Yankees' Cam Schlittler looking forward to quieting Rays fans at Tropicana Field
Yankees' Cam Schlittler pitches during the first inning against the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of their Wild Card series at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 29, 2026. Credit: Jim McIsaac
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Cam Schlittler can’t help himself.
The ace of the Yankees' pitching staff, a near-lock to win the American League Cy Young Award, is relatively soft-spoken, often speaking in a low monotone.
But Schlittler, who also possesses an abundance of self-confidence and a piercing dry wit that makes him among the more popular players in the clubhouse, speaks bluntly, rarely holding back on speaking his mind.
And so Schlittler — who is slated to start Game 2 of the American League Division Series on Monday night at Tropicana Field — began answering a question about his home-road splits this season by talking about the thrill he takes in silencing a hostile road environment.
He ended the answer by tweaking local fans, though not necessarily intentionally.
“For sure,” Schlittler said of the satisfaction he takes in quieting rowdy fans. “Again, like, I don't know why the splits are the way they were. But at the same time, I feel like I pitched really good at home in the back end. On the road, I feel like, again, going into an away crowd and silencing that is a great feeling.”
With a sly grin, he added: “I wouldn't say there's really too much of an away crowd here. I expect there to be a lot of Yankees fans. In some ways, you are, to an extent, kind of playing at home. I feel like the guys are excited to have that atmosphere here.”
Schlittler isn’t wrong. A fair number of Yankees fans flow into every road ballpark for the team's games, but some cities feature more than others. Baltimore is one. Anaheim is another. And very high on that list is St. Petersburg.
For the first time in more than a decade, the upper-deck tarps that have long covered seats in the upper deck at Tropicana Field were removed. Even in the best of times, the Rays have struggled to draw fans here, but a sellout crowd of more than 30,000 was expected for the first two games of the series.
As for those home-road splits for Schlittler, they were dramatic.
In going 14-6 with a league-low 1.95 ERA, he went a remarkable 8-2 with a 1.16 ERA in 17 starts on the road compared to 6-4 with a 2.98 ERA in 16 games at Yankee Stadium.
He faced the Rays twice at Tropicana Field — where he is slated to start Game 5, if it is necessary — and had mixed results.
In a 5-4 loss on April 12, Schlittler allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings in which he struck out eight. In a 5-1 victory on July 6, he allowed one run and four hits in eight innings, striking out eight.
Among the things that struck Rays manager Kevin Cash about Schlittler was the number of curveballs he threw in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against the Red Sox. He threw the pitch 32% of the time during a 117-pitch outing after averaging 10% with its usage during the regular season.
“From afar, you appreciate Cam Schlittler's overall body of work. It's just amazing stuff,” Cash said on Saturday. “The way he kind of adjusted on the fly against the Red Sox and started breaking out . . . the curveball more frequently than we had seen in the past. That's a credit to just the versatility he has as a pitcher, the way he's 6-6, 6-7 and controls the running game that he does. I mean, there's a lot of things he does, minus the strike-throwing and the pitch execution, that make him an elite pitcher.”
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.
