Jazz Chisholm Jr. returns to Yankees lineup with a flourish in wild-card sweep

Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s transgressions this season are well known. 

There have been career-worst numbers at the plate, mental lapses in the field and the infamous Blow Pop controversy while playing second base in a June game in Detroit. 

And then Red Sox radio voice Will Flemming called the second baseman a “bush-league player” for stealing second and third base in a blowout win over Boston on Aug. 31. 

Flemming later apologized, but Chisholm doesn’t seem to have forgotten, as he capped off his productive return to the lineup by running wild on the bases again in the seventh inning of a 9-2 win to clinch the wild-card series over Boston. 

Chisholm, who didn’t play in the first game of the series, with Anthony Volpe getting the nod instead, came through Wednesday with a fantastic catch in shallow center — with his back to the infield — to rob Adley Rutschman of a hit in the sixth and then helped a rally in the bottom of the inning with a single, his second on a 2-for-3 night. 

And with the game well in hand in the seventh, he walked, swiped second base standing up, then swiped third and scored on an Austin Wells single. 

Before the game, Aaron Boone said he debated starting Volpe and Chisholm in each of the first two games before splitting them. 

New York Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. celebrates with first base coach Dan Fiorito after hitting a single in the sixth inning of Game 2 of the American League wild-card series against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

“Both days, I’ve considered it, absolutely,’’ Boone said. “Anthony’s come up and done a really good job. He did a really good job when he went down [to the minors] of just getting to work and creating that versatility for himself. He’s come up and performed well and played well. But I also feel like Jazz is an important part of this, especially moving forward. And we’re going to need both guys to win big. Ultimately, that’s where I fell on it.” 

There were some people in the organization who preferred Volpe’s steadiness over Chisholm’s potential explosiveness. 

And over his final 18 games of the regular season — which was interrupted by an injured list stint with a sprained right thumb — Chisholm heated up at the plate, with a .939 OPS. 


New York Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. swings at a pitch during a game against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.
New York Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. hits a single in the sixth inning of Game 2. Robert Sabo for New York Post

He also led the Yankees with 41 stolen bases this year. 

Chisholm showed his value in the postseason last year, when he didn’t start in Game 1 of the wild-card series, but responded by scoring from first base on a Wells single in Game 2 and adding a pair of hits in the Game 3-clinching win. 

With the Yankees headed to the ALDS to face Tampa Bay, Boone will have plenty of lineup decisions to make. 

Few will likely be more impactful than second base, where Volpe has looked solid despite a lack of experience at the position, but Chisholm offers more offense against righty pitching. 

It’s not a position battle many would have seen coming as recently as three weeks ago, when Volpe made his first start in the majors at second. 

But this is not your ordinary Yankee team, not with Aaron Judge out with a calf injury, rookies at shortstop and in center field. 

And Chisholm is not your ordinary second baseman. 

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