It turns out that Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. is perfectly happy playing the role of playoff villain.
Chisholm made headlines after New York lost Game 2 of its AL Division Series to the Royals when he said they “just got lucky.” When he returned to Kansas City for Game 3 on Wednesday night, the sellout crowd of 40,312 reminded him of his words by booing him every time he touched the ball or came up to bat.
“I loved every single second of it. I love it. It gets my juices flowing,” Chisholm said after the Yankees won 3-2, putting them close to reaching the American League Championship Series. “I’ve never seen anyone boo a bum. It gets us going. That is the reaction I wanted, and it got our juices flowing. Sounded like I got to a lot of people.”
Luck wasn’t on Chisholm’s side that night—he went 0 for 4 with a strikeout. But the Yankees still won thanks to an eighth-inning homer by Giancarlo Stanton and a strong performance from their bullpen, which managed to hold the Royals scoreless for 4 1/3 innings.
This silenced the excited crowd that was witnessing the Royals’ first home playoff game in almost a decade.
New York will look to secure its place in the American League Championship Series with Gerrit Cole pitching on Thursday night.
As for Chisholm, he is just the latest Yankees player to face the anger of Kansas City fans.
Those who remember the 2012 All-Star Game at Kauffman Stadium know how much fans booed Robinson Cano for snubbing Royals slugger Billy Butler when selecting teams for the Home Run Derby. Royals fans continued to boo Cano for years whenever he returned to Kansas City.
Chisholm seems completely fine with that possibility for his future.
“He loves it. He enjoys it,” Stanton said. “You get the crowd into it and get him distracted on something, and he’ll be alright.”
