Well that’s how you win a playoff series! The Yankees swept aside an inferior Red Sox squad, outscoring their opponents, 17-2, in two games in the Bronx. They are set for a date with the Rays in what should be a thrilling ALDS. However, before we get to that, we get to introduce our first Sequence of the Week of the postseason, Cam Schlittler setting the tone in Game 1 for the eventual sweep of Boston.
We join Schlittler in a packed house at 161st St. and River Ave., the Yankees ace set to throw the first pitch of this seventh playoff meeting between eternal foes. He is the best pitcher in the AL, the presumptive Cy Young winner after posting the third-lowest ERA (1.95) by a starter in a season in franchise history. He owns the Red Sox in his young career and is looking to author another chapter in his postseason biography after tossing eight scoreless innings and striking out a dozen to eliminate the Red Sox in Game 3 of last year’s AL Wild Card Series. The Red Sox offense may have been hobbled by injury in September, but they are not a group to be trifled with, starting with leadoff hitter Roman Anthony. Anthony missed most of the season with a torn finger ligament but returned at the end of August to post a 119 wRC+ in his final 25 games.
Schlittler certainly wants to declare a statement of intent from the first batter he faces, particularly the face of the Boston franchise. Everybody in the stadium and watching the broadcast knows a heater is coming first pitch, the only question is how fast.
We have our answer. Schlittler throws one of the fastest pitches of his season, dotting this 101 mph four-seamer on the corner away and at the knees for strike one. If anyone had any doubts whether Schlittler would be amped up for this start, this pitch is a resounding yes.
With the adrenaline coursing through his veins, it looks like Schlittler has access to a couple more mph on his fastball. He looks to take advantage of this fleeting boost in velo with another four-seamer to Anthony, convinced that he can throw it by the dangerous Boston lefty.
This one comes in at *just* 100 mph. Austin Wells sets a target up and in and Schlittler doesn’t miss his spot by much, tugging this pitch just a few inches inside. It starts as a ball out of his hand and never really deviates toward the zone, making for a pretty straightforward take by Anthony.
After two pitches, it appears Schlittler’s release is better aligned for that outside lane than to the glove side. Anthony showed zero interest in offering at the first pitch fastball called for a strike, so Schlittler and Wells go back to that well.
Schlittler throws almost an identical copy of the first pitch of the game, dotting another 101 mph four-seamer low and away. Same pitch, same result. Anthony is clearly hunting something up and on the inner half. It wouldn’t make sense for him to be guarding against the breaking ball below the zone considering Schlittler threw a fastball roughly 90-percent of the time during the regular season.
It’s been a slightly different approach from Schlittler to start the game, as he generally likes to live up in the zone with all three of his fastballs. That partially helps to explain Anthony’s passivity against the two in-zone four-seamers low, however that approach now has him in the hole, 1-2. There’s no subtlety to the following pitch selection, Schlittler looking to bully Anthony into submission with another heater over the plate.
This is Schlittler’s third four-seamer at 101, though this one catches way more plate than the other two. All the same, Anthony still can’t catch up despite knowing exactly what’s coming, his late swing slashing the pitch foul back to the screen.
Following that foul ball, Schlittler introduces his first wrinkle of the AB. After finally establishing his four-seamer in the zone but above the knees, Schlittler has the situation perfectly set up to get Anthony to chase a curveball in the dirt.
You might wonder why an MLB hitter would swing at a pitch that bounces in front of home plate. However, out of the hand this curveball looks exactly like the four-seamer in the zone that immediately preceded it. Because he has to stay geared up for 101, Anthony is almost forced into starting his swing before that curveball’s downward break kicks in, leaving him no chance to check his swing in time. I’ll admit I was shocked to see Schlittler throw a curveball this early in the game. I was expecting a diet of purely fastballs in the first inning and maybe even the whole first time through the order before using the curveball later in the game as a change of speeds and change of look.
Here’s the full sequence:
This outing was vintage Schlittler against Boston, but with an extra twist that could vault the Yankees ace into truly untouchable territory this postseason. He threw a career-high 32 curveballs to the tune of a gaudy 50-percent whiff rate. It surely confounded the Red Sox game plan against him and they were helpless against the Uncle Charlie for the entirety of his outing. Even if he ups the fastball usage in subsequent starts, the curveball usage rate in this game plants the seed of doubt in the mind of anyone attempting to game plan for Schlittler. Don’t be surprised to see his calling card elevated heater rack up whiffs in bunches now that hitters have to be mindful of the hook.
Though not quite as stratospherically dominant as last season’s Wild Card start against the Red Sox, Schlittler still found a way to silence Boston without his A-1 fastball command. He threw a career-high 117 pitches across 6.1 scoreless, striking out ten to join Bob Gibson as the only other pitcher in MLB history with multiple scoreless starts with double-digit strikeouts against the Red Sox in the playoffs. Needless to say, we are excited to see what brilliance he cooks up next.
