Oct 2, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler (31) reacts after striking out a Boston Red Sox batter in the fifth inning during game three of the Wildcard round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
BRONX, NY — Cam Schlittler has officially arrived, and the New York Yankees are headed to the American League Divisional Series.
Combined with a decisive four-run fourth inning from the offense, the 24-year-old rookie right-hander shut down the Boston Red Sox in the winner-take-all Game 3 of the AL Wild Card Series on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium, posting eight shutout innings while allowing just five hits with 12 strikeouts in New York’s 4-0 victory over their hated rivals.
“You come up through the Yankees organization, they’re a winning team,” Schlittler said. “To be able to experience this for the first time as a rookie is a great feeling.”
It was not just the first time in Schlittler’s MLB career (14 regular-season starts) that he completed eight innings, but the first time he went that far into a start since joining the Yankees’ organization in 2023.
“I don’t think I’ve ever pitched eight innings,” Schlittler told amNewYork. “As a starter, you’re trying to go six, seven innings. If you can get past that, that’s where you get paid. So for me, I was just trying to go out there and put this team in a position to win.”
With his gem comes the breaking of a significant snide for the Yankees. They had lost each of their previous three postseason meetings to the Red Sox — their last win coming in the 2003 ALCS when now-manager Aaron Boone hit a walk-off home run in Game 7.
The Yankees became the first team in the current postseason format to overturn a 1-0 Wild Card Series deficit to come back and win it.
There’s no time to rest. The Bronx Bombers are on their way to Toronto to meet the No. 1 seed Blue Jays, who won the AL East over New York via a tiebreaker, on Saturday for Game 1 of the ALDS.
Thursday night, though, will belong to Schlittler. The fireballing rookie was the clear victor in the battle of the rookies against Boston’s Connelly Early in what was only the second winner-take-all postseason game to feature two rookie starters. The first came in Game 7 of the 2020 NLCS between Dustin May of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Ian Anderson of the Atlanta Braves.
A Walpole, MA native who grew up in a Red Sox family, Schlittler tormented his old boyhood club with untouchable stuff. He recorded six pitches of 100-plus mph in the first inning alone, gave up only two Masataka Yoshida singles across the first four innings, and continuously painted heat as though he was serving it in slow motion.
“I probably threw a couple extra hundreds there,” Schlittler said. “Everyone’s loud. They told me the first inning was going to be loud. So it was natural adrenaline. But I don’t think I overdid myself.”
It made the Yankees’ monster fourth inning, which knocked Early out early, feel like the series had been clinched, which it was.
It appeared as though it would start innocuously enough. Cody Bellinger hit a lazy fly ball into shallow right-center. But the diving center fielder, Ceddanne Rafaela, muffed the attempt — much like left fielder Jarren Duran flubbed Aaron Judge’s fly ball in Game 2 that gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead in the fifth — allowing Bellinger to advance to second.
After Giancarlo Stanton’s walk and with one out, trade-deadline acquisition Amed Rosario punched a single through to left to score Bellinger and break the ice in Game 3.
Jazz Chisholm followed with a single hit too hard to score the slow-footed Stanton, which loaded the bases. Volpe singled to double the Yankees’ lead before Austin Wells’ 100-mph grounder clanged off the glove of first baseman Nathaniel Lowe — the second major Boston miscue of the inning — to bring in two more and give the hosts a two-run cushion.
Three of the four runs were charged to Early, who had a surprisingly long leash before he was pulled with two outs in that fateful inning. The 23-year-old lefty finished with three of the four runs earned on his ledger while allowing six hits with six strikeouts and a walk.
“We needed to be perfect tonight because [Schlittler] was perfect,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “The stuff was outstanding. He was under control. That was electric.”
Schlittler never flinched with the lead. He struck out three in the fifth while working out of a first-and-second jam, punched out another two in the sixth, then ended the seventh by getting Wilyer Abreu whiffing at a 98-mph fastball.
“That was impressive, but he’s been our secret weapon all year,” Judge said. “This guy has been impressive for us. The way he can handle the strike zone, he can run it up to 100 mph, but has a great feel for all his pitches. No moment is too big for him. He got a standing ovation coming off the mound, but he had his head down and was locked in, didn’t even know what was going on.”
Initially believed to be the end of his night, Yankee Stadium erupted into a standing ovation when Schlittler emerged from the dugout for the eighth.
His brilliance remained undimmed even after passing the century mark of pitch count. He got Romy Gonzalez swinging on a 97-mph fastball, coaxed a pop out from Jarren Duran in foul territory that was caught by third baseman Ryan McMahon while flipping into the Red Sox’s dugout, then got Trevor Story to ground out to short.
“Every time he’s taken the ball, I feel so good about him and he’s capable of doing anything,” Boone said. “Results aside… I knew it wasn’t going to be too big for him. What a performance.”
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