Cam Schlittler to start Game 1 for Yankees vs. Red Sox
Yankees starting pitcher Cam Schlittler throws to first base during the third inning at Yankee Stadium on Thursday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
After much speculation the last several days — speculation that caused much angst among the Yankees' fan base, angst fed by manager Aaron Boone — it indeed will be Cam Schlittler starting Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series against the Red Sox at the Stadium on Tuesday night.
Max Fried will start Game 2 and Gerrit Cole will start Game 3 if the best-of-three series goes that far.
“It was something we debated,” Boone said after Sunday’s game against the Orioles was canceled after a delay of nearly three hours, leaving the Yankees with a final record of 93-68.
Considering the season Schlittler is coming off, one in which he went 14-6 with a league-low 1.95 ERA that made him all but certain to win the American League Cy Young Award in a runaway, starting the hard-throwing righthander in Game 1 seemed to be the obvious call.
Yet the Yankees seriously considered giving Fried the start and going with Schlittler in Game 2. The thinking in that scenario was that it would put the Yankees in an advantageous position in the best-of-five Division Series against the Rays if they got past the Red Sox. It also would put Schlittler in position to either clinch the Wild Card Series or keep the Yankees' season alive.
But as one of the commandments of sports goes: Never look ahead to the next step before taking the one in front of you. Generally speaking, throwing your best pitcher in Game 1 of any series gives you the best chance of taking that step.
“I think there’s a compelling case to go both ways, with him [Schlittler] in [Game] 2 or, ‘Hey, let’s go right out of the chute with Cam,’ ” Boone said. “So that’s what I was weighing ultimately. But again, a lot of it has to do with I have a ton of confidence in all four of those guys.”
Those four are Schlittler, Fried, Cole and Carlos Rodon, with the latter, Boone said, available out of the bullpen in the wild-card round.
Still, the decision for Game 1 boiled down to Schlittler or Fried. And it’s not as if Fried would have been a bad choice, per se.
The lefthander, who had two separate stints on the injured list this season, went 5-5 with a 2.80 ERA, including 1-0 with a 0.77 ERA in two starts against the Red Sox.
But Fried’s 2026 season didn’t compare with Schlittler’s. No starting pitcher, other than Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski, the presumed National League Cy Young Award winner, was at his level.
Schlittler, who allowed one run or fewer in 21 of his 33 starts — and one earned run or fewer in each of his last nine, posting a 1.17 ERA in that stretch — finished with the third-lowest ERA in a single season by a qualified Yankees pitcher, trailing only Spud Chandler's 1.64 in 1943 and Ron Guidry's 1.74 in 1978.
Schlittler’s 239 strikeouts, in a career-high 193 2/3 innings (second-most in the AL), tied him with Jack Chesbro (in 1904) for the fourth-most by a Yankees pitcher in a single season in franchise history, trailing Cole’s 257 strikeouts in 2022, Guidry’s 248 in 1978 and Cole’s 243 in 2021.
Schlittler allowed three or fewer runs in 29 of his 33 starts. That was tied for the third-most in a single season in franchise history — with Whitey Ford (1963), Stan Bahnsen (1968) and Mel Stottlemyre (1969) — and trailed only Chesbro’s 40 such games in 1904 and Guidry’s 30 in 1978.
Schlittler threw eight scoreless innings and struck out 12 in the Yankees' Game 3 victory over the Red Sox last year in the wild-card round. He went 2-1 with a 0.74 ERA in four starts against Boston this season, allowing two earned runs in 24 1/3 innings.
Last Wednesday, Boone opened the door to Fried getting the start in Game 1, saying “not necessarily” in response to the question about whether Schlittler would get the start.
After his final start of the regular season on Thursday, Schlittler said: “Who wouldn’t want to start the first game, you know? I feel like this whole pitching staff kind of deserves it. We’re all competitors. At the end of the day, whatever Boonie decides, that’s what we’re going to roll with.”
And, finally, after much more conjecture than there should have been, the Yankees announced Sunday that they’re going to roll with Schlittler.
“He’s excited,” Boone said Sunday afternoon. “He wants the ball and he’s ready to go.''
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
