The New York Yankees are officially done for the season, swept out of the American League Division Series by the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night. While the sting of elimination is fresh, it’s the aftermath in the clubhouse that has everyone talking. Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm, who went 0-for-8 in the series and committed a costly error in Game 2, wasted no time questioning the home crowd that targeted him with boos.
“Who Am I? That’s a Three-Time MVP”
Yankees fans, whose actions included a costly fan interference ruling against them in Game 3, focused much of their frustration on Chisholm. He hit .231 with 19 home runs during the regular season, but his playoff struggles clearly drew the ire of the crowd. After the season’s conclusion, Chisholm, who is now heading into free agency after 2 ½ seasons in New York, was asked if the treatment from the home faithful stung.
“It doesn’t hurt, it’s just confusing because it’s the playoffs and we’re trying to win games,” Chisholm told reporters. “So, you’re booing a guy that’s playing currently trying to help the team win. You’re hearing boos instead of trying to hype guys up, you know what I mean? But, at the end of the day, it doesn’t hurt me because I’ve seen Aaron Judge get booed here before, too. Who am I? That’s a three-time MVP.”
Chisholm’s reference to Aaron Judge is a heavy one. Judge, the reigning two-time American League MVP who also claimed the award in 2022, has been booed frequently during slumps. Even in the 2022 postseason, the same year he belted 62 home runs to set the American League single-season record, Judge went 1-for-16 in an American League Championship Series sweep at the hands of the Astros and was booed. Back then, even Astros closer Ryan Pressly said he and his teammates were shocked to see Judge treated that way by a home crowd.
Houston’s ‘Pissed Off’ Reliever and the Fan Backlash
Fast forward four years, and that same “shock” might be hitting close to home for the Astros. Just last week, Houston fans gave their own team similar treatment, booing them at home during their wild-card round sweep by the Chicago White Sox. After losing Game 1 of that series, Astros reliever Bennett Sousa, who was jeered after giving up a couple of runs on two wild pitches, didn’t hold back. He told The Athletic that Houston fans were “spoiled” by the team’s success over the past decade, and that he “was pretty pissed off” about the fans’ reaction. Sousa issued an apology through The Athletic the very next day.
Astros manager Joe Espada tried to calm the waters before Game 2 of the series, acknowledging both sides. “The way I see it, I understand both sides,” Espada said. “There’s frustration. Our players and the fans have the right to also show their emotions, and I get it. But one thing I do know is that our players love our fans. We respect our fans. We need our fans. We need the energy from our fans. We feed off that. We’re going to move on, but I do want our fans to know that we love them and we need them. They’re part of what we are trying to accomplish here. They’re part of our family.”
As Jazz Chisholm enters free agency, the raw emotions from this playoff exit and the crowd’s reaction certainly won’t be forgotten. Meanwhile, the Astros and their fans need to navigate their own frustrations if they hope to rebuild that connection. For both clubs, the question of what fans owe their struggling playoff teams, and what players owe back, remains wide open as the offseason looms.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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