Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice, 2 stars with Boston roots, lead Yankees to decisive victory against rival Red Sox
NEW YORK – Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice are from Massachusetts. More importantly, for the New York Yankees, they are very good baseball players.
Both Massholes delivered massive performances Tuesday in Game 1 of the 2026 wild-card series against the Boston Red Sox. Schlittler pitched 6 1/3 scoreless games and struck out 10. Rice went 4 for 5 with 2 home runs and 6 RBIs. The Yankees beat their long-time rivals 9-0 laughing his way to a victory to advance to an ALDS date with the Tampa Bay Rays.
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For most of that picturesque autumn night in the Bronx, Schlittler was the main character. It was the second straight postseason series in which New York’s flame-throwing right-hander gave his boyhood team a whirlwind of baseball. The presumptive AL Cy Young gave up just two hits – one to the second batter he faced and one to the last. Otherwise, Schlittler was nearly perfect, with a fifth-inning clean pass to Jarren Duran as his only blemish.
He did so with a barrage of curveballs, 32 to be exact, 12 more than he had thrown in any other MLB start. This pitch-mix pivot kept Sox hitters guessing and led to 24 whiffs against Schlittler. The dominance was so striking that New York’s outfielders – Cody Bellinger, Spencer Jones and Heliot Ramos – each handled the baseball only once while Schlittler was on the mound.
“It’s crazy, bro,” Jones told Yahoo Sports after the game. “Obviously, I’m locked in, ready to play and whatever, but six or seven pitches are going to happen with Cam, and I won’t even think about it. I had one ball. I didn’t touch another one.”
“It’s a little boring sometimes,” Ramos joked. “Like, is it time to go home yet?”
No one present, including the Red Sox hitters, was shocked to see the Yankees ace throw a gem. All season, Schlittler intimidated opponents with triple-digit heat, three unique fastballs, a dastardly curveball and the malicious aggression of a more aggrieved man. Few batted an eye when the third pitch from his hand hit 101 mph. But when the 2022 seventh-round pick reappeared from the Yankees dugout for the seventh inning, with 107 pitches already on his record, an unexpected joyous roar reverberated through the stadium.
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A few batters later, Schlittler was done, but the night was his nonetheless. He finished with 117 pitches, the most by a Yankee in a postseason start since CC Sabathia in the 2012 ALDS. Simply put: Pitchers don’t really do that anymore. In the era of high velocity and deep bullpens, teams rarely let starters exceed the 100 pitch mark. In fact, the only other 117-pitch postseason start since 2019 was Garrett Crochet’s wild-card performance in Game 1 against the Yankees last year in this same ballpark.
This one silenced the crowd. This one was much more thunderous.
“Every time he goes out there, he has the most confidence,” wide receiver Austin Wells said of Schlittler. “Now, back-to-back years, great outings against them in the playoffs. That’s exactly what he’s going to do.”
It was clear before Tuesday’s showdown that Boston’s offensive approach against Schlittler would be to work on deep counts and eliminate bats. Red Sox skipper Chad Tracy said as much during his press conference on Monday. Maybe they wouldn’t rain drops on Schlittler’s head, but they could certainly try to outlast him in a war of attrition. After all, only one qualified MLB starter has allowed foul balls at a higher rate this year. Drag Schlittler through the mud, force him to shower after five, and Boston could get the most out of New York’s bullpen.
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Boston’s second batter of the night, catcher Adley Rutschman, used this strategy to perfection. He made a 10-pitch plate appearance against Schlittler before diving a single to left. It was the kind of battle that threatened to shorten the pitchers’ night. Yet Schlittler kept pitching, kept blowing gas in front of a carousel of overmatched Red Sox. By the time Boston got a clean frame against a deadlier arm, they faced too steep a climb — a four-run deficit with just six outs to go.
This strong Yankees advantage was mainly due to 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 scored 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 breathtaking celebrations.
Much has been made of Schlittler and Rice’s Massachusetts origins, how Rice grew up a Yankees fan in Sox country, how Schlittler fuels his competitive fire by sparring with Sox fans online. But the real story is how two overlooked, late-recruited players from a small school became franchise-altering monsters. Schlittler was seventh in Northeastern; Rice went 12th from Dartmouth. Plus, none of the players in the Boston clubhouse care that the two guys who kicked each other’s butts on Tuesday are from Massachusetts.
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So it’s no surprise that, when asked about Schlittler and Rice’s connection to New England after the game, Boone geared his answer toward otherwise forgotten pieces of the 2021 and 2022 MLB Drafts.
“Pretty remarkable. I mean, not two first-choice players. Obviously with strong ties to Massachusetts. Obviously, it’s been a story for a few years now,” he said. “For them to come out and have this kind of night together to start these playoffs, it’s pretty incredible.”
Schlittler expressed a similar sentiment. “Mid-tower guys…” he said. “Just having the confidence to be mid-round guys, having to work a little harder to get here and embracing this together, it’s special.”
It’s also a testament to the Yankees’ scouting and development operations. Every MLB organization had access to Schlittler and Rice. For all of New York’s financial might, identifying and empowering local players has been a huge part of their enduring success. Most of the Yankees evaluators and coaches who discovered, championed and shaped Schlittler and Rice probably don’t care that the duo grew up in the shadow of Fenway.
Talent is talent, no matter where it comes from. If you can play, you can play.
And these guys are most certainly playing.
Gn sports
