseason track record is already stacking up fast. Schlittler has two playoff outings with at least 10 strikeouts, tying the Yankees record shared by Orlando Hernandez, Bob Turley, Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina.
He is the first Yankees pitcher ever to have multiple scoreless postseason outings with 10 or more strikeouts. Across his first three postseason appearances, his 24 strikeouts are the most by any Yankees pitcher, and he’s the only pitcher to get through three postseason outings with an ERA under 1.00, at least 24 strikeouts and fewer than 20 baserunners allowed.
The workload matched the moment. Schlittler’s 117 pitches were the most by a Yankees postseason pitcher since CC Sabathia threw 121 in Game 5 of the 2012 ALDS. Boone sent him back out for the seventh after 107 pitches through six.
“No debate to send him out there,” Boone said.
Schlittler exited after a one-out single, with the Yankee Stadium crowd of 48,437 on its feet and chanting “M-V-P.” He smiled at the reaction afterward.
“We’ve already got an MVP in this locker room (Aaron Judge), he’s won three of them. It’s a good feeling, I wouldn’t say I am an MVP but it’s good to embrace that from the fans,” Schlittler said.
Max Fried put Schlittler’s season in the broader Yankee context after the game.
“You’re talking about a guy that had an unbelievable season, made every single start, had a sub-2.00 ERA, going to win the Cy Young,” Fried said.
Schlittler’s path only sharpens the story. He grew up in Walpole, Massachusetts, rooted for the Red Sox and pitched at Northeastern before the Yankees drafted him in 2022. Now he has thrown 14 1/3 scoreless postseason innings against Boston with 22 strikeouts.
New York needs one more win to advance to the ALDS. And after Game 1, Boston’s problem is no longer just the velocity. It’s everything else Schlittler can do with it.
In Other News...
George Lombard Jr Just Gave Yankees Fans A New October Name
George Lombard Jr. gave the Yankees exactly the kind of jolt October can deliver, and he did it in a place where history tends to linger. In Game 1 of the American League wild-card series against the Red Sox, the rookie shortstop became the youngest player in Yankees history to collect a postseason hit, then kept swinging with the kind of confidence that stood out in a lopsided win.
Lombard finished 3 for 4 with two runs scored as New York rolled to a nine-run victory, a performance that instantly adds another name for fans to watch as the pressure rises. The Yankees now have a chance to close out the series in Game 2, and Lombards emergence only gives the club more reason to feel good about where this October story is headed. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Capitalized On A Red Sox Decision Fans Will Debate
Bostons decision point in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series came with the kind of postseason tension that gets second-guessed almost immediately. Red Sox manager Chad Tracy went to the bullpen in the fifth inning with Payton Tolle still in a one-run game, even though the starter had worked 4.2 innings and allowed just five hits and one earned run. In October, every move gets magnified, especially when a young starter has kept his team close and the margin is still narrow.
The Yankees made sure the debate did not stay theoretical for long. After Tolle gave way to left-hander Erik Miller, Ben Rice jumped on the matchup and delivered a solo home run, the kind of swing that turns a managerial call into a talking point all over again. The larger question hanging over the night is whether Boston moved on Tolle too quickly for the setting, or whether the bullpen decision simply reflected the pressure of protecting a game that was already slipping into the late innings. [Read more 🡒]
Red Sox May Have Created A Huge Roman Anthony Problem For The Bronx
Roman Anthonys return for the Boston Red Soxs final regular-season game looked like a significant step toward getting one of their most talented young hitters back on the field, but it did not come without concern. Anthony had already missed much of the season because of a right hand injury, and even in a game that was supposed to help set the tone for October, the hand became an issue again.
Red Sox manager Chad Tracy said the hand was uncomfortable and flared up on a check swing, which is the kind of development no team wants to hear this time of year. For the Yankees, the bigger question is not just whether Anthony can play, but whether Boston can count on him being anywhere close to fully functional if these clubs end up seeing each other in the postseason. [Read more 🡒]