The Yankees are heading into the stretch run with Cam Schlittler pitching like the center of the entire operation.
New York enters the final nine games of the 2026 MLB season four games back of the Tampa Bay Rays in the chase for the No. 1 seed in the American League, and the timing of this week’s four-game series at Yankee Stadium could hardly be better. It starts Tuesday, and the Yankees appear lined up to roll out their four best arms for it.
At the top of that group is Schlittler, the 25-year-old in his first full big league season who has separated himself from everyone else in a loaded rotation. He has been so overpowering that he is now the runaway favorite for the AL Cy Young Award.
The conversation around him has gone beyond that, too. Schlittler has even drawn some MVP attention from the media, which says plenty about how strange and wide open the AL race has been this year. No one has really put together a season that compares with the usual standard for the award, and that has opened the door for a pitcher to at least pick up some first-place votes.
Schlittler’s numbers tell the story. He has made 31 starts, logged 184 ⅔ innings, gone 14-6, posted a 1.95 ERA, struck out 228 and walked 44. That kind of line is why this season is being talked about as one of the best pitching runs the sport has seen in recent memory.
On Saturday, MLB’s official X account added another layer to the buzz by posting a comparison between Schlittler and 2014 National League MVP Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw remains the last full-time pitcher to win the award, and his MVP season came with numbers that live in the same neighborhood as Schlittler’s. Kershaw made 27 starts, threw more innings and finished with a noticeably better ERA.
Schlittler may not end up winning MVP, but the fact that his name is even in the mix says everything about the year he’s having. For a seventh-round pick the Yankees selected in 2022, this kind of ascent is rare.
His next start is scheduled for Saturday at the Arizona Diamondbacks at 8:10 p.m. ET. That will be his second-to-last outing of the regular season, with a Thursday start against the Rays in that crucial series also likely, according to reports.
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