FORT MYERS, Fla. — Red Sox lefties Connelly Early and Payton Tolle experienced plenty of firsts in 2025, including their major league debuts and pitching in a playoff series at Yankee Stadium. One thing they didn’t do, though? Step foot in the major league clubhouse at JetBlue Park.

“It’s their first big league camp, right?” said manager Alex Cora. “That’s very important and we reminded everybody yesterday that it’s a new season and we have a lot of new guys in camp.”

Early and Tolle, who both rode strong seasons in the minors to late-year debuts, were so far from big league consideration this time last year that they spent spring training on the minor league side of the JetBlue Park complex. Making his professional debut, Tolle started at High-A and dominated at three levels before debuting on Labor Day weekend. Early, in his second pro season, started in Double-A and pitched well enough to debut on September 9 before starting Game 3 of the Wild Card Series in the Bronx less than a month later. It would have been unthinkable, just 365 days ago, that either pitcher would have gotten meaningful outs in October for the Red Sox.

That’s what happened, though, as Tolle got a big out in the eighth inning of a close Game 2 loss and Early, making just his fifth major league start, pitched 3 ⅔ innings in Game 3.

“We have a taste of it,” Tolle said. “It took a little bit to kick back and relax and be like, ‘Woah, this was really cool and this was a good year and I’m proud of what we did.’ Three games wasn’t enough. We want more.”

The line from Early’s outing, in which he was charged with four runs (three earned) and six hits, looks worse than it was considering Boston’s shoddy defense behind him. In a very small sample size, the difference between his ERA (7.36) and FIP (0.68) tells the story. The 23-year-old spent much of his offseason working on his nascent golf game and fine-tuning his pitch mix ahead of 2026. Taking time to watch a replay of his postseason start wasn’t high on the priority list.

“I never re-watched it,” Early said. “Looking back at it, I feel like I did a decent job executing pitches. Sometimes, baseball just happens. Makes me hungry for this year, of course. Just ready to get back going again.”

Heading into the winner-take-all game Early started, the headline was that two rookie pitchers, Early and Cam Schlittler, would face off in a team that would send one of the rivals home. Though Early held his own early, it was Schlittler’s night. The Walpole native dominated the Red Sox, repeatedly hitting triple digits with his fastball while striking out 12 batters in eight shutout innings in a memorable performance.

All Early could do was tip his cap.

“I had seen him in Double-A,” Early said. “I looked at, and was keeping up with, the Trackman throughout the game. I know he had really good stuff back in Double-A so it was not really too much of a surprise he was able to go out there and pitch really well. Obviously, he kept his composure really well.

“He rode the New York crowd a good bit, which obviously helps, having a home game in a playoff run. What he did was amazing. It’s cool to see another guy around the same spot — obviously, a little more big league time (14 starts) — just go out there and do his thing.”

Schlittler and Early will forever be linked for their shared experience as rookies pitching in a do-or-die Red Sox-Yankees game. They haven’t had a chance, however, to talk about it.

“I haven’t personally spoken to him at all,” Early said. “I usually keep my circle pretty small, just the guys on my team, because those are the guys I’m around all the time.”

The outspoken Schlittler caused a stir after his outing with a series of comments about the Red Sox, his hometown team. He said Boston fans “crossed a line” on social media and tweeted, “Drinking dat dirty water” in a clear reference to “The Standells” song the Red Sox play after wins at Fenway Park. Schlittler told one Red Sox fan to “start preparing for the Bruins season” after the win and made other comments that rankled Boston fans. In November, Schlittler issued a statement about the controversy on X/Twitter, noting that “anyone who knows (him) knows how highly (he speaks) of Boston and how much (he loves) the city,” and adding he “truly (respects) Boston and that organization.”

Those in Red Sox camp, including manager Alex Cora, did not seem eager to respond to Schlittler.

“He went to a Bruins game the other day. He’s a Boston fan…,” said Cora. “We have a saying back home, ‘The one that wins celebrates.’”

Added Tolle, chuckling: “You look at where he came from, he did well in that game. It’s one of those things where he wants to keep having that competitive edge, if that’s what he wants to do.”

With Ranger Suárez, Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo joining a rotation group that already included Garrett Crochet, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval, Early and Tolle would seem to face an uphill climb to make the Opening Day roster. They’ll factor into the mix in 2026 at some point, and when they do, will certainly take some lessons they’ve learned from their first taste of major league spring training.

“Ask questions, follow the ones you should follow — Whitlock, Chapman, Gray, Suárez — and they understand that,“ Cora said. ”Expectations are high because they are who they are and what they did last year, but at the same time, they’re still rookies and they’re still learning.”