With the Mariners losing on Friday night, the Yankees had a chance to clinch a playoff spot for the fifth straight season, but instead, the road to hosting the Wild Card Game got a little tougher.
With a 4-3 loss to the Rays, the Yankees’ lead for the top Wild Card spot dropped to just one game, making the final two games of the regular season even more important.
The Yanks will try and keep their focus on the field, but they can’t hide from what’s at stake.
“You gotta acknowledge it and know it’s there, but it’s nothing really productive from that,” Giancarlo Stanton said. “That doesn’t help us execute on the field…we gotta win these next two for sure. Tonight is over with. We got another one in 12 hours.”
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Stanton and the Yanks nearly made a comeback in the bottom of the ninth on Friday, which would have secured at least the second Wild Card spot, but now Saturday’s game will be critical for Jordan Montgomery and company, as the Red Sox will have two more cakewalks against the lowly Nationals.
“I’m in an out of those emotions. I’m more just trying to stay focused and be locked in,” Stanton said. “Don’t want to be bouncing around, we’re down, we’re up…just trying to stay focused and do what I can do and control what I can control up there, and try to help us win.”
The Yankees put themselves in prime position to host the Wild Card game with a successful road trip, but the work is far from over, and it only got harder after Friday’s loss.
“We want to clinch, that would be nice, but we got two more games to do that, and we control our own destiny, so it’s up to us at the end of the day,” Joey Gallo said. “Everybody’s still upbeat. It was a close loss and a really good team, and we control our own destiny. We need to go about these next two games and keep that same mentality, and we’re good.”
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