NEW YORK — Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice are from Massachusetts. More importantly for the New York Yankees, damn good baseball players.
Both Massholes put on huge performances on Tuesday in Game 1 of the 2026 wild card series against the Boston Red Sox. Schlittler tossed 6 1/3 scoreless and struck out 10. Rice went 4-for-5 with 2 home runs and 6 RBI. The Yankees beat their perennial rivals 9-0 to put himself within a whisker of winning by advancing to ALDS day with the Tampa Bay Rays.
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On this most beautiful autumn night in the Bronx, Schlittler was the main character. It was the second consecutive post in which the New York Flames threw a string of beans with the boy’s right hand and quickly gave the ball away. The AL Cy Young presumptive gave up just two hits, one in the second batter and one in the last. Otherwise, Schlittler was nearly hitless, with a fifth-inning free pass to Jarren Duran the only spot.
He did so by hitting 32 batters, more than in any other MLB start. That pitch combination kept the Sox hitters guessing and led to a whopping 24 hits against Schlittler. The dominance was so prominent that New York’s outfielders — Cody Bellinger, Spencer Jones and Heliot Ramos — each handled a baseball once on Schlittler’s mound.
“It’s crazy, bro,” Jones told Yahoo Sports postgame. “Obviously, I’m locked in, I’m ready to make plays and whatever, but six or seven pitches will happen with Cam, and I won’t even think about it. I got one fly ball. He didn’t touch the other one.”
“So sometimes it’s kind of funny,” Ramos joked. “I love it, is it time to go home yet?”
No one in attendance, Red Sox hitters included, was shocked to see the Yankees ace throw a gem. All the while, Schlittler harassed his opponents with triple heat, three unique peaks, cowardly features and the fiercest aggression of a most enviable man. A few batted eyes when the third pitch was clocked at 101 mph. But when the 2022 seventh-round pick reemerged from the Yankees’ dugout for the seventh inning, with 107 voices already on the ledge, the lump, unexpected murmurs beat around the ballpark.
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A few minutes later, Schlittler was done, but it was his night nonetheless. He finished with 117 hits, the most by a Yankee in a baseball start since Sabathia’s 200 in the 2012 ALDS. Simply put: You don’t really fall for it anymore. In an age of high velocity and deep bullpens, teams rarely have starters wandering far past the 100-pitch mark. In fact, the only other 117-pitch playoff start since 2019 was Garrett Crochet’s 1-game wild-card performance against the Yankees last year in this very ballyard.
He was a crowd of silence. This one was much louder.
“Any time he’s going out, he’s got a lot of confidence,” catcher Austin Wells said of Schlittler. “Now back to the year, big swings against them in the playoffs. That’s what he’s going to do.”
It’s clear that leading up to Tuesday’s display of Boston’s offensive approach against Schlittler is working around high counts and grinding at bats. Red Sox manager Chad Tracy said as much in an interview Monday. Maybe they wouldn’t rain on Schlittler’s head, but they would certainly try to outdo him in a war of attrition. After all, only one eligible MLB starter has allowed more foul balls this year. Drag Schlittler into the dirt, force him out after five innings, and Boston could take its best shot against New York’s underpowered bullpen.
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Boston’s second night catcher, Adley Rutschman, used that strategy to perfection. The blade of the pitch worked against Schlittler against Schlittler’s appearance before one out in left. It was the type of battle that threatened to diminish the shooter in the evening. However, Schlittler’s shooters held the gas by inhaling the Red Sox’s unprepared carousel. By the time Boston’s cleanup machine took hold against a major mortal arm, they were facing a very steep climb – a four-run deficit with only six outs to go.
That was a strong advantage for the Yankees, especially Rice. He smoked a solo shot to dead center in the fifth, doubling New York’s lead to two. A few innings later, Rice singled to right and the Yankees’ third run. Then, in the eighth, Rice delivered the final blow: a no-doubt grand slam into the home bullpen that sent Yankee Stadium into full, ear-splitting cheers.
Much has been made of Schlittler and Rice’s Massachusetts origins, how Rice grew up a Yankees fan in Sox country, how Schlittler ignited a competitive fire through the park with Sox fans online. But the true story is how two overlooked, newly recruited, small college players developed into franchise monsters. Northwestern’s Schlittler was the seventh rounder. Rice entered the 12th from Derby. Except for the players in the Boston clubhouse, no one cares, like the two dudes who got kicked out of a car on Tuesday from Massachusetts.
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It’s no surprise, then, that when asked about Schlittler and Rice’s New England connection after the game, Boone directed his response to other forgotten chunks of the 2021 and 2022 MLB drafts.
“Pretty good. I mean, not picking the top two draft guys. Obviously, strong ties with Massachusetts. Obviously, that’s been in the story for two years now,” he said. “For them to go out and have that kind of night together at this time of my football season, it’s going to be fun.”
Schlittler brought a similar opinion. “The middle guys around…” he said. “Just to have the confidence of the middle-round guys, we have to work a little bit to get up here and put it together, it’s special.”
Also a testament to the Yankees scout and the progress of the operation. Every MLB organization has access to Schlittler and Rice. For all of New York’s financial resources, identifying and allowing homegrown performers was a huge part of their success. Finding most Yankees evaluators and coaches, the authors of Schlittler and Rice probably don’t care that the two grew up in the shadow of Fenway.
Genius is genius, wherever it may be. If you can ball, you can ball.
And these guys are very sure of the ball.