October bound: Yankees clinch postseason berth with win over Blue Jays

Sep 23, 2017

Although Yankees' manager Joe Girardi and his players have not shifted their focus away from attempting to claim an American League East crown which is slightly out of the reach, the club still had a reason to celebrate its season accomplishments on Saturday afternoon. With a 5-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, New York (86-68) clinched a berth in the postseason for the second time since 2012. Should the AL wild card standings remain in tact for the remainder of the year, the Yankees will play host to the Minnesota Twins in a one-game playoff at Yankee Stadium on Oct. 3. "It's an amazing feeling. Not a lot of people gave us a chance to get here to this point," Girardi told YES Network's Meredith Marakovits after the game. "The thanks goes to all the coaching staff, the players, the training staff. [Owner] Hal [Steinbrenner] allowed us to sign the free agents. You look at the trades that [general manager] Brian Cashman and his office did, the draft choices by [farm director] David Oppenheimer, and what the minor league staff raised in these kids, [VP of player development] Gary Denbo just giving us a complete team. There's so much credit to go around, and these guys went out and did it." As it turns out, 2017 was not a pseudo-rebuild, and wins became more than gravy. Despite finishing with a Grapefruit League-best 24-9 record during spring training, FiveThirtyEight.com projected the Yankees to win just 80 games this season, with a 27-percent chance to reach the postseason, a 14-percent chance to win the division, and a two-percent chance to win the World Series. With eight regular season games remaining, New York owns a run differential of plus-183, which is ranked the second-highest in all of baseball (Cleveland Indians: plus-232). Their commendable lineup and pitching rotation have been led by youngsters Aaron Judge (25-years-old) and Luis Severino (23), and both have also emerged as legitimate AL MVP and Cy Young candidates. “It’s hard to say where we’d be without them, but I know we wouldn’t [have] the record that we have if they weren’t here obviously,” Girardi told the New York Daily News. “Their contributions have been really, really big for us over the course of the year. When you have young players and the light turns on, they can do some special things — and that’s what we’ve seen from these two.” Entering Saturday night, the Yankees trail the Boston Red Sox (90-64) by four games for first place in the AL East. A division title would be a difficult hill to climb for New York in such little time, but Girardi is still pleased with how his players -- both young and old -- have defied some of the projections made by baseball's pundits. "We believed in ourselves, and that's the only thing that's really important when you go into a season," Girardi told YES. "Not what other people and people predict that you're going to do. I knew there was a talent in that room and you look at how we won today, you know a trade to get Sonny Gray, we used our prospects to get him. You get a three-run home run by Greg Bird, a young player. I mean, just outstanding. Again, it's a combination of everyone and we believed." Come October, the Yankees will appear in the playoffs for the 53rd time in franchise history. Below are videos of players' reactions to clinching a postseason berth, courtesy of YES.

Didi Gregorius

"We never quit."
- Didi Gregorius pic.twitter.com/JdH7JaunD2
Aaron Judge: We've been talking about this moment for quite a long time. pic.twitter.com/5YBvL8wMmY
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 24, 2017
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 23, 2017

Aaron Judge

Aaron Judge: We've been talking about this moment for quite a long time. pic.twitter.com/5YBvL8wMmY
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 24, 2017

Brett Gardner

Brett Gardner: It's been a special year. pic.twitter.com/a91gD4XTuG
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 23, 2017

CC Sabathia

CC Sabathia: It's time to TURN IT UP. pic.twitter.com/Ax6kzQDW3I
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 23, 2017

Sonny Gray

Sonny Gray: We show up to win EVERY DAY! pic.twitter.com/WI4Tr2XsGE
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 23, 2017

Greg Bird

Greg Bird's feeling good as the Yankees head to the postseason. pic.twitter.com/nYe05lk0Dz
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 23, 2017

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