Yankees’ Ace Cam Schlittler Received Death Threats From Red Sox Fans After Wild-Card Win

The Yankees pitcher will make his Fenway Park debut on Thursday, and he’s surprisingly excited to face the Red Sox despite the fans sending him hate for months.

Yankees starting pitcher Cam Schlittler’s received death threats and other hurtful remarks from Red Sox fans since the wild-card series last October. | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Last season, Cam Schlittler, who grew up a Red Sox fan, quickly became a villain to Boston after the Yankees ace threw eight scoreless innings in Game 3 of the wild-card series to eliminate the Red Sox from the playoffs.

Ever since that game in October, in which Schlittler had 12 strikeouts, Red Sox fans have continued to harass Schlittler and his family. Some death threats were even sent to him and his family. The pitcher told the New York Post this week that he receives harsh comments “every week ... every day,” not necessarily the death threats as often. He hasn’t felt the need to involve police yet, but that’s still an option if things get worse.

“Most normal fans could care less, right?” Schlittler said. “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.”

After Game 3 six months ago, Schlittler made some comments about the Red Sox fans that only “lit the fire” beneath them to continue sending hateful remarks his way. Here’s what he said in October.

“There's a line and I think they crossed it a little bit,” Schlittler said, via ESPN. “I'm a competitor, and I'm gonna go out there and make sure I shut them down. You know Boston fans, that's just how it is. We're aggressive back home and we're gonna try to get under people's skin. They just picked the wrong guy to do it to and the wrong team to do it to.”

The Red Sox–Yankees rivalry is arguably the most intense in all of baseball. So, Boston fans likely feel like they were wronged by Schlittler last season, and it doesn’t help that he’s from a town about 40 miles away from Fenway Park. He’s seen as a “traitor” for that reason.

In his second MLB season, Schlittler will be making his debut at Fenway Park on Thursday when the Yankees travel to face the Red Sox. The ace is understandably anticipating a rough reaction from the Boston fans in the crowd, especially after what he’s endured for the past six-plus months. This will be the first time he’s faced the Red Sox since Game 3 of the wild-card series, and Boston fans clearly haven’t gotten over the loss.

“It's gonna be bad, it's gonna be bad. I'm not nervous about it, but it's gonna be loud,” Schlittler said. “They're gonna probably have dudes that are my age or a little bit younger, sitting right outside the [visiting] 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.”

It’s surprising that Schlittler is excited to walk onto the mound at Fenway Park on Thursday knowing what’s in store for him. Like he mentioned above, there will be expletives shouted at him, booing and maybe even items thrown at him. That doesn’t sound like a fun experience at all, but he’s ready to keep the streak of beating his childhood favorite team going.

“I don’t really care going in there that they kind of hate me,” Schlittler continued. “I don’t have an issue with that. It really just gets me going a little bit.”

Through five starts so far this season, Schlittler’s pitched at least five innings in each outing. He’s thrown 36 strikeouts and recorded 18 hits and six earned runs on him for an ERA of 1.95, the best out of New York’s starting pitchers.

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