KANSAS CITY — Jazz Chisholm Jr. stood in the middle of the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium as his teammates poured champagne and bottles of Budweiser over his head while collectively booing him.
Chisholm drew the ire of the Kansas City Royals’ home crowd after suggesting their team was lucky to win Game 2 of the American League Division Series. While New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone backed off Chisholm’s comment, the Yankees third baseman doubled down on his belief by sharing a post from an X account that simulates games based on expected outcomes. The MLB simulation suggested that the Royals were “luck merchants.”
The Yankees booed Jazz Chisholm Jr. during their champagne celebration 🤣 pic.twitter.com/wlxgSkgK2K
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) October 11, 2024
Before first pitch of Game 3, Chisholm drew the loudest boos during pregame introductions. But it wasn’t until Game 4 on Thursday night that the situation grew tense. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Michael Massey hit a ground ball to Yankees first baseman Jon Berti, who tagged first before throwing to Anthony Volpe for the tag out. Maikel Garcia slid late into second base, which the Yankees took exception to, particularly Chisholm, who ran over from third base.
“I just felt like he tried to go and injure Volpe because he was being a sore loser,” Chisholm said after the Yankees won 3-1 to advance to the American League Championship Series. “He was talking a lot on Instagram and Twitter. I do the same thing, but I’m not gonna go try and injure somebody if they’re winning a game. I didn’t like that. I told him we don’t do that on this side. I’m always gonna stick up for my guys.”
Garcia said after the game that he didn’t have anything against Chisholm and slid in late hoping to get in the way of the ball.
“Volpe had the ball, blocked the bag,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “Maikel probably didn’t care for that too much, and it got a little chippy.”
Both benches and bullpens cleared, but it ended up being just a bunch of yelling from both sides without an ejection.
Benches clear during Game 4 in Kansas City between the Royals and Yankees. pic.twitter.com/2tpU77IFPf
— MLB (@MLB) October 11, 2024
“I don’t know what everyone was mad about,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I didn’t go back and look because we were late in the game and it’s like, OK, let’s move on. I don’t know if it was a tag or whatever. I (watched) old-school Kansas City-Yankees where Hal McRae is coming for you at second base and Willie Randolph. I don’t know who he was mad at.”
After the Royals won Game 2, Garcia mocked Yankees starter Carlos Rodón, who was amped after striking out the side in the first inning but later gave up four runs before being pulled in the fourth inning, by posting, ‘Don’t celebrate too early’ on his X account.
By the end of the series, it was the Yankees who got to celebrate in the same stadium where their 2023 season ended unceremoniously. It felt fitting that Gerrit Cole was on the mound for the Yankees Thursday night because he was one of the few bright spots on last season’s roster. Boone reflected on the last day of the 2023 season and how they got to redeem themselves on their journey to a possible World Series title.
“I remember the conversation I had with the group in this room,” Boone said in the visitors’ clubhouse. “Gerrit was actually a focal point of it because I felt like, as tough as last year was and not to our standard, in a lot of ways, I was proud of the group with how we finished that season. That’s an easy season where it could have been mailed in. We were playing for that guy to win a Cy Young Award, Judgey was banged up but going to the post every day because it was important. We talked in here after that series and we knew the focus we had to have. They put in the work this winter to have a great season.”
Chisholm was not part of last season’s Yankees, as the club traded for him from the Miami Marlins at the deadline. He came with a reputation as someone who was not universally loved inside the Marlins clubhouse. It was reported the Yankees had concerns about his personality before they traded for him, but those concerns, if there were any in the first place, could not have dissipated quicker. They’ve appreciated his willingness to play a position he had no experience with. They have loved having his infectious energy as someone who’s always making things loose on the field and in the clubhouse. It’s an environment that Chisholm hasn’t experienced before in his career.
“I’d go to war with these guys any day,” Chisholm said. “They introduce me like I’m the f—ing little brother they always wanted. I feel like I’m the little brother they always wanted. To be here right now — I know I didn’t produce much in the series — but these guys made me feel like I did the world. To be here with these guys means everything.
“I feel like everybody supports each other. That’s what makes it different. Baseball is a team sport but a lot of guys get locked up in the individual stats and what they do. This team don’t give a hell of whatever they do. They go out there going to get a win, and how we get it, no one cares. Nobody cares what their numbers are. They just want to win.”
The Yankees third baseman finished 2-for-15 in the series, but there he was in the center of the clubhouse, the life of the party, as if he finished with the game-winning hit. He said after Game 2 that the Yankees were going to win this series. He got the last laugh.
“It feels amazing, especially to be here with these guys,” Chisholm said. “I wouldn’t want to trade it for the world.
“I don’t know if you saw the roar in his last inning but that fired everybody up. Gerrit, the ace that I’ve never seen in my life, the f–––––– confidence and the way he goes out and carries this team and tells everyone to stay in it — I think I struck out in my first at-bat with Giancarlo on second base. The umpire called strike one on a ball four pitch and he came to me and said ‘stay the f––– locked in. We’re going to win this s–––. I can’t thank him enough for that.”
(Top photo of Jazz Chisholm after benches cleared in Game 4: Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
