Yankees' Cam Schlittler Airs Out Red Sox Fans, Re-Ignites Rivalry Tension

Apr 1, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Cam Schlittler (31) walks off the field after being pulled from the game during the seventh inning against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

New York Yankees starting pitcher Cam Schlittler had beef with Boston Red Sox fans that he aired out last October after dominating his hometown team to send them packing in the postseason.

If there was any doubt about the ill will on both sides carrying forward into the new season, that doubt quickly got dispelled. On Sunday, ahead of Schlittler's regular-season debut against the Red Sox this week, the 25-year-old reported to Joel Sherman of the New York Post that he's received death threats and "some messages that are pretty unreal" from the Boston fan base.

“Most normal fans could care less, right?" Schlittler told Sherman. "It’s just those diehards that just have nothing else in their lives other than baseball or sports that really care about this and the fact that I play for the Yankees makes it worse for them.”

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Schlittler expects "bad" scene at Fenway this week

Mar 27, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Cam Schlittler (31) throws a pitch against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The bad blood between Schlittler and Red Sox fans escalated quickly during last year's Wild Card Series, as the Massachusetts native took the mound for Game 3 and reported that Boston fans were particularly nasty to him and his family ahead of the game. He then used that as fuel to throw eight shutout innings with 12 strikeouts, sending the Red Sox packing for the winter.

Meanwhile, Schlittler's father, John, is the chief of police in Needham, Mass., and the right-hander told Sherman he "has connections," seemingly indicating that if fans took those purported death threats to the next level, he had methods of recourse.

With the Yankees off to a much better start than the Red Sox, Schlittler knew there was a high probability that fans would be extra ravenous for his scheduled start on Thursday.

"It’s gonna be bad," Schlittler told Sherman. "I’m not nervous about it. But it’s gonna be loud. They’re gonna probably have dudes that are my age or a little bit younger, sitting right outside the bullpen, yelling, whatever, probably throwing stuff at me, trying to grab me. That’s kind of what I expect. So I know the guys are excited for it and I’m excited for it.”