Red Sox pregame brag fell on deaf ears after Cam Schlittler's Yankees playoff dominance

The Boston Red Sox wanted everyone to know they were heavily prepared to face New York Yankees American League Cy Young front-runner Cam Schlittler in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card series -- but it didn't matter. Schlittler shut down the Red Sox, going 6 1/3 scoreless innings on 117 pitches (career-high), while allowing just two hits, striking out 10 and walking one in a 9-0 laugher of a victory for the Yankees.

Once again, the Red Sox's offense had no answer for Schlittler, who now holds a career 0.47 ERA in six starts (38.2 innings) against Boston across the regular season and postseason. Schlittler also drew a career-high 24 swings-and-misses from the Red Sox's bats in this outing.

How the Red Sox prepared for Cam Schlittler and failed

The Red Sox did everything they could in order to be ready to face Schlittler this time around. According to Rob Bradford of WEEI, the Red Sox "wore out" the Tampa Bay Rays' Trajekt machine against Schlittler this past weekend.

The Trajekt machine is a pitching machine that can use data to replicate a specific pitcher's delivery, pitch shapes and velocity. The Red Sox spent several weeks taking numerous at-bats against Schlittler on the Trajekt machine both at home and away from Fenway Park, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. But as Cotillo pointed out, the 6"6 Schlittler's extension toward the plate, along with 48,437 fans in a rowdy postseason crowd at Yankee Stadium, couldn't be simulated against the Trajekt machine.

Unlike last year, when the Red Sox squeaked into the playoffs and Schlittler was still a bit of an unknown, Boston had plenty of time to prepare for the Wild Card series. However, it didn't make a difference, as Schlittler couldn't be stopped on Tuesday night. Schittler also went with a different strategy against Boston, throwing his curveball 27 percent of the time as opposed to just a 9.8 percent usage rate during the regular season.

Once Schlittler, a Walpole, Massachusetts native, took the mound, the Red Sox were doomed from the start. And for the second straight year, Schlittler dominated Boston in the postseason. Now, the Red Sox enter play on Wednesday night facing elimination. They will go up against lefty Max Fried, and are surely thankful that they won't have to face Schlittler again in a three-game series. The Red Sox spent weeks facing Schlittler on the Trajekt machine, but it didn't account for the real life scenario, which showed in their offense's anemic results against the right-hander.

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