The Yankees swept the Red Sox out of the playoffs on Wednesday night, and Cam Schlittler spent part of the celebration finishing an argument with a stranger on the internet.
“Wat the 4’s gotta say now,” he posted on social media after the 9-2 clincher.
If you have not been following the feud, that sentence is gibberish. If you have, it is the most efficient trash talk of the postseason.
The Backstory on the 4
In September, a Red Sox fan and online personality known as Rusey went on Jared Carrabis’s Section 10 podcast and called Schlittler ugly, dismissing him as useless despite the fact that he has carved up Boston repeatedly.
Schlittler responded on social media by rating her a “solid 4 with oversized sunglasses.” He later deleted that post. He clearly did not delete the memory of it, because weeks later, with Boston’s season over, he reached back for the same number.
He has told people this is how he operates. “I wouldn’t say I’m always on my phone looking for that stuff. At the same time, I don’t really live under a rock as well,” he said before the series. Then the giveaway: “I’ve found ways to use that to my advantage. I think I’m good at keeping receipts.”
He Had the Receipts to Back It Up
Schlittler started Game 1 on Tuesday and was untouchable: six and a third innings, two hits, no runs, one walk and 10 strikeouts on 117 pitches in a 9-0 win. He did not pitch the clincher. Max Fried handled that, allowing one run over six innings in Game 2.
So the taunt came from a guy who had already done his damage and then watched from the dugout while somebody else finished the job.
His season justifies the swagger. Schlittler went 14-6 with a 1.95 ERA across 33 starts, throwing 193 and two-thirds innings with 239 strikeouts and a 0.919 WHIP. He led the league in ERA and in ERA+ at 215, and made his first All-Star team. Against Boston specifically he was 2-1 with a 0.74 ERA.
He became the Yankees’ ace at 25 while Gerrit Cole worked back from Tommy John surgery. That is not a fluke season from a guy running his mouth.
The Walpole Thing Makes It Personal
Schlittler grew up in Walpole, Massachusetts, as a Red Sox fan. That detail is why Boston’s fan base treats him as a traitor rather than just an opponent, and why the hostility has gone past normal.
Before his first start at Fenway Park in April, he and his family received online harassment and death threats. He told Joel Sherman of the New York Post that diehards were behind it.
That context changes how the taunt reads. A pitcher who got death threats from his hometown’s fan base dunking on one of its loudest voices is not punching down. He is answering.
This Is a Pattern, Not a Moment
After winning Game 3 of the wild card series in 2025, Schlittler posted “Drinking dat dirty water,” a reference to the Standells song Boston fans have claimed for decades. He has now closed out the Red Sox in consecutive Octobers and commemorated both with a line aimed at the city.
New York moves on to face the top-seeded Rays beginning Saturday. Schlittler’s take on where this is going was less personal and more alarming for the rest of the bracket: “I think if we keep pitching the way we’re pitching, we can be able to dominate the World Series.”
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.