The winding road — which included a hastily executed Plan B following Juan Soto bolting for Queens, a painful spring training and Gerrit Cole crusher and a strong first half before a downturn through June and July in which every physical and mental error screamed Maybe this isn’t the year — has led to October.
The Yankees, who stiff-armed offseason and regular-season concerns like they were 80-pound linebackers, are back where they seemingly always wind up.
With a ninth-inning wild pitch and a José Caballero swing, Aaron Boone’s bunch clinched an eighth postseason berth in the past nine years and 26th trip to the playoffs in the past 31 years.
Caballero’s walk-off RBI single gave the Yankees a dramatic 3-2 victory over the White Sox in front of 38,318 in The Bronx on Tuesday, ensuring the final five days of the regular season will be jockeying for position and not for an entrance.
The Yankees (89-68) hold the top wild-card spot and closed to within one game of the Blue Jays (who hold the tiebreaker) in the AL East race.
The Yankees jumped around Caballero at first base after wrapping up their 26th trip to the postseason since 1995, the most in the majors in that span and not by a little (five more than second-place Atlanta’s 21).
This being the Yankees, such statistics do not matter without a victory in their final game. But such October worries are for another day.
The Yankees, who had mounted threats but not rallies for most of the night, finally cashed in accidentally. With runners on the corners and Cody Bellinger down to his last strike in the ninth inning, White Sox lefty Brandon Eisert airmailed a full-count wild pitch to the backstop, Anthony Volpe arriving safely with the tying run.
Caballero then fought in an at-bat that included five foul balls and nine pitches, finally looping a single into center to drive in Aaron Judge and allow an exhale.
After Luis Gil was victimized by a two-run home run from Colson Montgomery in the sixth, Fernando Cruz, Tim Hill and Luke Weaver combined for three scoreless innings to keep the Yankees within reach.
Before the ninth, a few mistakes had cost them: In a sixth inning that began with the Yankees leading by one, Kyle Teel looped a ball to right-center that center fielder Trent Grisham and right fielder Judge appeared to both believe the other had. And thus neither did for a Teel single.
Three pitches later, Gil left a changeup over the middle of the plate and watched Montgomery destroy it 428 feet deep into the bleachers in right.
The Yankees could do little against Shane Smith and the first three White Sox relievers, a solid chance arriving in a tense and ultimately disappointing eighth inning.
Down one, Ben Rice singled before Giancarlo Stanton’s go-ahead home run bid died on the left field track. Jazz Chisholm Jr. then rocketed a long single into the right field corner, and after a wild pitch, the Yankees were a single away from stealing the lead.
But Amed Rosario froze on a fastball from Grant Taylor, stranding two of the nine runners the Yankees left on base.
They only had scored in the second, when a walk, steal, single, double and intentional walk added up to a single run.
With runners on second and third and one out, Grisham struck out. After the White Sox put Judge on first base, Bellinger’s fly out ended the threat.
Gil did not have his best stuff — his velocity was down and he induced just three whiffs on 37 swings — but he pitched to contact through six innings in which he was only victimized by the Montgomery swing.
