Northeastern Professional Athletes

The Cy Young is Almost a Footnote Now

Cam Schlittler is doing something pitchers almost never get to do: make the MVP conversation feel legitimate.

The Northeastern alum and Yankees ace enters the final stretch of the 2026 regular season with a 1.95 ERA — tied with Jacob Misiorowski for the lowest mark among qualified pitchers — and has become the gravitational center of two award races simultaneously. The AL Cy Young feels close to settled; prediction markets on Kalshi have him as the heavy favorite over Dylan Cease, and a recent ESPN poll produced results that, per The Sporting News, "likely ends the Cy Young race." The MVP is the more electric question.

On Sunday, Sept. 13, Schlittler shut down the Mets on one hit with eight strikeouts across six innings in a 2-0 Yankees win to close out the Subway Series. The performance reignited a groundswell that had been building for weeks: if he's the best player on a playoff team, why not MVP? It would make him the first pitcher to claim the award since Clayton Kershaw in 2014 — and FanSided is already asking whether he could become just the second pitcher in Yankees franchise history to win the AL MVP.

The Yankees clinched a postseason berth shortly after Monday's 8-3 win over Minnesota, and Schlittler used the locker room celebration to send what Heavy Sports described as a "strong message" about October expectations. Sports Illustrated has already declared him the easy call for New York's Game 1 starter.

The award race itself is a three-horse field. Bleacher Report frames it as Yordan Alvarez's party being crashed — by Schlittler and Rays third baseman Junior Caminero. Aaron Judge, Schlittler's own teammate, offered a diplomatic answer when asked: he endorsed the Cy Young, stopped short on MVP. The Yankees clubhouse, per Yahoo Sports, is genuinely split. Schlittler is making less than $1 million this season, which only adds to the narrative.

The Other Huskies

Northeastern has more than one name on an MLB roster this September, even if Schlittler is commanding all the oxygen.

Mike Sirota, the Dodgers outfielder and top-15 organizational prospect, received a late-season promotion to Triple-A Oklahoma City. He slashed .306/.459/.526 at his previous level — numbers that earned the call-up and position him for a playoff run with OKC. A big-league debut could be on the horizon if rosters remain flexible.

Aaron Civale has had a quieter September with the Cubs, working in relief across three appearances. He threw two innings against Pittsburgh on Sept. 13 with two strikeouts, followed by a shorter outing against Atlanta on Sept. 16, and logged just two-thirds of an inning against Cincinnati on Sept. 19. His ERA sits at 4.21.

Ben Malgeri has been in the lineup regularly for Detroit's stretch run, appearing in five games between Sept. 13–19 against Colorado, Toronto, and the White Sox. He's hitting .231 on the season with modest contributions — a hit and a run against Toronto on Sept. 15 among them — as the Tigers navigate their own postseason positioning.

The week belonged to Schlittler, by a wide margin. But for a program like Northeastern — which doesn't exactly churn out first-round picks — having multiple alums active in MLB in the same week, let alone one at the center of a historic award conversation, is worth savoring.

Cam Schlittler is doing things in the Bronx that don't happen very often, and the Northeastern faithful have a front-row seat to history.

The Yankees righty dismantled the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night — seven innings, one run, three hits, 10 strikeouts — dropping his ERA to 2.01 in what has become a weekly reminder that the AL Cy Young Award already has a home. The 5-3 win was business as usual for Schlittler, who also broke an all-time Yankees franchise record during the outing, adding another chapter to what is shaping up as one of the most remarkable sophomore seasons in recent memory.

The praise was immediate and unequivocal. Yankees outfielder Heliot Ramos, who delivered the decisive three-run homer late in the game, called Schlittler the "best pitcher in the league" afterward — a sentiment that is getting harder and harder to argue against.

CBS Sports pegged Schlittler as the clear AL Cy Young frontrunner heading into the final weeks of the regular season, with San Diego's Dylan Cease as the primary challenger. The bigger drama now isn't the award — it's October. Schlittler's dominance has quietly forced the Yankees into a genuine dilemma: does Max Fried, a veteran left-hander, still get the ball in Game 1 of the postseason, or does the best pitcher on the staff earn that spot by default? The conversation is happening in the Yankees' front office, and it didn't exist two months ago.

A potential Wild Card matchup with the Red Sox would only deepen the intrigue. FanSided noted that a Yankees-Boston series would pit two of the AL's most impressive rotations against each other, with Schlittler anchoring New York's side — a prospect that is already making opposing fans uneasy. A Sporting News piece noted that Blue Jays fans, among others, are being asked to simply "make peace" with what Schlittler is projected to do over the remainder of this season and beyond.

The Rest of the Huskies

Schlittler wasn't the only Northeastern alum active this week. Aaron Civale, now pitching for the Cubs, made an appearance against the Brewers on September 8th, working 2.0 innings and punching out four batters. His ERA sits at 4.28 — serviceable depth for a Chicago team navigating a late-season stretch.

Ben Malgeri logged time in center field for the Tigers across multiple games this week, posting a walk and an RBI in Saturday's 11-7 win over the Rockies. His batting average settled around .232–.247 across the stretch, consistent contributions from a player carving out regular-season reps in Detroit.

No other Northeastern-affiliated players recorded notable stats during the period.

The Schlittler story, though, is the one that transcends weekly box scores. In just his second major league season, a kid from Northeastern is rewriting Yankees history, chasing hardware, and forcing playoff rotation debates in September. For a program that doesn't often see its name in the same sentence as "AL Cy Young," this is a moment worth savoring.

