Jazz Chisholm Jr. may have done more than hit a game-changing homer for the Yankees. He may have said out loud what a lot of fans have been thinking for years.
After Thursday’s win over the Tampa Bay Rays, Max Schuemann credited Chisholm for firing up the Yankees before the game, saying Jazz’s remarks “brought the guys together.” New York responded with a 12-run outburst to salvage a split at the Trop.
Then on Friday night, Chisholm came through again. With the Yankees down a run in the top of the ninth, he launched a two-run homer, Austin Wells added a homer of his own, and New York grabbed the series opener from the Nationals, 5-3. It was the kind of swing that can change a weekend in a hurry.
After that win, Chisholm spoke with reporters about why he felt compelled to speak up on Thursday. What he said lined up with a suspicion that has followed the Yankees for a long time.
Since the COVID-shortened 2020 season, the club’s chemistry has repeatedly come under the microscope. The summer slumps, the lack of candor, and the repeated postseason exits at the hands of the Astros, Red Sox, Rays and Blue Jays have all fed the same question: what exactly is going on in that room?
Chisholm’s honesty suggested the answer may not be flattering. The issue, as he described it, was that the Yankees were “losing ourselves” and “splitting further and further apart” as they struggled. He said they weren’t functioning together as a lineup and weren’t spending as much time together off the field.
That kind of bluntness is rare around this team. Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole, for all their leadership, would not typically answer that question with the same level of candor.
Judge usually stays diplomatic and Cole tends to do the same, even if he occasionally lets loose. The result has often been a team that seems to wait for the problem to fix itself instead of forcing the issue.
There’s no proof the same thing was happening in past seasons, but it’s hard not to wonder. When a team is in a 5-15 stretch and the messaging remains that “everything’s great!”, it’s fair to question whether anyone is actually addressing what’s going wrong.
Chisholm’s comments may have helped spark a much-needed jolt. The bigger question now is whether that edge and togetherness lasts into the second half. The Yankees need it, and if it is going to spread through the clubhouse, it probably has to come from someone other than Chisholm, who is likely to be playing elsewhere in 2027.
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