ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Late-blooming superstar starter Cam Schlittler, the certain American League Cy Young Award winner as well as the Yankees’ main man of the moment, has a saying he’s living by at age 25. 

“Ride till you die,” Schlittler tells me. 

It’s a philosophy for these playoffs and maybe even for all of life, too. 

If the Yankees win their 28th World Series championship and first since 2009, Schlittler — a seventh-round draft choice out of Northeastern and Walpole, Mass. — is primed to be the leading man following his surprising stardom since ascending to the majors. It’s a role no one could have imagined when Schlittler was named as pick No. 220 in the 2022 draft. It’s also a position he not only accepts but embraces.