And so we came to the last day of the season…

Not only did the Yankees need to win to clinch the bye through the first round of the playoffs, but they needed the Toronto Blue Jays to lose in their final game – against the Tampa Bay Rays, who had struggled almost as much in 2025 as the Yankees’ opponents on the final day – the Baltimore Orioles.

For the Yankees, it would be Luis Gil on the mound. This was a role that indicated to him that if the Yankees didn’t bypass the first round of those playoffs, he might not even make the roster for the Wildcard series. This then was a crucial game for him as he sought to show that he was worth a relief role and a spot on the roster as a starter for the second series.

Meanwhile, Kyle Brandish would be playing his last game of the season for Baltimore and an opportunity to improve on his 1-1 record in 2025 as he closed out his fourth year in the Majors.

The logic of this final day meant that all games had to start at the same time – so, for the Yankees this meant a 3:09 first pitch and Gil went straight to work dominating the Oriole batters. First was Jackson Holliday who hit a flyball into rightfield which was cleanly taken by Aaron Judge. The second hitter, Jordan Westburg, followed this routine and once again Judge returned the compliment. 2 outs. Gunnar Henderson decided to change things up a little by hitting to leftfield where Cody Bellinger was waiting to catch the ball and end the top of the first.

The bottom of the first saw the Yankees take an early advantage. Trent Grisham, who knew that this might be his last regular season game for the Yankees – he would become a free agent whenever the Yankees exited the playoffs – looked subdued and was called out on strikes. But with just that one out, Ben Rice lofted one on a fly ball to centerfield which cleared the fence and the Yankees gained that breathing space. 1-0.

There was little more contributed though as first Judge hit a grounder which was easily taken by Westburg and thrown over to Coby Mato to complete the out. Mayo played the same role in the final out of the first with Bellinger hitting an energetic roller to Holliday.

There was no sign of Baltimore coming back into it in the second with Tyler O’Neill (flyout to Bellinger), Adley Rutschman (groundout 4-3), and Ryan Mountcastle (flyball to Bellinger) going down in order.

In the bottom of the second, the Yankees also failed to score, but at least they put a second in their hits column. However, aside from a single from Anthony Volpe with two outs, all three batters struck out swinging – Giancarlo Stanton, Austin Wells, and Ryan McMahon.

In the third, the Orioles put a runner on the board, but it needed Gil to walk Dylan Beavers to make that change in the way things were heading. It must also be noted that a little while later after Colton Cowser had struck out swinging, Beavers was to provide his own undoing as he took off for second, only for Wells’ throw to Jose Caballero to stop him in his tracks. The third out came when Mayo hit a flyball to Bellinger – the leftfielder seemed to be everywhere this afternoon.

The Yankees couldn’t achieve anything in their half of the third and this was to prove their undoing – at least temporarily.

They reached the bottom of their batting line-up with Caballero striking out, and the guys at the top of the order gave way easily too. Grisham moved to 0-for-2 as he popped out to Mayo and Rice who had earlier given them the lead, also hit a little pop up but this time to Henderson.

And so to the 4th, and with the Orioles also heading to the top of their batting order for the second time, there seemed to be no reason for any optimism when Holliday grounded out to Rice, but then everything began to turnaround. Westburg’s 17th homer of the season came on a flyball to centerfield and then Henderson did similarly (also his 17th of the season) although the flight of the ball this time went a little further over to right and soon everything was heading in a different direction. 2-1 to Baltimore.

O’Neill then gave the Orioles their third consecutive hit with a single that eluded Volpe at short, but then Gil was able to take control again as he got Rutschman to ground out to Rice (moving O’Neill up to second) before Mountcastle struck out swinging.

It was time for the Yankees to see if they could up their game to meet the challenge, and indeed they could. First Judge hit a single to leftfield, then Bellinger copied that also to left, and to leftfielder Beavers evident frustration Stanton was able to hit a carbon copy which brought Judge home and moved Bellinger to second. 2-2.

There would seem to be no reason now that the Yankees could not open a clear lead with runners on first and second and no outs, but the lower half of the Yankees’ line-up cannot be relied upon. all they could achieve was three strikeouts. Wells went swinging, Volpe added a foul tip and then there was more errant swinging from McMahon.

And so, as we headed into the 5th, the Yankees seemed to have lost whatever momentum they had gained. And the Orioles were looking punch-drunk. Despite a walk for Beavers, who had spent the last half inning chasing around his section of the oufield, they had nothing else to add. Three groundouts followed with the first two going in the direction of first baseman Rice and the third to the shortstop Volpe.

The Orioles decided that they could at least change up their pitching with Keegan Akin coming on in place of Brandish. The fresh arm didn’t start well, walking Caballero, who was soon to take off towards second for his 49th successful steal of the season. This was followed by another walk – this time for Grisham – but just as Yankees seemed to be settling into a positive frame of mind, there was a suggestion that the Orioles had caught Caballero off base. The umps found in the Yankees’ favour but I have to say that if there was any lingering suggestion in the opposing coaches’ minds these days, I would if I was them, appeal. The umpires are almost guaranteed to find against the Yankees and Boone eventually. And so they did. And so the onfield call was oveturned once more. Caballero was out, and so this nonsense goes on. All that remained were lineouts for Rice and Judge to sew up the Yankees’ time at bat.

