At the start of the week the New York Yankees needed to just win one game to clinch a wild card spot in the American League, but it took them four games to do so after Thursday's victory. The Texas Rangers also clinched a playoff berth last night with a win over the Los Angeles Angels.
New York dropped the first three games of the series against the Boston Red Sox, which was beginning to put pressure on the Yanks. Losses from Masahiro Tanaka, Ivan Nova and Michael Pineda raised further questions, but CC Sabathia's outing last night put those worries on hold for a moment.
Sabathia's outing during a rainy night in the Bronx propelled the Yankees to their first postseason berth since 2012 and gave the franchise its 10,000th win. The left-hander surrendered one earned run on six hits and three walks over five innings and then relievers Adam Warren (3 IP, 1 H) and Dellin Betances (1 IP, 2 K) shut the door on the Red Sox to avoid the sweep.
The 4-1 victory improved New York to 87-72 and gave the club a three-game lead in the wild card race over the Houston Astros. The Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Angels are one game behind the Astros and remain very much alive. The Yankees need to win one more game to clinch home-field advantage for the AL Wild Card Game.
Carlos Beltran homered in the second inning and Brendan Ryan hit an RBI single to put New York up 2-0 in the second inning. Boston cut the lead in half with a Mookie Betts RBI single in the fifth, but home runs from rookies Greg Bird and Rob Refsnyder in the seventh and eighth innings sealed the deal.
As for the Rangers (87-72), they currently lead the AL West by three games and will need one more win to clinch the division. They've staged an amazing second half comeback and supplanted the Astros as division leaders earlier this month.
Last night they guaranteed themselves a spot in the playoffs with a 5-3 win over the Angels thanks to a solid outing from Derek Holland (6 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 3 BB) and a big night from third baseman Adrian Beltre (2-for-3 with one run scored and three RBIs).
First-year manager Jeff Banister is arguably a frontrunner for the AL Manager of the Year award after his work with the Rangers in 2015.
Check out their clinching moment below:
