Yankees' Cam Schlittler unanimously wins American League Cy Young Award
Yankees' Cam Schlittler pitches during the first inning against the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series on Sept. 29, 2026, at Yankee Stadium. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Cam Schlittler allowed one hit and struck out eight in 5 1/3 innings in his first start of the season, March 27 in San Francisco, in a 3-0 victory over the Giants.
There would more outings that resembled it to come.
Many, many more.
As a result, Schlittler, who came out of the 2026 gate hot and finished the season the same, became the seventh Yankees pitcher to capture the American League Cy Young, winning the award in a landslide in voting results announced Wednesday night.
Schlittler, who went 14-6 with a league-low 1.95 ERA and who struck out 239 batters in 193 2/3 innings over 33 starts, captured all 30 first-place votes for a total of 210 points. Dylan Cease of the Blue Jays garnered 22 second-place votes in finishing runner-up with 110 points.
The 25-year-old Schlittler became the second Yankee to win the AL Cy Young in three seasons, with Gerrit Cole winning it in 2023.
“He’s going to win the Cy Young,” manager Aaron Boone said toward the end of the season. “He’s just continued to get better year in and year out. This is largely in line with who we saw down the stretch when he got called up last year (in July 2025…he’s been the best pitcher in the league.”
Schlittler had little in the way of hiccups in 2026, his first full season in the majors.
The heat-throwing righthander, whose arsenal features three fastballs and a curveball that by season’s end proved almost as unhittable as his hard stuff, allowed one run or fewer in 21 of his 33 starts. He allowed one earned run or fewer in each of his last nine outings, posting a 1.17 ERA in that stretch.
That allowed Schlittler to finish with the third-lowest ERA in a single season by a qualified Yankees pitcher, trailing only Spud Chandler (1.64) in 1943 and Ron Guidry (1.74) in 1978.
“That’s something that’s not controllable right now,” Schlittler said near the end of the regular season of potentially winning the Cy Young. “But you build up good starts and I keep pitching the way I am, that’s something that could definitely be a possibility.”
Schlittler’s 239 strikeouts, in a career-high 193 2/3 innings, were the second-most in the AL this season. The total tied him with Jack Chesbro (in 1904) for the fourth-most by a Yankees pitcher in a single season in franchise history, trailing Cole’s 257 strikeouts in 2022, Guidry’s 248 in 1978 and Cole’s 243 in 2021.
Schlittler allowed three or fewer runs in 29 of his 33 starts, that number tied for the third-most in a single season in franchise history — with Whitey Ford (1963), Stan Bahnsen (1968) and Mel Stottlemyre (1969) — and trailing only Chesbro’s 40 such games in 1904 and Guidry’s 30 in 1978.
The righty went at least six innings in 20 of his starts, tied for the eighth-most in the Majors (and tied for third in AL), and went more than six innings 11 times, including at least seven innings seven times and at least eight innings three times.
Schlittler allowed four hits or fewer in 23 of his starts, tied for the most in the Majors (and tied for first in AL), and he allowed three hits or fewer in 15 starts.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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