John Schneider would have chosen Dylan Cease even if Cam Schlittler had been in the All-Star Game

Yesterday morning (Sunday), the New York Yankees announced that Cam Schlittler had withdrawn from the All-Star Game. According to manager Aaron Boone, it was a mutual decision to give the pitcher some rest as the team tries to cope with the absence of captain Aaron Judge.

The baseball world had expected Schlittler to be the American League's starting pitcher for the All-Star Game, so when Dylan Cease of the Toronto Blue Jays was officially named the starter, it was assumed that the Blue Jays pitcher was the backup plan.

But that wasn't the case. In fact, speaking to reporters, Jays manager John Schneider stated loud and clear that Cease was going to be the All-Star Game starter from the start—even if Schlittler had been available.

Even if Cam were going to pitch, my decision would still have been to go with Dylan. Whenever a guy leads the league in strikeouts at a time like this, you're truly talented, and you're a great representative of the American League. I came to that conclusion yesterday.

That was all it took to spark outrage among Bombardiers fans—and rightly so, in part.

Because even though Cease and Schlittler have both had excellent seasons so far and are the two leading contenders for the American League Cy Young Award, it feels like Schneider made this decision to reward his protégé.

As good as Cease has been in 2026, Schlittler has better numbers this season in most categories.

One might also wonder whether, after learning he wouldn't be starting in the All-Star Game, Schlittler had second thoughts about participating in the event, which may have led to his withdrawal.

Created by humans, assisted by AI.