The New York Yankees will start the postseason with a Wild Card Series on Tuesday, most likely facing the Boston Red Sox.
The Yankees have the probable American League Cy Young Award winner, but are not committing to having him start Game 1. Cam Schlittler has been arguably the second-best pitcher in all of baseball this year, and has a strong case to say his season has been better than Jacob Misiorowski's. Schlittler is scheduled to pitch on Thursday, putting him on four days of rest for Game 1 of the Wild Card Series.
“We’ll see," Boone said when asked if Schlittler would start Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, per MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. "Not necessarily.”
Schlittler has worked on four days of rest 14 times this season. He has a 2.19 ERA in those 14 starts and has worked 82 1/3 innings. He is very capable of thriving on four days of rest, but Aaron Boone is not saying he will start Game 1. The reasoning has to do with how it lines the team up for the next series.
"Whoever goes 1 or 2 doesn't affect the next series," explained Boone. "So whoever goes 1 or 2 can pitch 2 and 5 in the next series, for example. So we'll decide what kind of makes the most sense, just matching up how we want to go with it. But Cam would certainly be one of those first two games.”
Schlitter is a lock to start one of the first two games. If he starts Game 1, he would be on five days of rest for Game 2 of the American League Division Series. That would also have him available for a Game 5 on four days of rest. If Schlittler starts Game 2 of the Wild Card Series, he would be on four days of rest for Game 2 of the ALDS, and then available for Game 5 on four days of rest again.
The Yankees' decision will come down to whether they want Schlittler to have an extra day or not before Game 2 of the next series.
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