Cam Schlittler to start wild-card 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 causing much angst among the Yankees fanbase, angst fed by manager Aaron Boone – it indeed will be Cam Schlittler starting Tuesday’s Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series against the Red Sox at the Stadium.
Max Fried will start Game 2 and Gerrit Cole will start Game 3, should it be necessary in the best-of-three series.
Considering the season Schlittler is coming off of, a season in which he went 14-6 with a league-low 1.95 ERA that will help him all but certainly win the AL Cy Young in a runaway, starting the righthander in Game 1 on the surface, and under it was well, seemed the obvious call.
Yet, the Yankees seriously considered giving Fried the start and going with Schlittler in Game 2. The thinking in that scenario being that it potentially would put the Yankees, should they advance to face the Rays in the next round, in an advantageous position for the best-of-five Division Series.
But, as one of the commandments of sports goes: never look ahead to the next step before taking the one ahead of you and, throwing your best pitcher in Game 1 of any series generally gives you the best chance at taking that step.
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, 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 didn’t compare with Schlittler’s.
No one’s, other than Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski, the presumed NL Cy Young Award winner, did.
Schlittler, who allowed one earned run or fewer in each of his last nine starts, 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 ERA in 1943 and Ron Guidry's 1.74 ERA 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, Ron Guidry’s 248 in 1978 and Cole’s 243 in 2021. Schlittler allowed three runs or fewer in 29 of his 33 starts, tied for the third-most in a single season in franchise history – tied with Whitey Ford (1963), Stan Bahnsen (1968) and Mel Stottlemyre (1969) – trailing Chesbro’s 40 such games in 1904 and Guidry’s 30 games in 1978. Schlittler allowed runs or fewer in 25 of his 33 outings, that ranking him for fourth-most in team history behind Chesbro’s 28 such games in 1904, Cole’s 26 in 2023 and Guidry’s 26 in 1978.
Last Wednesday, Boone opened the door to Fried getting the start in Game 1, saying “not necessarily” in response to the question.
After his final start of the regular season, Thursday against the Rays, Schlittler, who threw eight scoreless innings and struck out 12 in the Yankees Game 3 victory over the Red Sox last year, 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 far more conjecture than there should have been, the Yankees announced Sunday they’re going to roll with Schlittler.
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.
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