Cam Schlittler is the talk of the town after leading the Yankees to a series win over the Red Sox, tossing eight shutout innings in a do-or-die game three to make the Bombers the first team in the Wild Card Series era to advance after losing game one.
The rookie righty mowed down the Boston bats to the tune of five hits, no walks, and a whopping 12 strikeouts, helping the Yanks cruise to a 4-0 win. The victory led many to debate where Schlittler’s gem ranks among the best ever in Yankees playoff history.
With that in mind, let’s list the best postseason outings by a pitcher in Yankee history, limiting the choices to the Wild Card era (since 1995). The list would simply be too deep if we went back to 1923.
But real quick, we can give some love to Whitey Ford’s two masterful shutouts in the 1961 World Series, Allie Reynolds and Vic Raschi tossing complete game shutouts in the Fall Classic openers of 1949 and 1950, Bob Turley’s huge shutout in game five of the ’58 World Series to spark a 3-1 series comeback, and Ralph Terry’s insanely clutch complete game shutout in game seven of the 1962 series, a 1-0 win for New York. And while we're on the subject of rookies, don't forget Jim Beattie's complete game gem in the 1978 Fall Classic.
Oh, and that perfect game from Don Larsen in 1956. Had we included the entirety of Yankees playoff history, that would obviously rank at the top.
As we list these top 10 October gems, let’s lay out some criteria: overall numbers and where the series was at the time and the eventual outcome will all be taken into account, meaning Schlittler’s masterpiece ranks fairly high considering it was a do-or-die game against the hated Red Sox, and was historically dominant in the process.
So, let’s get to it, the top 10 Yankees pitching performances of the Wild Card era:
10: A.J. Burnett, 2009 World Series game two
Burnett’s debut season with the Yanks was a rocky one, pitching to a 4.04 ERA while leading the league in walks. It wasn’t what fans were hoping for when he signed his five-year, $82.5 million contract, but the Bombers only had CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte as their other reliable starters, so Joe Girardi rode a three-man rotation into the World Series.
Trailing the series 1-0 after the Bomber bats were shut down by Cliff Lee, Burnett turned in a gutsy performance to outduel Pedro Martinez, tossing seven innings of one-run ball while striking out nine against just two walks. He handed it over to Mariano Rivera to close it out, and had Burnett not led the Yankees to victory that night, perhaps their title drought is even longer than it stands today.
9: CC Sabathia, 2012 ALDS game five
One of the more underrated Yankees playoff series of the Wild Card era, the Yanks were on the brink after losing a heartbreaker in 13 innings in game four. But Sabathia, in true ace form, annihilated the Oriole bats in a complete-game masterclass, allowing just one eighth-inning run while striking out nine and walking just one. Sabathia escaped a bases-loaded, one out jam in the eighth with a strikeout and a groundout in an eventual 3-1 Yankee win.
Sabathia threw 121 pitches in the Herculean effort.
8: Masahiro Tanaka, 2017 ALDS game three
Another elimination game for the Yankees, Tanaka began to forge his label as a premier playoff performer with this clutch outing against Cleveland. Down 2-0 in the series following a devastating loss in game two (when Joe Girardi did not challenge despite pleas from Gary Sanchez and company), Tanaka saved the season with seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits and one walk against seven strikeouts. Greg Bird provided the lone run of the game with a no-doubt solo home run off Andrew Miller in the seventh.
Tanaka was helped by Aaron Judge robbing Francisco Lindor of a home run, and the Yanks went on to win the series.
7: Roger Clemens, 2000 World Series game two
Most fans remember this game for Clemens, Mike Piazza, and a broken bat, but that overshadowed the fact that Clemens was downright filthy for eight scoreless innings. Looking to take a commanding lead in the Subway Series, Clemens carried his momentum from the ALCS (more on that later) in his Fall Classic start, allowing just two hits and no walks while striking out nine, sending the Yanks to a 2-0 series lead.
