The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays will begin their American League Division Series on Saturday night at Tropicana Field. Gerrit Cole will get the ball for the visitors and Drew Rasmussen will get the honors of pitching in front of his home fans in Game 1.
There are plenty of juicy storylines surrounding this matchup pitting AL East rivals against each other and it will be really interesting to see high-level playoff action back at the most criticized ballpark in Major League Baseball.
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Anyone who has followed baseball over the past few decades knows that Tampa Bay has been an incredibly impressive organization that’s excelled with young, cheap talent. They are a small-market team more than capable of competing with the big boys in a division that spends deeply.
Sep 29, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Cam Schlittler (31) takes the field for the first inning of game one of the Wildcard round of the 2026 MLB Playoffs against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images Credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect (Reuters)
Cam Schlittler, the Yankees ace coming off dominating the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card round, added some fuel to the fire when he was asked about the opportunity to silence a loud road crowd in his start Monday night in Game 2.
To hear the young pitcher tell it, that won’t be too much of a problem.
“I wouldn’t say there’s really too much of a [home] crowd here,” he said. “I expect there to be a lot of Yankees fans here. In some ways, you’re playing at home. The guys are excited to have that atmosphere here.”
“I wouldn’t say there’s really too much of a [home] crowd here. I expect there to be a lot of Yankees fans here. In some ways, you’re playing at home. The guys are excited to have that atmosphere here.”
– Cam Schlittler on Tropicana Field pic.twitter.com/M23WukerZK
— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) October 3, 2026
He’s not wrong. Rays games have been chock-full of Yankees fans ever since the franchise began play. They tend to take over and make a lot of noise when things are going well of the pinstripes. Still, there’s not a Rays fan alive who is going to take these comments sitting down. If anything, it figures to have the impact of making what could have been a relatively 50-50 South Florida crowd a lot more partisan and Tampa Bay wants to show out.
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Considering how well Schlittler has pitching lately he could perform in any venue, no matter how loud, quiet or partisan. But if things get off to a rocky start, he’s going to hear it in a volume he might not have anticipated.