New York Yankees ace Cam Schlittler made his final start of the 2026 regular season on Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Yankees had already clinched the playoffs and their seeding, so manager Aaron Boone gave Schlittler a short start. Schlittler threw three innings, allowed three hits and one run, and struck out five batters.
Schlittler capped off what will likely be an AL Cy Young Award-winning season with a 14-6 record, a 1.95 ERA, and 239 strikeouts across 33 starts and 193.2 innings.
Yankees Legend Makes Statement on Schlittler
Before the Yankees retired his jersey this week, legendary Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia spoke to YES Network about Schlittler’s season and what impressed him most about the second-year righty.
“I think just not having the run support and him being able to go out and shut teams down every single night,” Sabathia said. “That’s hard to do throughout the summer time when you’re not getting the runs that you’re supposed to get and you’re pitching in close games every single night and he was able to do it.
“I think he’s been great all year, solid all year, and excited for him to hopefully take that trophy home in November.”
CC is in the 🏠!
CC Sabathia joins @M_Marakovits on this edition of Yankees Lineup presented by @CarShield! 🤝 pic.twitter.com/VnDvKcnPv4
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 24, 2026
Looking at the Yankees
New York will wrap up the regular season against the Baltimore Orioles this weekend, and then the focus will shift to Tuesday night, when we could potentially see Schlittler back on the mound for the opener of the Wild Card Series.
Right now, it seems that series will be against the Boston Red Sox, who have yet to clinch the No. 2 Wild Card seed but are just one win or a Chicago White Sox loss away.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone has not decided how he’s going to structure the rotation, but it seems like they’ll enter the playoffs with a four-man rotation of Schlittler, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, and Max Fried.
New York Yankees Legend Makes Honest Statement on Cam Schlittler