NEW YORK — Here’s a tip of the hat to Jazz Chisholm, who’s promising the Yankees will roll over the Rays in the Division Series. Say what you want about Chisholm’s mood swings and periodic lack of focus – he speaks his mind.
In an interview with NJ.com colleague Randy Miller, in the midst of a raucous, post-Wild Card party, Chisholm said, “I’m guaranteeing” that the Rays will be the next victims.
There’s a lot to like about the Yankees’ current state of affairs — starting pitching is No. 1 on the list — but it’s the confidence that makes them dangerous. It’s not only Chisholm who’s banging the drums. He speaks for the entire franchise.
The Yankees, after all, did more than just sweep the Red Sox out of the first round; they inflicted total humiliation. The Yankees outplayed Boston in every aspect. Even manager Aaron Boone ran circles around his counterpart, Chad Tracy.
The Yankees will take that We Own The World vibe to Tropicana Field this weekend. The Division Series will be grueling and more taxing than the Wild Card Series. The Yankees won’t bat .382 against Rays pitchers as they did against Boston. Aaron Judge’s absence will have a greater impact in this series if his injured calf still isn’t 100%.
But the Yankees’ rotation is just as capable of winning low-scoring contests as it was in the back-to-back blowouts of Boston (9-0 and 9-2 in Games 1 and 2). As much as the Bleacher Creatures enjoyed watching the Yankees send the Red Sox home for the second year in a row, the Division Series will make for better drama.
All four Yankees starters are healthy and peaking. Although Boone will wait another 24 hours before announcing his rotation, it’s a certainty that Cam Schlittler, the American League’s best hurler, will throw Games 2 and 5. Gerrit Cole hasn’t pitched since Sept. 23, which means he’d be well-rested for Game 1 at the Trop on Saturday. That would mean Carlos Rodon, who’s coming off an eight-inning shutout masterpiece against the Rays on Sept. 22, would get the ball for Game 3.
It’s a formidable crew, arguably the Yankees’ best since 2009, when they won their most recent World Series. Boone wasn’t bragging when he said, “I feel great about those guys.” It was just an honest statement about finally putting the pieces together.
Three of his starters — Cole, Rodon and Max Fried — have been on the injured list at some point in 2026. Only Schlittler got through the summer without a scratch. But this was the Yankees’ plan all along: fix the broken parts in time for October and run the table.
The Red Sox were never a match for the Yankees. Despite their 14-game winning streak from July 3 to July 20 and the 32-5 run it powered between June 25 and Aug. 7, Boston looked like just another mediocre American League team compared to the Yankees.
The Red Sox’s lineup batted .119 against Schlittler and Fried, scoring just one run in the 12 1/3 combined innings they pitched.
Even Tracy had a horrible series. In both games, he pulled starters Payton Tolle and Sonny Gray at precisely the same moment — with his team trailing 1-0 in the fifth inning.
Panic was Tracy’s first mistake. The second was allowing the same reliever, Erik Miller, to fail in back-to-back situations. The lefty allowed three of the six batters he faced to reach base, including the first of Ben Rice’s two home runs on Tuesday.
Fumbling for an explanation, Tracy said, “Our bullpen’s been great all year. … I was trying to be aggressive and create tough matchups. It just didn’t work out.”
Gray was not impressed with his manager’s rationale.
“I’m the best pitcher in the American League third time through the order. I think that’s a fact,” Gray said. “I would have liked to have been trusted in that moment.”
Tracy’s gamble failed because the Yankees weren’t as vulnerable to left-handed relievers as the scouting reports suggested. Even without Judge, the Yankees were 15-for-35 against southpaws in this series. Tracy ultimately conceded, “(The Yankees) swung the bats extremely, extremely well.”
So how long does that euphoria last? Cody Bellinger, whose three-run HR in the sixth inning effectively ended the Red Sox’s season, said, “You usually give yourself one night to enjoy it. There’s an off day (Thursday), and then it’s right back at it.”
No one has any illusions about a fast or easy series against the Rays. Not even Chisholm would dare to predict a sweep. His guarantee applied to winning the best-of-five series – not going 3-0.
The Yankees are all aware of the Trop’s dangers. The Rays had the majors’ best home record (55-26) because visiting teams hate playing there.
The roof is pale-colored, making it tough to track fly balls and pop-ups. The Trop’s acoustics are just as weird. The place sounds like an indoor warehouse. And the artificial turf is hard and fast; it rewards ground ball hitters. The Rays maximize that advantage by assembling a lineup of contact specialists who had the lowest strikeout ratio in the majors.
This matters because if this best-of-five series goes to a fifth game, guess where the Yankees will find themselves?
In that very same Trop where Chisholm says — no, guarantees — the Yankees will come out on top.
I’m with him.
Yankees in five.
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