Such is life with your back too often against the wall in October.
On Tuesday, Jazz Chisholm Jr., who smoked the go-ahead home run into the second deck in right, breathed life into the Yankees.
On Wednesday, he helped bury them.
The Yankees second baseman made a critical error that led to two unearned runs and could not come through with his bat in a season-ending 5-2 heartbreaker. The Blue Jays celebrated the ALDS victory on the Yankees home turf in The Bronx.
Chisholm connected for just four hits in seven postseason games — one of those, of course, putting the Yankees in front in Game 3 of the division series — and ended his October hitting .182.
But his playoff run might be remembered for Wednesday’s seventh inning.
New York Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. reacts after he strikes out during the second inning.
The Yankees were down one run and determined to keep the contest within a swing’s distance. With one out and Ernie Clement on first base, Toronto’s Andrés Giménez sent a well-struck grounder to Chisholm, who could have fielded and flipped to Anthony Volpe to begin what would have been a frame-ending double play.
But the ball bounded off the heel of Chisholm’s glove and rolled into center field, continuing an inning in which the Blue Jays had two runners on base with one out.
“Didn’t think it was going to play the way it played,” Chisholm said. “Been thinking about that since the play happened. Still thinking about it now. At the end of the day, we got to move on eventually. I got three months to move on now.
New York Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. reacts after making an error during the 7th inning.
“I’m probably going to be thinking about this when the season starts next year.”
The misplay knocked Cam Schlittler from the game, and two batters later Devin Williams surrendered a two-run single to Nathan Lukes to give the Blue Jays a three-run edge.
The moment might have been even more frustrating for Chisholm considering the inning prior. In the sixth inning, he stepped to bat against Yariel Rodriguez with Aaron Judge on second and Giancarlo Stanton on first — the first at-bat of the Yankees’ night with a runner in scoring position and a single away from tying the game.
That single never came: Chisholm grounded the second pitch he saw harmlessly to Ernie Clement at second, ending the threat and continuing the Yankees’ offensive frustration. On a night Chisholm stepped up four times and reached base once on an eighth-inning walk, he recorded four outs because of his fourth-inning double play.
A career season for Chisholm, who moved from second base to third when the team asked, who was an All-Star and who smacked 31 home runs with 31 steals, ended on a poor note.
Bijan Robinson was a tremendous running back for the Texas Longhorns during his time in college football. Now with the Atlanta Falcons and known as one of the most exciting young players in the NFL, Robinson was an All-American and a Heisman Trophy candidate for the Longhorns. He’s uniquely qualified to talk about Texas football, and there is a lot to talk about right now.
The big storyline surrounding the program is Arch Manning and his struggles in 2025. Those struggles were highlighted by Texas’ loss to Florida, which saw him complete just 16 of 29 passes for two touchdowns and two interceptions. It was just the second multi-interception game of Manning’s college career, and he has now thrown at least one interception in all but one game this season.
Perhaps that’s why Robinson is telling him to tune everything out. There’s been a ton of noise and hype surrounding Manning ever since he emerged on the recruiting trail out of New Orleans, Louisiana. Noise and hype can be good, but things are tough right now, which is why Manning needs to focus.
“Continue to stay consistent,” was Robinson’s message to Manning via “The Rich Eisen Show” (h/t On3). “Stay consistent as much as possible. Don’t listen to the media because the media will either steer you in the right direction or it will tarnish you for your career. So, for him, always know that everyone has his back in that building. Coach (Sarkisian) and the team have his back. Everybody around him has his back. It’s not just him, it’s the whole team. The whole offense needs to come together, especially this week playing against Oklahoma.”
“Continue to stay consistent. … Don’t listen to the media because the media can either steer you in the right direction, or it’ll tarnish you for your career.”
Bijan Robinson on what his advice to Arch Manning would be ✍️
Stream @RichEisenShow on @DisneyPlus and the ESPN… pic.twitter.com/u2eOyn77Xl
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) October 8, 2025
This is a big moment for Manning, head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns. If they bounce back against No. 6 Oklahoma this weekend in the Red River Rivalry, there’s a slim chance they can still make a case for the College Football Playoff. At the very least, they’d be able to get the taste of the bad loss to Florida out of their mouths.
A win could put the Longhorns back in the CFP conversation, though, especially if they go on to beat ranked teams like Vanderbilt, Georgia and Texas A&M later on in the season. However, a loss would all but end Texas’ CFP cause. Focus will be key for the Longhorns. As Robinson puts it, they’ve got to tune out the outside noise, put their heads down and focus only on trying to beat the Sooners.
“This is going to be a really big game for, not just Texas and the program, but the individual players,” Robinson said. “These are big games for them. They’ve got to hone in, become player-led and become who they’re going to become this week. So, my advice to them is to just put their head down, stay out of the outside noise and just go on that field on Saturday and show everybody what they can do.”