Cam Schlittler is no longer just a breakout story — he's a legitimate piece of baseball history.

The Northeastern alumnus and New York Yankees ace turned in another signature performance on September 2, shutting down the Los Angeles Angels over eight innings, surrendering just two hits and one earned run while punching out nine batters. The Yankees won 6-3 in 10 innings, and though Schlittler didn't get the win, the outing added yet another chapter to what is shaping up as one of the most remarkable pitching seasons in American League history.

That's not hyperbole. According to Heavy Sports, Schlittler's 2026 campaign has broken an all-time AL record — placing him in rarefied air that AL pitching legends never reached. FanSided went further, noting that the data puts Schlittler alongside Bob Gibson in a historically small club of elite aces, framing him not as a feel-good story but as a statistically verifiable phenomenon. His ERA sat at 2.04 after the Angels start.

The Cy Young Race

The AL Cy Young conversation is essentially a two-man show heading into September, with Schlittler squaring off against Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Dylan Cease. Sportsnet and FOX Sports MLB writer Deesha Thosar both weighed in during the period, with Thosar arguing that Schlittler holds a meaningful edge over Cease as the race tightens with the postseason approaching. Yahoo Sports called the Angels outing another "feather in his AL Cy Young case," highlighting Schlittler's ability to dominate deep into games — a durability argument that works in his favor against any competitor.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone addressed Schlittler's performance directly after the Angels series, offering an honest assessment of what his ace has become for New York's rotation. Schlittler won't start against the San Diego Padres in the September 4-6 series, per his normal turn schedule, but an MLB insider confirmed his status remains firm — no injury concerns, no complications.

Off the mound, Schlittler made headlines for a different reason: he and Yankees legend CC Sabathia both publicly called out a Boston Red Sox broadcaster on social media over comments made about Jazz Chisholm Jr., per Bleacher Report. It was a reminder that Schlittler, despite being a rookie-level sensation, is already operating as one of the faces of the Yankees franchise.

The Rest of the Huskies

Beyond Schlittler's history-making run, a pair of other Northeastern alumni made noise during the week.

Detroit Tigers outfielder Ben Malgeri put together a quietly productive stretch. Over the seven-day period, Malgeri went 3-for-his-best-game on September 5 with three hits and an RBI, and contributed a two-hit, two-run effort against the Twins on September 2. His average fluctuated through the week but climbed back to .258 by the close of the period.

Cubs pitcher Aaron Civale had a rougher stretch, logging just one inning in relief against the Reds on August 30 and three innings against the Marlins on September 4 — totaling five strikeouts across the two outings with his ERA sitting at 4.37. Civale's role in Chicago's bullpen remains limited, a far cry from Schlittler's top-of-the-rotation dominance in New York.

For Northeastern, the headliner is obvious. Schlittler isn't just making Huskies fans proud — he's rewriting the AL record book with five weeks left in the regular season.

Cam Schlittler didn't just pitch well against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night. He did it in the most pressure-packed setting the AL East rivalry has offered in years — and made it look routine.

The Northeastern product and Yankees ace struck out eight and held Boston to zero runs across 5.2 innings as New York edged the Red Sox 1-0 in the opener of a pivotal four-game series at Yankee Stadium. Paul Goldschmidt's solo home run off Patrick Sandoval in the third inning was all the offense Schlittler needed. The bullpen and an outfield assist from Cody Bellinger's arm did the rest.

The win came with real stakes attached. Entering the series, the Yankees and Red Sox were separated by just two games in the AL East standings, both chasing October with limited margin for error. New York had reportedly shuffled its rotation specifically to line Schlittler up for the matchup — a gamble that paid off immediately.

The Cy Young Race

Schlittler's Friday gem only tightened the screws on what has become one of baseball's most compelling individual races. His ERA now sits at 2.09, and multiple outlets have projected him as the AL Cy Young favorite over San Diego's Dylan Cease. The Sporting News cited a specific structural argument in Schlittler's favor, framing the race as genuinely close but tilting toward the Yankees' right-hander as the season enters its final weeks. FanSided, meanwhile, explored where Schlittler's 2026 campaign could ultimately rank among the greatest single-season pitching performances in Yankees history — a conversation that would have seemed premature for a Northeastern alum not long ago.

The Noise Off the Mound

There's an added layer to Schlittler's dominance this week. The Boston-born rivalry has spilled into his mentions. Schlittler addressed ongoing trolling from Red Sox fans, telling reporters, "I could have easily just thrown last year and not said anything, but it didn't feel right to not say anything." He added that the online noise "hasn't stopped at all." On Friday, his answer was delivered with an eight-strikeout, shutout performance against the team whose fans are loudest in his mentions.

Around the Alumni

Two other Northeastern alumni logged MLB action this week, though in quieter registers.

Aaron Civale (Cubs) made two starts, going 2.1 innings against the Reds on Friday with two strikeouts, and 4.0 innings against the Mariners on Sunday, August 23. His ERA stands at 4.55, a far cry from Schlittler's territory but a continued rotation role for the veteran Husky.

Ben Malgeri (Tigers) appeared in multiple games through the week, collecting a hit and batting average of .242 at his peak before sliding to .222 by Saturday against the Dodgers. He drove in a run and drew a walk in Sunday's game against the Royals on August 23. The center fielder continues to hold a roster spot in Detroit's outfield.

The week belonged unmistakably to Schlittler, though. A Northeastern pitcher — in pinstripes, ERA under 2.10, trolling Red Sox fans with shutout baseball — is not a sentence that writes itself every August. This one did.