Cam Schlittler’s latest ALDS stumble mirrors his 2025 failure against the Blue Jays

Cam Schlittler has quickly established himself as one of the American League’s best young pitchers. In the postseason, however, a curious pattern is beginning to emerge. Against the Boston Red Sox he looks untouchable. Give him another AL East opponent and the results aren't great for the New York Yankees.

On Monday night, when the Tampa Bay Rays handed Schlittler and the Yankees a 5-2 loss in Game 2 of the American League Division Series. The right-hander allowed six hits and four runs, two earned, over 4.1 innings. He walked one, struck out a season-low two and needed 76 pitches to record 13 outs.

Schlittler can't take all of the blame. New York committed three errors in the first inning and four overall, turning what might have been a manageable outing into a four-run fifth that broke the game open. Afterward, Schlittler said the Yankees “didn’t seem like we really showed up,” an assessment that sounded familiar to anyone who watched Toronto eliminate New York a year earlier.

Blue Jays ended Cam Schlittler’s first postseason run and the Rays have put them on the brink

Schlittler’s 2025 ALDS start against the Blue Jays unfolded along many of the same lines. He worked 6.1 innings in the decisive Game 4, allowing eight hits and four runs, although only two were earned. Toronto's offense did not seem to overwhelm him. But the Blue Jays did something that hurt the Yankees all year, they forced them to make plays. The Blue Jays kept putting the ball in play, applied pressure and waited for the Yankees to crack.

That crack came in the seventh. With Toronto ahead 2-1, Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s error extended the inning and ended Schlittler’s night with two runners aboard. Nathan Lukes then lined a two-run single to centre off the Yankees’ bullpen, scoring Ernie Clement and Andrés Giménez. Both runs were charged to Schlittler, and the Blue Jays went on to win 5-2 and end New York’s season.

While it was a respectable start, it looked nothing like the dominance Schlittler has reserved for Boston. In the deciding game of the 2025 Wild Card Series, he blanked the Red Sox over eight innings, allowing five hits and striking out 12 in a 4-0 Yankees win.

One year later, he did it again, holding Boston scoreless for 6.1 innings with two hits, one walk and 10 strikeouts as New York rolled to a 9-0 victory in Game One of the 2026 Wild Card series.

Across those two playoff starts against the Red Sox, Schlittler has thrown 14.1 scoreless innings with 22 strikeouts. Against Toronto and Tampa Bay in the ALDS, he has surrendered eight runs, four earned, on 14 hits in 10.2 innings while striking out only four. Defensive mistakes have contributed heavily, but so has the ability of both lineups to make contact and force New York to make plays.

That is especially satisfying for Blue Jays fans after Schlittler’s comments about Toronto. He called the fan base “easy to rage-bait” and admitted he did not “really like” Blue Jays supporters. The animosity may have grown a little over the summer. While Schlittler was cruising through the regular season, the Blue Jays off-season addition of Dylan Cease was doing his part to keep up the pace in the Cy Young race.

When it came time to name a starter for the American League side in the All-Star Game, Blue Jays manager John Schneider went with his guy and Cease got the nod. It really didn't need too much explanation, managers usually do go with their own talent if they get the choice. But Schneider also game out and said that Schlittler was never actually going to start the game - and it was Schneider's choice.

Schlittler is too talented to just write off, and the Yankees’ defence deserves much of the blame for both ALDS losses. Still, his postseason résumé now has an ominous pattern to it: historic dominance against the Red Sox and merely mortal results against everyone else.

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