Yankees happy to reach ALCS, but obviously far from satisfied as they eye a World Series berth

Mission, not accomplished.

Not even close.

Even as champagne and beer were being liberally sprayed about the visitor’s clubhouse inside Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City late Thursday night after the Yankees advanced to the American League Championship Series, a common theme emerged.

“We’re in a good place, but it doesn’t mean we’re in a great place,” Giancarlo Stanton said.

The “great” being a spot in the World Series, a place the Yankees haven’t been since winning franchise title No. 27 in 2009.

Added New York City-born second-year shortstop Anthony Volpe, who grew up a Yankees fan idolizing five-time World Series champion Derek Jeter and who at no point seemed overwhelmed by his first playoff experience: “It’s just one step for us. We’re ready to keep working.”

In finally ridding themselves of the Royals in four taut ALDS games, none of which was decided by more than two runs, the Yankees did not play like the juggernaut some of Jeter’s teams did when it came to October baseball. Like those clubs that won four World Series in a five-year stretch, however, contributions came from up and down the roster.

A team Aaron Boone said on the first day of spring training was “hell-bent on being a champion” showed characteristics of being the “special” group its manager said it could be.

And that includes not being overly satisfied with a series victory over a team the Yankees were heavily favored to beat.

“There's so much baseball left. I mean, we're obviously confident, right? We're focused,” said  Gerrit Cole, who rebounded from a rough Game 1 start to throw seven mostly dominant innings in Thursday night’s series-clinching 3-1 win. “We're trying to improve the brand of baseball that we're playing as we continue to get deeper into October. Even when you're banged up, you feel the same way. That's your job. You've got to just get after the ball regardless of what you have. Certainly, with guys healthy, logically you're in a better situation, but it's baseball. It's baseball. Anything can happen. I think our mindset is just there's a lot of baseball left, and we've got to keep improving.”

Cole is chasing his first title, as are two of the clubhouse’s other leaders, Stanton and Aaron Judge. The latter is the only one of the three to be a member of all three Yankee teams to suffer ALCS losses to the Astros; in 2017, 2019 (Cole was an Astro then) and 2022.

“I don't like to look too far ahead. I'm focused on what we did this series,” Judge said. “Like I said all year, we've got a special group. The guys we acquired, [Alex] Verdugo, he came in clutch for us Game 1, Game 2. And then what Juan Soto has done for us all year. And then you go back to our core group of guys with tonight, Gerrit Cole going out there and doing his thing, shutting down a great offense . . . I always like our chances. I'm always betting on our guys, man. There's something special here. I think we got a little bit of the ghost from the old stadium, a little bit of magic there, too.”

Boone’s message to his team?

“Short and sweet. We get to go play for a pennant now,” Boone said. “You get into spring training and you want to put yourself in position to be a playoff team, win the division. Check, check. Now it's on to the ALCS. Certainly this hopefully is not the end of the road for us, and we expect more. But you've got to savor  these times, too, because to get down to the final four here and I feel like be in good shape from a team standpoint, I feel like we're playing well, I feel like we're pretty well-rounded. We're not perfect by any means, but I'll take our chances.”