In the 6th, the Yankees decided also to make a pitching change. Fernando Cruz was on, but like Akin he did not do well against the first batters he faced. Westburg took a single to centerfield and then Cruz gave up a walk to Henderson. But the first positive sign came when O’Neill hit in to a ground out. This moved Westburg to third and O’Neill was safe at irst but at least Henderson was out at second. Recovery was ahead though for Cruz as another fielders’ chice was even more beneficial with Rutschman being allowed to arrive safely at first so the combination of Cruz and Wells could take Westgurg out at home. The third out came with a flyout by Mountcastle to Grisham.

The Orioles third pitcher on the day was Dean Kremer and despite giving up a walk to Stanton, he dealt with the Yankees’ middle order with little difficulty. When Stanton was walked, there was already one out with Bellinger having hit a flyout to left, and then with Slowpoke Stanton on first, Wells struck out swinging and a grounder from Volpe became a fielders’ choice with the inevitable outcome that Stanton was out at second.

Another player who might have been his last regular season game for the Yankees was Luke Weaver who entered next to take charge of the mound. He too will become a free agent when the Yankees finish their post-season activities. I would like to see the Yankees re-sign both Weaver and Grisham (and Bellinger should he opt out of his current contract), but let’s not be fooling ourselves that we have the ear of a Cashman or a Steinbrenner.

It must be noted, however, that there have been times this season when Weaver’s form has been uneven. Today was one of the good games. First, he got Beavers called out on strikes. Then Cowser struck out swinging. Finally, Mayo grounded out to Weaver himself who tossed it over to Rice to completer the out and the top half of the inning.

The bottom of the 7th started with McMahon striking out on a foul tip. Next up would have been Caballero, but the Yankees decided to withdraw the flamboyant second baseman for the equally flamboyant, Jazz Chisholm Jr. who had been warming the bench since being hit-by-pitch in a previous game. Chisholm should have perhaps been given more rest as he struck out swinging. Third out was also a strike out as the struggling Grisham advanced to 0-for-3 on the afternoon.

Chisholm took over at second, despite his aches and pains, and Weaver was replaced by Devin Williams, yet another player who will be out-of-contract when the playoffs come to a close for the Yankees. Let me not hesitate in saying that if I don’t see Williams back in the Pinstripes beyond 2025, I will not be disappointed. he started by giving up a single to Holliday, but then recovered to close out the inning by getting Westburg to flyout and Henderson and O’Neill to hit into groundouts. This will be more fuel for those who point out how much better Williams has been in the second half of the season. I maintain my position by pointing out that if it wasn’t for all the saves that Williams has blown, we wouldn’t now be a few innings from wondering whether the Yankees can get clear blue sky between them and the Blue Jays.

Finally, in the bottom of the 8th, the hope of that blue sky seemed to be present all around Yankee Stadium. Ben Rice who had given the Yankees the lead in the first inning, now restored it in the 8th. He hit a flyball to left centerfield and it was 3-2.

This meant, ironically, that Devin Williams who for my money had been the least reliable pitcher all season long was the winning pitcher of record in the final game of the season unless Baltimore could make a second comeback in the 9th. The Yankees increased the likelihood of this being the case when both Judge and Bellinger hit into 5-3 groundouts. For no logical reason that I can figure the Orioles decided with two outs to bring in another reliever with Kade Strowd replacing Garcia who had recovered since giving up that inning opening home run to Rice. Strowd got Stanton out on a grounder that was hit towards Henderson and the game moved into the 9th.

The Yankees made two changes to heighten the likelihood of a win – David Bednar came in to to seek the save, and the defensively superior Paul Goldschmidt took over at first for Rice, the hero who had hit two homers.

Rutschman opened the inning by taking a walk on 6 pitches and then was replaced by the faster Jorge Mateo, who entered as a pinch-runner. The next play made things a little more complicated for the Yankees’ hopes of a win. Mountcastle grounded into a force out, when he hit towards McMahon at third who threw over to Chisholm to complete the first out on Mateo. However, Chisholm blew the chance of a doubleplay when his throwing error allowed Mountcastle to move up a base to second. It was time for Bednar to tidy house as he has been doing in exemplary fashion all through the second half of the season. He got both Beavers and Cowser to strike out swinging, ending the game and leading to on-field celebrations to mark a win, if not the crucial business of passing Toronto in the standings.

Whilst it was 3-2 to New York at the Stadium, it was Toronto 13 Tampa 4 in Canada, and the Yankees’ fate was to play in the first round of the playoffs.

Next up, then, would be the Yankees against their old rivals, the Boston Red Sox, in the Wild Card series.