Forget the 50/50 club.
Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. has a much bigger goal for the remainder of the season.
“To win the World Series,” Chisholm said after Sunday’s 8-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in the Bronx. “That’s the only goal I’ve got right now.”
Chisholm set the bar high in spring training when he shared aspirations to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases — a single-season feat achieved only once (by Los Angeles Dodgers sensation Shohei Ohtani in 2024) in MLB history.
At the time, Chisholm was a few months removed from a 2025 campaign in which he hit 31 homers with 31 steals in only 130 games.
This season hasn’t gone as planned for Chisholm, an impending free agent who is hitting .220 with 18 homers, a .695 OPS and 34 stolen bases in 121 games.
But the two-time All-Star offered reminders over the weekend of how impactful he can be if he’s able to catch fire during the season’s stretch run.
In Sunday’s series-clinching victory, the 28-year-old Chisholm legged out a key bunt single during the Yankees’ decisive three-run rally in the sixth inning. Then in the seventh, Chisholm clubbed a two-run home run that served as the dagger.
Or, as Yankees manager Aaron Boone described it, “Small ball. Big ball. Jazz ball.”
“You still feel like it’s in there for him to get hot at the most important time of the year,” Boone said of Chisholm, who hit .242 with an .813 OPS in 2025.
“He hasn’t had that stretch, that run, of two, three, four, six weeks where he’s kind of a carrier. He can do so many things to take over a game on both sides of the ball, and today was a peek into that.”
Acquired two years ago in a midseason trade with the Miami Marlins, Chisholm is weeks away from his third postseason with the Yankees.
Chisholm is hitting .194 (12-for-62) with two homers and a .614 OPS in August, but Sunday marked his second consecutive multi-hit game.
Perhaps most notably, Sunday’s home run came against left-handed reliever Brendon Little. The lefty-swinging Chisholm has scuffled against left-handed pitching this season, posting a .655 OPS.
“I feel like he’s controlling the [strike] zone a little better. I think he feels better at the plate with what he wants to do,” said left fielder Cody Bellinger, who scored Sunday on Chisholm’s home run.
“He’s such a threat. He gets on base. He steals bases. He scores runs. He can go hit the long ball. He’s such a huge part of this lineup, and it’s always good to see him have some really good success.”
Chisholm has a prime opportunity to build on that success this week, when the Houston Astros are set to start a right-hander in every game of their three-game series in the Bronx, beginning Tuesday night.
Even with his struggles, Chisholm entered Monday’s off-day ranked fourth in the majors in stolen bases. His 18 homers ranked second in the American League among primary second basemen.
More important than the numbers, though, will be what Chisholm does to help the Yankees reach their — and his — ultimate goal.
“It gets frustrating sometimes, but I have such great teammates in the clubhouse that I just keep my head on a swivel,” Chisholm said of his 2026 season.
“They just help me go on the field and forget about it and … go and play defense as best as I can, go run the bases as best as I can when I get on. Just reminding me of the talent I have and the things that I’ve done before.”