BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – SEPTEMBER 16: Connelly Early #71 of the Boston Red Sox reacts after being taken out of a game against the Athletics during the sixth inning at Fenway Park on September 16, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Brian Fluharty/Getty Images) Getty Images
As the beer and the champagne sprayed off the plastic covering the Red Sox clubhouse on Friday night, rookie pitchers Payton Tolle and Connelly Early paused together for a moment and marveled at how far they’d come.
“It’s surreal. I said to Connelly Early, ‘Think about us in May right now,’” Tolle said after the Red Sox beat the Tigers to clinch a playoff spot. “Think about where we were at.”
They both spent most of the year in the minors, sharing stints in Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester together before being called up.
If just being on the roster was surreal, the fact that Early, 23, has been tabbed to start the winner-take-all Game 3 of the Wild Card Series, must be unbelievable.
If anyone knows what Early is feeling, it might be 24-year-old rookie Cam Schlittler, who’ll start the game for New York. He, too, was riding the bus around the Eastern League for Somerset earlier this year, before making it to New York. Schlittler and Early actually pitched in the same series, starting three days apart in New Jersey in May.
In 20 years, they could be in Cooperstown together or maybe neither will ever make another postseason start. But none of that matters now.
On Thursday, they’ll have a chance to etch their names for good or for bad into the history of baseball’s greatest rivalry before they’re even old enough to rent a car.
New York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler (31) walks onto the field during the first inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)AP
While both guys will be backed up by every available arm in their respective bullpens, a strong start by either pitcher could be the difference between who advances to face Toronto and whose team goes home.
Despite their respective high ceilings, neither seemed certain to make the majors this season, let alone start a postseason game, but circumstances put them on a collision course.
If Walker Buehler had been serviceable or Richard Fitts or Hunter Dobbins had been healthy for Boston, Early might very well have been watching this from Fort Myers or home in Virginia. If Gerrit Cole or Clarke Schmidt were good to go, Schlittler might have finished the year in Triple-A Scranton.
But both were called up this summer and impressed.
Early has four career big league starts. Schlittler has 14. But the two kids, who still had their baby teeth when the Red Sox came from behind to beat the Yankees in 2004 and barely need to shave now, will take the mound with their teams’ seasons on the line. There’s never been a playoff matchup between two starters with fewer than 15 appearances before.
Alex Bregman was 23 when he homered against the Red Sox in his first postseason plate appearance for the Astros in 2017, but he’d had over a year of big league experience at that point. He’s been impressed with Early.
“Awesome kid. Competitor. Aggressive. He wants the ball,” Bregman said. “Looking forward to playing behind him tomorrow.”
Yankees Game 2 starter Carlos Rodon thought Schlittler was ready for Game 3.
“Everybody knows the kind of stuff that Cam has. He’s equipped well with a pretty impressive arsenal,” he said. “I am excited to see him go to work. I am excited to see how the energy and the crowd and how he interacts with that. It’s going to be really good for him. He needs to experience this. I am looking forward to seeing him dominate tomorrow.”
Schlittler just wanted to reward Aaron Boone’s faith in him.
“For him to put faith in me and we get to Game 3, that means a lot,” he said. “So just making sure I am taking it as another game and going to do my job.”
Early can’t take it as just another game. He hasn’t had enough other games to do that yet. This will be Early’s legitimate road game in the majors. His previous two games away from Fenway were in Sacramento and Tampa, two minor league parks that were pressed into emergency big league service.
Neither the venues nor the lukewarm crowd support of the A’s and Rays will prepare him for Thursday when he’ll stand on the mound in the middle of Yankee Stadium with 47,000 fans bearing down on him.
If he’s intimidated, he didn’t show it.
“It’s going to be really fun,” Early said standing in front of his locker. “It’s 1-1 now. It comes down to this game. I’m excited to be out there. … I have to go out there and trust my stuff. … I’m super fortunate to be in this spot. I’m really happy the Red Sox trust me with the ball out there.”
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.