Yankees Name Schlittler Game 1 Starter vs. Red Sox — SkimNews
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- Cam Schlittler will start Game 1 of the best-of-three wild-card series Tuesday against the Boston Red Sox, with Max Fried going Game 2 on Wednesday and Gerrit Cole lined up for a potential Game 3 on Thursday, all in New York.
- Schlittler finished the regular season with 239 strikeouts and a 1.95 ERA — the third-best mark in Yankees franchise history — and was one of only two New York starters (alongside Will Warren) to avoid the injured list all year.
- Aaron Boone chose Schlittler over Fried for the opener after weighing whether to give him extra rest; Schlittler threw 193⅔ innings this season, 40 more than his previous professional high, including three of his final five starts on regular rest.
- Starting Schlittler in Game 1 projects him to also start Games 1 and 4 of a best-of-five ALDS against the Tampa Bay Rays on regular rest if the Yankees advance.
- Fried, who had two IL stints for a bone bruise in his left elbow (missing more than two months mid-May through late July plus two weeks in August), posted a 2.80 ERA in 20 starts and will start Game 2 on seven days' rest after his Sept. 22 outing against Tampa Bay.
Why it matters: The Yankees tabbed their healthiest ace — Schlittler, who avoided the IL entirely — for the wild-card opener against Boston, while Fried (two IL stints for a bone bruise) is held for Game 2 and Cole is saved for a deciding Game 3. Starting Schlittler in Game 1 also lines him up to start ALDS Games 1 and 4 against Tampa Bay on regular rest if New York advances, tying the Yankees' short-series survival to a rotation that, beyond Schlittler, has been thinned by injuries all year.
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