If the Yankees fall to the Red Sox and fail to complete the series comeback Thursday, it would not be because they were infiltrated by an outsider.
Cam Schlittler, who grew up in Walpole, Mass., about 20 miles from Fenway Park, who attended Northeastern and who was raised as a Red Sox fan in a Red Sox family, is firmly a Yankee — and has converted his family to pinstripes.
“I would say growing up in Boston, I take pride in being from Boston,” Schlittler said before his team forced a Game 3 with a 4-3 survival in The Bronx. “When it came to my career and where I want to be, this is where I want to be. [My family is] full Yankee guys now.
“They don’t wear it around as much in Boston just because. When they are here, they are very prideful about it.”
So his family will support a Boston kid trying to bury the Red Sox.
The Yankees are entrusting the decisive Game 3 of the wild-card round to the hard-throwing Schlittler, a 24-year-old with 14 major league starts under his belt. The Red Sox will match with another rookie, Connelly Early, after Lucas Giolito’s injury.
If Yankees manager Aaron Boone pairs Schlittler with Ben Rice, it could be two Massachusetts boys trying to break the hearts of their childhood friends.
In his first 14 major league starts, Schlittler has never faced the Red Sox.
His Huskies did match up with them once, though. Back in February 2020, Schlittler — then a freshman at Northeastern — pitched in a spring training exhibition game at the Red Sox’s facility in Fort Myers, Fla.
“Great experience,” Schlittler said five years later. “Obviously I am a lot different player than I was then. So didn’t really expect to be in this situation back then, but now I am definitely happy I am.”
“This situation” is holding the season of his major league team and his childhood team in his right hand.
Called up in early July amid several injuries, most notably Clarke Schmidt requiring Tommy John surgery, Schlittler received an ostensible spot start that turned into a permanent rotation spot and a 2.96 ERA.
The Yankees moved on from Marcus Stroman, brought Ryan Yarbrough back from the injured list as a bullpen arm, did not further explore Allan Winans as rotation help and watched Schlittler’s ascension.
“You saw the right competitive edge to him,” Boone said of Schlittler, who burst onto the radar with a one-day, call-up to major league camp this spring and then excelled with Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. “Super coachable, accountable. I feel like he has done a really good job developing over the years.
“He has put together back-to-back, really impressive minor league seasons to earn his opportunity towards the end of the year. He gave us a shot in the arm when he became another stabilizing force in our rotation.”
That force is expecting “only a couple” immediate family members for the biggest game of his life.
They will be rooting for the Yankees.
