For the second straight year and eighth time in the last nine years, the Yankees will be playing postseason baseball.
The Bombers clinched a playoff spot on Tuesday night with a wild (emphasis on wild) comeback win over the lowly White Sox in the Bronx, capped off by a walk-off single from Jose Caballero, the first of his career.
The Yanks were trailing 2-1 in the ninth when singles by Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells delivered back-to-back singles, but Trent Grisham bounced into a double play on the next pitch to put New York on the brink. After an Aaron Judge intentional walk, Cody Bellinger worked the count full before Chicago reliever Brandon Eisert airmailed the payoff pitch into the netting behind home plate, allowing Volpe to score the tying run.
Caballero worked a nine-pitch at-bat before blooping the game-winning single to center, and the celebration was on. But the Yanks made it clear that there was still more work to be done, including in the regular season, as their win coupled with a Blue Jays loss to Boston pulled them within one game of pulling even in the AL East.
"The ultimate goal is to win our division. It's right there for us," Judge said as the beer and champagne flowed in the clubhouse. "We're excited about getting in, but we got bigger things ahead of us...I want it bad."
The Yanks made it clear during their postgame celebration that there were bigger goals in mind, as players like Jazz Chisholm and others pointed to the objective of winning a World Series. But before the champagne was popped, Aaron Boone told his players to enjoy the moment and the accomplishment of another October ticket, even if there are bigger tasks ahead.
"We've been through a lot already," Boone told his team as they huddled in the locker room. "This is the first box to check. We gotta get in, and we're in. Don't take that s--t for granted. We're in, but we got a lot more left to do."