6: Mariano Rivera and Mike Mussina, 2003 ALCS game seven
Shaking things up a bit for this entry, and for good reason. The Yanks seemed dead in the water in this do-or-die game with Boston, down 4-0 in the fourth with nobody out before Joe Torre called on Mussina to relieve an ineffective Roger Clemens.
With runners on first and third, Mussina struck out Jason Varitek before forcing Johnny Damon to bounce into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. Moose went on to toss three shutout innings as New York mounted its comeback, and once the Yanks tied the game, Rivera came on for three relief innings of his own, keeping Boston at bat in the ninth, 10th, and 11th innings before Aaron Boone hit one of the most memorable home runs in franchise history.
5: Mike Mussina, 2001 ALDS game three
Another elimination game where Mussina came up huge. Down 2-0 in the series against a very good A’s squad, Mussina was masterful in his first playoff start as a Yankee, tossing seven shutout innings and allowing four hits and one walk. The future Hall of Famer was helped along by Derek Jeter’s iconic flip play, and the rest was history, as Moose was just a tad better than Barry Zito that night, and the Yanks went on to win the series after dropping the first two games at home.
4: Orlando Hernandez, 1998 ALCS game four
Like Schlittler, El Duque was a rookie making his first-ever playoff start when Torre gave him the ball in the ALCS, and while it wasn’t an elimination game, it might as well have been. Cleveland had taken two straight games to take a 2-1 series lead, and a win at Jacobs Field in game four would have put the Yankees on the brink of ruining their 114-win regular season.
Enter Hernandez, who likely saved the season with seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits in a 4-0 victory. It was the birth of Hernandez’s rise to fame as a classic big-game pitcher, a legend that grew a week later when he held the Padres to one run over seven innings in the World Series. Remarkably, Hernandez allowed two runs or less and went at least seven innings in each of his first eight playoff starts.
3: Cam Schlittler, 2025 Wild Card Series game three
No, I wasn’t a game seven in the ALCS, but this was still an elimination game against the hated Red Sox, with the Yankees looking to avoid four straight losses to Boston in postseason play since that 2003 thriller. Aaron Boone would have very likely been facing a firing if the Yanks didn’t get past the Red Sox, and Schlittler made sure they did, becoming the first pitcher ever to toss eight shutout innings with 12 strikeouts in a postseason game without issuing a single walk.
Schlittler didn’t get into a three-ball count past the first inning, completely locked in from the start and never wavered.
2: Andy Pettitte, 1996 World Series game two
This start ranks so high because there is arguably no dynasty without it. The Yankees and Braves were tied 2-2 after two straight wins for New York, but nobody knew what to expect from the young Pettitte in game five after he was annihilated in game one. But the young lefty had a rebound performance for the ages, holding Atlanta scoreless for 8.1 innings in a 1-0 thriller to put the Yanks on the brink of their first title in 18 years.
Pettitte ran into trouble in the sixth when the Braves put runners on first and second with nobody out, then barehanded a sac bunt attempt back to the mound and fired to third to keep a potential double play in order, and got it when Chipper Jones bounced a comebacker to Pettitte, who started the 1-6-3 double play that proved to be one of several massive turning points for the Yanks in that Fall Classic.
1: Roger Clemens, 2000 ALCS game four
This is likely the most dominant any Yankee starter has looked in a playoff game since Larsen’s perfect game. Looking to take a commanding 3-1 series lead against the potent Mariners, Clemens absolutely dismembered the Seattle lineup, going the distance in a complete-game shutout in which he allowed one single hit against a whopping 15 strikeouts.
On the road and against the likes of Alex Rodriguez, Mike Cameron, and Edgar Martinez, Clemens had his splitter working as well as he ever did across his remarkable career, and helped send the Yanks to a pennant and eventual third consecutive championship.
Honorable Mentions:
David Wells, 1998 ALDS game one (8 IP, 0 runs, 5 hits, 9 Ks)
CC Sabathia, 2009 ALCS game one (8 IP, 1 run, 4 hits, 7 Ks)
Masahiro Tanaka, 2017 ALCS game five (7 IP, 0 runs, 3 hits, 8 Ks)