Yankees clinch playoff berth with victory over Mariners in 10 innings

SEATTLE -- The Yankees are back in the postseason after a one-year hiatus that, for much of the organization, seemed far longer.

Surviving an MLB-leading 13th blown save by recently demoted closer Clay Holmes – this one occurring in the eighth inning – the Yankees clinched a playoff bid Wednesday night with a 2-1 victory over the Mariners in 10 innings in front of 31,674 at T-Mobile Park.

“Getting an opportunity to punch our ticket back in the postseason after last year missing out, it means a lot,” Aaron Judge said as cheap champagne and beer sprayed all around him and throughout the visitor’s clubhouse here, the pungent mix puddling an inch deep on the tarp-covered floor. “We’ve got a special group here. The boys are definitely excited, but they know the mission ahead of them.”

That would be winning the franchise’s first World Series since its last appearance in one, which came in 2009.

But, as the time-worn cliché goes, you have to be in it to win it, and last year’s Yankees never gave themselves a chance, going 82-80 in a disaster of season that couldn’t end soon enough but did provide plenty of motivation for 2024.

Rookie Austin Wells said he noted that feeling from his veteran teammates, as early as last Sept. 1 when he was called up from the minors to make his big-league debut.

“I could tell from when I got there last year, guys were pissed off how the season had went,” Wells said. “Guys showed up early, before spring training, in Tampa and I could tell that the tone was getting set then, and it’s kind of been the mission this whole year. To get back and do what we do.”

Said Gerrit Cole of missing the playoffs: “It stuck with us a long time. As it should.”

The Yankees (89-63) may well have another celebration before this six-game trip – which includes the series-finale Thursday afternoon against the Mariners (77-75) and three games in Oakland against the A’s this weekend – comes to an end.

Wednesday night’s victory coupled with yet another loss by the spiraling Orioles, who fell again at home to the Giants, gave the Yankees a five-game lead in the AL East with 10 games to play.

“We understand it’s just the first step, but it’s an important one,” Aaron Boone said of clinching a playoff berth. “We’ve got a chance to dance now. That’s the first thing and hopefully now go win a division.”

The Yankees getting a chance to dance was a virtual lock as they entered Wednesday with a magic number of one to clinch a postseason spot. But the pitching-rich Mariners, still on the periphery of playoff contention, made it difficult, limiting the Bombers to just three hits.

Two of those came off the bat of Anthony Rizzo, whose RBI single in the second made it 1-0 and whose leadoff RBI double in the 10th off righty Collin Snider pushed ghost runner Jasson Dominguez across the plate for a 2-1 lead. It was the Yankees' first hit since Juan Soto’s two-out double in the third.

The 1-0 lead Rizzo’s first hit of the night provided lasted until Justin Turner homered with one out in the eighth off of Holmes.

Ian Hamilton allowed a leadoff single to Cal Raleigh to start what was a bizarre bottom of the 10th, putting runners at the corners. Randy Arozarena, a longtime tormenter of Yankees pitchers from his time with the Rays, struck out swinging and lost control of his bat, which helicoptered down the third-base line. Julio Rodriguez, the ghost runner, appropriately strayed from the base to dodge the bat but strayed much farther from the bag than he needed to and the alert Wells nailed him for the second out.

Hamilton struck out Turner to end it for his first save of the season, which officially made the Yankees the first AL club to qualify for October baseball.

“Missing the playoffs is not Yankee-like,” said Nestor Cortes, who turned in a second straight strong start after being reinserted into the rotation, allowing four hits and three walks over six scoreless innings in which he struck out six. “Celebrating (getting in the playoffs) in ’21, celebrating in ’22, this feeling is what it’s all about.”

With the ultimate achievement, the Yankees hope, to come.

“I’m excited about the opportunity and feel like we have as good a chance as anyone,” Boone said. “I do like our chances. When you get in that tournament, anything can happen. But I do like our team.”