Cam Schlittler has carved out a reputation as one of the American League’s most promising young arms, but the postseason is drawing a sharper line between opponents. Against Boston, he has been untouchable. Against other AL East teams, the Yankees have not liked the result.
That split showed up again Monday night in Game 2 of the American League Division Series, when the Tampa Bay Rays beat New York 5-2. Schlittler gave up six hits and four runs, two earned, across 4.1 innings. He walked one, struck out a season-low two and needed 76 pitches just to get 13 outs.
The Yankees did him few favors. They made three errors in the first inning and four overall, turning a start that could have stayed manageable into a mess that blew open in the fifth. After the game, Schlittler said the Yankees “didn’t seem like we really showed up,” a line that carries an uncomfortable echo for anyone who remembers what happened a year ago against Toronto.
That Blue Jays series was the first postseason run of Schlittler’s career, and it ended in much the same way. In Game 4 of the 2025 ALDS, he went 6.1 innings and allowed eight hits and four runs, though only two were earned. Toronto never looked like it had him on the ropes, but it kept doing exactly what had bothered New York all season: putting the ball in play, forcing action and waiting for mistakes.
The decisive crack came in the seventh. With Toronto leading 2-1, Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s error extended the inning and sent Schlittler out with two runners on.
Nathan Lukes then lined a two-run single to centre off the Yankees’ bullpen, scoring Ernie Clement and Andrés Giménez. Both runs were charged to Schlittler, and Toronto finished off a 5-2 win that ended New York’s season.
That outing was solid enough on paper, but it looked nothing like the version of Schlittler that Boston has seen in October. In the deciding game of the 2025 Wild Card Series, he shut out the Red Sox over eight innings, allowing five hits and striking out 12 in a 4-0 Yankees win.
He followed that up one year later with another gem against Boston, throwing 6.1 scoreless innings with two hits, one walk and 10 strikeouts in a 9-0 Yankees win in Game One of the 2026 Wild Card series.
Put the numbers together and the contrast is stark. In two playoff starts against the Red Sox, Schlittler has thrown 14.1 scoreless innings with 22 strikeouts. Against Toronto and Tampa Bay in the ALDS, he has allowed eight runs, four earned, on 14 hits in 10.2 innings while striking out only four.
The Yankees’ defense has played a big part in both of those ALDS losses, but the contact-heavy approach of those lineups has also made Schlittler work harder and given New York fewer chances to cruise. That’s part of what makes the pattern so noticeable now, and why it has landed with Blue Jays fans after Schlittler called the fan base “easy to rage-bait” and admitted he did not “really like” Blue Jays supporters.
The tension had already been simmering some over the summer, when Blue Jays offseason addition Dylan Cease was keeping pace in the Cy Young race while Schlittler was rolling through the regular season. When it came time to pick an All-Star starter for the American League side, Blue Jays manager John Schneider went with Cease.
“It really didn't need too much explanation, managers usually do go with their own talent if they get the choice. But Schneider also game out and said that - and it was Schneider's choice.”
Schlittler is far too gifted to dismiss, and New York’s defense took plenty of heat for both ALDS defeats. Still, the postseason pattern is hard to ignore: dominant against Boston, vulnerable against everyone else.
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