The New York Yankees' season ended far sooner than anyone in the Bronx expected. After a 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 3 of the American League Division Series on Wednesday night, the Yankees were swept out of the playoffs, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. did not try to hide how much it stung.

“It's very frustrating,” Chisholm told reporters after the game. “You can see on my face, you can see on everybody else's face, we're not happy. Nobody wants to go home. Have to go home and think about it for another four months before the season starts up again.”

"It's very frustrating. You can see on my face, you can see on everybody else's face we're not happy. Nobody wants to go home. Have to go home and think about it for another 4 months before the season starts up again"

– Jazz Chisholm Jr. on the Yankees being swept in the ALDS pic.twitter.com/pA6RGicez1

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) October 8, 2026

Those four months will feel even longer given how the series ended. Trailing 4-2 in the sixth inning at Yankee Stadium, Anthony Volpe drove a Griffin Jax fastball toward the left-field wall for what looked like a game-tying two-run homer. Instead, a fan in the first row reached over and touched the ball as Victor Mesa Jr. leaped at the wall.

After a review, umpires ruled spectator interference. Volpe was awarded an RBI double, George Lombard Jr. scored, and the Yankees were left a run short.

Mesa had already done damage in the top half of the inning, taking Max Fried deep for a go-ahead solo homer on the left-hander's final pitch. Fried allowed four runs over 5 2/3 innings.

New York never got the tying run home. Rays closer Bryan Baker walked a batter in the ninth before striking out Trent Grisham to send Tampa Bay to the ALCS for the third time in franchise history.

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The series slipped away from the Yankees quickly. Drew Rasmussen carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning of a 1-0 Game 1 win for the Rays. Tampa Bay then took Game 2 by a 5-2 score, capitalizing on four Yankees errors.

The early exit caps a frustrating year for a team that won 93 games but still finished 4 1/2 games behind the Rays in the AL East. It also extends the franchise's World Series drought to 17 seasons, dating back to its 2009 title.

For Chisholm and the rest of the clubhouse, there is nothing left to do but wait. The questions about what went wrong, and what needs to change, will hang over the Yankees all winter.