New York Yankees Make Jarring Jazz Chisholm Announcement

The New York Yankees have reached the edge of their season with a lineup change that puts Jazz Chisholm Jr. on the bench for Game 3 of the American League Division Series.

Manager Aaron Boone, looking for any spark after a flat offensive stretch against the Tampa Bay Rays, dropped Chisholm from the starting nine and handed second base to Anthony Volpe, via Underdog MLB.

New York trails the series two games to none and plays Wednesday night with elimination on the line.

The move follows a rough night in Game 2. The Yankees lost 5-2 and committed four errors, three of them in the first inning, even with right-hander Cam Schlittler on the mound.

Boone had already hinted that he might shuffle the order in search of life at the plate. Sitting Chisholm is the clearest piece of that shuffle. The infielder had started each of the Yankees’ last three playoff games and gone 2-for-9.

The rest of the card is rearranged as well.

Trent Grisham moves into the leadoff spot in center field. Ben Rice, Luis García Jr. and Cody Bellinger follow him in the order, with Rice serving as the designated hitter, García at first base and Bellinger in left. George Lombard Jr. starts at shortstop, Austin Wells catches, Spencer Jones plays right field, and José Caballero takes third base in place of Ryan McMahon and bats ninth. Max Fried gets the ball.

That order, posted ahead of the game, is a clear attempt to reset an attack that has gone quiet.

After scoring 18 runs across two games against the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card Series, New York has managed almost nothing against Tampa Bay.

Outside of two solo home runs by Rice in Game 2, the Yankees have only five hits combined in the series. The Rays have controlled the tempo, and the defensive mistakes in the first inning of Game 2 only widened the gap.

Boone’s decision does not read as a permanent verdict on Chisholm so much as a short-series adjustment. Postseason at-bats are scarce, and a 2-for-9 stretch is enough to cost a starter a night when a team is one loss from going home. V

olpe’s return to the infield also gives Boone a different defensive look at second after the error-filled opener of the series. Caballero’s insertion at third points the same way: cleaner defense, and a different bat at the bottom of the order.

Whether any of it matters will be settled quickly. Fried has to keep the game close, and the top of the order — Grisham, Rice, García and Bellinger — has to produce the contact that has been missing.

If the Yankees fall behind early again, the benching of Chisholm will be remembered as one more adjustment that arrived too late. If they win, it becomes the first step in a series that is still theoretically alive, if only barely.