HOUSTON, TEXAS – APRIL 25: Jazz Chisholm Jr. #13 of the New York Yankees stands on deck during the first inning against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park on April 25, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Jack Gorman/Getty Images)
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The Toronto Blue Jays would have liked to see their series opener with the New York Yankees look more like their matchup from last year’s playoffs. Instead, they got a taste of their own medicine courtesy of the rival.
After returning to the Bronx for the first time since besting the Yankees in four games in the American League Division Series, the Blue Jays’ struggles of this season continued.
“Two-hundred and twenty-two days later, the Yankees were looking for a teaspoon of revenge. Got a ladle of it, actually,” the Toronto Star’s Rosie DiManno wrote after the Blue Jays’ opening loss. “The Yankees, coming off a dismal 2-7 away swing, were certainly intent on putting their one-sided knockout by the Jays in the American League Division Series last October in the rearview mirror.”
New York Yankees’ All-Star Infielder Sends Toronto Blue Jays Message
The Blue Jays have plenty to reflect on after the opening loss, not to mention a season that has not met expectations, but perhaps the sharpest dagger of the game came courtesy of Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. In the seventh inning, he hit a two-run homer off of the foul pole to take the lead.
And following the game, Chisholm noted that he and some of his Yankees teammates are focused on avenging their playoff loss to the Blue Jays from last season.
“I feel like, especially losing to them in the playoffs, we gotta have a different mindset when it comes to them,” Chisholm told reporters, according to the New York Daily News’ Gary Phillips. “Every time we see them, it’s like we have that feeling.”
New York Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm Sends 4-Word Toronto Blue Jays Challenge
Chisholm did seem to tap into a new mindset for the performance, as he’s been struggling at the plate this season following his All-Star campaign for the Yankees last year. He is slashing just .237/.316/.379 and that home run was just his fifth in a contract season in which he expected to slug 50 longballs.
And following the big moment against his team’s division rival, Chisholm added a four-word challenge for the Blue Jays.
“We owe you something,” Chisholm said, per Phillips.
Though the Yankees haven’t necessarily proven they are the better team yet, that challenge certainly added some bulletin board material to the ongoing rivalry.
The Blue Jays and Yankees have plenty of games to go, including several more against each other, before the playoffs begin. But if the two American League East division contenders do meet again in the postseason, it seems they will be carrying some intense recent history into a potential rivalry series.