With every game mattering so much now that the postseason is here, the New York Yankees recognized that every sort of advantage they could get could matter considering how thin the margins separating them and the Boston Red Sox are. With ace southpaw Garrett Crochet on the mound for the Red Sox, Yankees manager Aaron Boone decided not to include left-handed hitter Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the starting lineup for Game 1 in what was an eventual 3-1 loss for the home side.
The Yankees' season is on the brink of coming to an end, and every decision becomes magnified especially when the team that led MLB in total runs scored failed to get more than one run across the plate. Chisholm, in particular, could have made a difference; he hit 31 home runs in the regular season after all and did manage an OPS of .813.
In the end, Chisholm was only called upon for a ninth-inning pinch-hit appearance. He flew out meekly to right field and was unable to drive in a run that could have trimmed the Yankees' deficit to one. And after the game, he expressed a bit of disappointment regarding not being named in the starting lineup for what was such a crucial game.
“I guess, yeah,” Chisholm replied when asked whether or not he was surprised to hear of his benching, via SNY's Yankees Videos on X (formerly Twitter).
Jazz Chisholm Jr. was asked if he was surprised about not being in the starting lineup for Game 1
"I guess, yeah" pic.twitter.com/Nw5ooUX9qf
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) October 1, 2025
Boone is simply playing the numbers game; Chisholm was worse against lefties than righties, which is par for the course. Nonetheless, Chisholm wasn't horrific against southpaws this season, recording an OPS of .733 against them this season with six home runs in 129 at-bats. But in five previous plate appearances against Crochet, the Yankees second baseman had gone hitless with only one walk to show for.
Meanwhile, Amed Rosario had an OPS of .819 against lefties this season, which means that the Yankees manager simply went with what he thought would work best.
Yankees bullpen spoils Max Fried's good start
Fried was in cruise control in his first playoff start for the Yankees, shutting out the Red Sox and retiring 19 batters in the process. But he had thrown 102 pitches by then and Boone felt as though he had to go to his bullpen. This backfired as Luke Weaver allowed two runs without recording a single out, and the Yankees went down in the game, never to recover.
The Yankees' season is now on the line, and they will look to rescue their campaign when they battle the Red Sox again at home for Game 2 tomorrow night at 6:08 PM E.T.
