Yankees two games back of Blue Jays as Boone’s postseason record raises stakes of AL East chase
New York sits two games behind Toronto with 19 to play; Aaron Boone’s teams have fared better as division winners than as wild cards
The New York Yankees entered play Monday two games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East, placing added emphasis on the final stretch of the regular season as they prepare for a key series at Yankee Stadium beginning Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers.
The urgency stems in part from manager Aaron Boone’s postseason track record: since taking over in 2018, Boone’s Yankees have won the AL East three times and advanced to the American League Championship Series in each of those seasons, including a run to the 2024 World Series. In Boone’s four playoff appearances that came via wild-card berths, the Yankees have not advanced past the American League Division Series.
New York is all but assured of a postseason spot, but finishing atop the division would alter its postseason route and, historically under Boone, its odds of a deeper run. "We'll see," Boone said Monday when asked how crucial a first-place finish would be. "We'll see at the end, when it's all said and done, if it means anything or not."
The Yankees said they made at least one tactical adjustment this weekend that helped in their series against Toronto. During Sunday’s game, while Max Scherzer was on the mound, Ben Rice hit a three-run home run in the first inning after what the Yankees described as a successful sign-relay. Aaron Judge was at second base, Cody Bellinger motioned at first, and Rice’s homer helped New York win the series and shave a game off Toronto’s lead in the division.
Toronto manager John Schneider publicly expressed frustration after the game, saying, "They were relaying pitches. They're good at it. Major League Baseball knows the Yankees are good when they have something. Maybe I'm the only one that's going to say it publicly. But we have to do a better job of making sure we're not giving anything away." Boone defended his team’s approach, saying teams always look for edges. "Every team does something to try to gain an edge wherever they can," Boone said at a charity event in Midtown. "You create an edge and try to use it. It's a competitive world and a competitive game, and you never stop trying to get a little advantage wherever you can. If you can turn them into something, great. That's the game, just like any other part of the game you work on."
With 19 regular-season games remaining, the Yankees face a schedule that includes the three-game series with the Tigers at Yankee Stadium that begins Tuesday. How New York finishes in the division will determine whether it takes the regular-season title or enters the postseason as a wild card — a distinction that, during Boone’s tenure, has correlated with deeper playoff runs when the team finished first.
Analysts and executives around the league have emphasized the narrow margins in late-season divisional races and the tactical adjustments teams deploy to gain advantages. The Yankees’ weekend success against Toronto reduced the Blue Jays’ lead and underlined the high stakes of the remaining games in the AL East.
New York’s remaining slate will test the pitching staff and lineup depth as the club attempts to convert its wild-card certainty into a division title. The Tigers series and the final weeks of the regular season will determine whether Boone’s club enters October with the stronger postseason pathway it has enjoyed in years when it won the AL East or faces the different calculus associated with a wild-card slot.