Led by Gerrit Cole, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge, Yankees clinch AL East in style

NEW YORK – All that sparkling wine, on ice since Tuesday, was swiftly delivered to the Yankees’ clubhouse during the latter stages of Thursday night’s game.

Capping a four-RBI night, Giancarlo Stanton’s three-run double highlighted a six-run sixth inning at Yankee Stadium, where the home crowd joyously celebrated an AL East-clinching 10-1 win.

Adding to the festive feel against the Baltimore Orioles, ace Gerrit Cole was delivered a standing ovation for his 6.2 scoreless innings by 42,022 fans, while Aaron Judge was serenaded with more “M-V-P’’ chants.

Aaron Judge: Yankees were hungry after 2023 failure

Winding down an incredible offensive year, Judge’s seventh-inning, two-run shot was his 58 ^th of the year and his fifth homer in the last five games – tying a personal career mark.

As the Yankees captain told O’s catcher Adley Rutschman the other day, “we’ll probably be seeing you down the road,’’ which might be next week.

But the Yankees were busy drinking in the moment during Thursday night's clinching party, celebrating their first division title since 2022.

"This team was hungry. It goes back to not making the playoffs last year,'' said Judge, shouting above a raucous, beer-and-champagne soaked clubhouse full of giddy teammates.

That misstep in 2023 was fuel for "making changes'' and improving in 2024, as the Yankees used a mentality of "playing with a chip on our shoulder'' to unseat the reigning AL East champion Orioles.

"Last year was a humbling experience,'' said Cole. "It reminds you the game’s really hard and this season was hard for us as well, even though we clinched here with a few games to go.''

After a scorching start through mid-June and a lengthy period where the Yanks basically played .500 baseball, "we weathered our ups and downs,'' said Cole. "And we put ourselves in position to play good baseball'' in October.

"We knew what type of group we had in here,’’ said Judge. “It’s going to take all of us in this room to seal the deal. We’re just glad we won the division and put ourselves in a good spot for the postseason.’’

Yankees could meet the Orioles in October

Other than a Stanton solo home run, all of the Yankees’ Thursday night damage came against Baltimore’s bullpen after O’s ace Corbin Burnes exited after five innings (to stay fresh for postseason).

In victory, the Yankees (93-66) gained instant entry to the best-of-five AL Division Series, beginning Oct. 5 in the Bronx, while the second place Orioles (88-71) must first survive a wild card round.

And the playoff-bound O’s would be a dangerous October opponent, having gone 8-5 against the Yanks in the regular season, including two wins in this just-completed three-game set.

"We believed we were going to do it in this room, but there's lot of respect for that club over there,'' Cole said of Baltimore. "They're definitely a threat.''

Baltimore's 32-20 record within the tough AL East tops the Yanks' 26-26 mark, but "I feel like we’ve been through a lot already as a team this year,'' manager Aaron Boone said of club that's "battle-tested for what's ahead.''

Mostly, the Yankees will have time to rest and plan after Sunday’s regular season finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates, with four days off until the ALDS.

Yankees' next goal: Securing best record

But there’s still the goal of claiming the AL’s best record and home field advantage through the AL Championship Series, if they advance that far.

To secure the league’s best mark, the Yankees’ magic number is two over the Cleveland Guardians; any combination of Yankees wins and Guardians losses adding up to two would do it for the Yanks.

And having that home field luxury would be an important advantage for a franchise seeking its first pennant since 2009.

This week brought the bitter news that lefty starter Nestor Cortes, poised to be a key contributor in any pitching role, might be lost for the year due to a strained left flexor.

But the Yanks, collectively, might be healthier than at any point this season, with Anthony Rizzo back in the lineup, Cole and Clarke Schmidt back in the rotation and Ian Hamilton back in the bullpen.

“Roster wise, (we) feel like we’re as deep as we’ve been at any time of the year,’’ Boone said this week. “And hopefully, that serves us well.’’

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Led by Gerrit Cole, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge, Yankees clinch AL East in style