The Yankees had 3 home games against the Baltimore Orioles, the team chasing them for the American league Eastern Division title.
The Yankees only had to win one of them to clinch that title. They did.
The games they lost, they looked pretty bad. The game they won, they looked like a team worthy of the Division title, and plenty more.
On Tuesday night, the Yankees found out that Nestor Cortés was injured, and would be out for at least the rest of the regular season. Clarke Schmidt started that night, and didn't pitch well. Aaron Judge hit his 56th home run, but the Yankees lost, 5-3.
Wednesday night was worse. Marcus Stroman got shelled, and didn't get out of the 4th inning. It didn't help that, after he loaded the bases with nobody out in the 1st inning, Jasson Domínguez misplayed a fly ball that cleared the bases. A 9th-inning comeback, including Judge's 57th homer, wasn't enough, as the Yankees lost, 9-7.
At this point, with 1 win still needed to clinch, and with the last team we have to face in the regular season, the Pittsburgh Pirates, having improved pitching, a Yankee Fan could be excused for thinking, "Uh-oh... "
And for 5 innings last night, each team's ace, Gerrit Cole and Corbin Burnes, pitched really well. The only run came on a home run by Giancarlo Stanton in the 2nd inning. But after 5 innings and only 69 pitches, Oriole manager Brandon Hyde took Burns out. Why? To save him for the postseason? (The Orioles have clinched a Wild Card berth.)
Big mistake, and the Yankees took advantage of it. They scored 6 runs in the 6th inning, to put the game away. Later, Aaron Judge hit his 58th homer, and Alex Verdugo added one. Yankees 10, Orioles 1.
As John Sterling would say, "Ballgame over! American League Eastern Division over! Yankees win! Theeeeeeeeeeee Yankees win!"
With all the crap we've been through, yes, this title is worth celebrating. For one day. Then, we move on.
And so, with 93 wins, and 3 games left, the Yankees need to win only 1 to clinch the top seed in the American League Playoffs, as we own the tiebreaker over the Cleveland Guardians. The Los Angeles Dodgers have won 95, and the Philadelphia Phillies have won 94: If we win the Pennant, and play either of those teams in the World Series, they'll have home-field advantage. Any other National League team, and it would be us.
Division Title 22 (21, really, because MLB doesn't count being in 1st place when the 1994 season ended) is in the books. Pennant 41 and Title 28 remain to be won.
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