After officially clinching their postseason spot on Tuesday, Sept. 23, a series sweep of the Chicago White Sox gave the New York Yankees a guaranteed home series in the Wild Card round. Now four games up on the Boston Red Sox and five on the Detroit Tigers with just three to play, the Yankees have pulled away enough to guarantee that they’ll be hosting games at Yankee Stadium in October.
New York is now tied with the Toronto Blue Jays for the AL East lead, after their sweep and the Blue Jays two losses to the Red Sox this week. Both teams enter the final series of the season with a record of 91-68.
“It’s great, but that’s not the world we’re even living in right now,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said about clinching home field. “We need to try to win every game and that’s our focus. Now that you say that, great, but it’s on to Baltimore now.”
New York will finish it’s season with three games against the Baltimore Orioles, while Toronto will play the Tampa Bay Rays. Whichever team wins more games this weekend will clinch the AL East and get a bye through the Wild Card round to the ALDS. The team that finishes in the top Wild Card spot will take on the Red Sox, Guardians, Tigers or Astros in a three game series.
Toronto owns the tiebreaker with New York, so if both teams win the same amount of games this weekend, the Blue Jays will win the AL East.
“We’re In It To Win It, That’s The Focus Everyday”
Boone isn’t concerned with where his team will be playing their first postseason game. All he’s focused on is putting New York in the best spot to win a game everyday.
The Yankees got off to a great start to the 2025 season, owning the top spot in the AL East for a majority of the first three months of the season. Once July hit though, Toronto started playing incredible baseball and jumped in front of New York, and have owned the division lead for the better part of three months.
The Yankees hit some rocky patches in June, July and August, but have been one of the best teams in the league in the month of September, a month where their record is 15-7 and has gotten them back into the AL East mix.
Back To October
The Yankees had a magical 2024 season, making it all the way to the World Series before they were ousted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in a gentleman’s sweep. The issues that plagued New York in the World Series – poor bullpen performances and errors – have been their same shortcomings throughout the 2025 season.
The Yankees have 92 errors, the seventh most in the MLB and their bullpen has an ERA of 4.45, the lowest of any team currently in a playoff spot. New York has slugged it’s way to wins this season, but now the question is whether they can hit enough home runs to overcome their weak points in October.
They couldn’t do it in 2024, so maybe 2025 is when everything comes together for the Yankees.
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