A year, & clinching party, like no other

BUFFALO — There is champagne in 2020 baseball after all, just in glasses and at a distance. Hours after they left the field at Fenway Park, following a 10-2 loss, the Yankees clinched their fourth straight playoff appearance. Instead of the raucous clubhouse drenching celebrations of the past — in these days of the coronavirus pandemic — there was just a low-key gathering in the hotel lobby.

“We had a glass of champagne together in the lobby last night, and just celebrated the accomplishments and acknowledged that there’s more work to do,” Gerrit Cole said of the Sunday night celebration.

The Padres beat the Mariners, giving the Bombers their 22nd playoff berth in the last 26 years. The Yankees are now fifth in the American League, which would mean their first-round, best-ofthree game series would be against the Twins in Minneapolis.

There is still time to change that and win the right to host that series at Yankee Stadium, but Sunday night and Monday morning were about getting into the postseason.

“I’m just proud of the fact that we’re back to the dance,” Aaron Boone said. “What’s been a challenging and crazy year for everyone involved and you know that we know what our goals are, we know what our expectations are. And let’s go do it.”

The Yankees celebrated in Buffalo, where their 2020 season seemed to bottom out. The Bombers got shelled here two weeks ago. They lost 14 out of 19 after the second game of the three games against the Blue Jays and hit .500. Brian Cashman flew up, gathered his team together and before that game told them it was on them to turn it around.

The Yankees not only went 10-1 in their last 11 games, but also leaped over the Blue Jays in the standings — sweeping them last week in the Bronx.

They are playing for “homefield” advantage in the expanded playoffs, which begin Sept. 29.

The Yankees came into Buffalo this time realigning their rotation for the playoffs and thinking about the postseason player pools. It’s been a dramatic turnaround.

This year has been a rollercoaster ride for every MLB team. There was the spring training shutdown, the union and league negotiations, navigating travel and schedules in the middle of a pandemic.

The Yankees got through all that. They overcame series postponed because of outbreaks on other teams, having an i mpromptu series the players suggested in Baltimore when both teams’ opponents were sidelined by an outbreak at the beginning of the season; They had to play seven doubleheaders, three in five days at one point; And they had two games delayed, once because a drone hovering overhead and the second because a fan broke into the ballpark.

So, no one is going to take this season, albeit a pandemic-shortened 60-game regular season played in the weird vacuum without fans, for granted.

In fact, Cashman might argue this season was the hardest to navigate.

“Obviously, anybody who’s in the great game of baseball wants to be opting in on that on a yearly basis,” Cashman said Sunday on SiriusXM MLB Network Radio. “You could even argue this might be the toughest World Championship to ever win, given the circumstances we’re dealing with — not the Yankees, I am talking about the industry.

“And then the level of playoffs (you have to) navigate, to get there to be the last team standing, it’s going to be quite the accomplishment,” Cashman continued. “Somebody’s going to be really well deserving to be proud of whoever happens to win that thing.”

So Sunday night, the Yankees broke out the champagne. MLB’s health and safety protocols ruled out the usual bacchanal in the clubhouse.

“I mean not as fun as doing it in a locker room and doing the normal, postseason where you are trying to burn each other’s eyes (with champagne), but it’s still a big accomplishment,” DJ LeMahieu said. “I think we all realize that.”

They socially distanced in the lobby and raised a glass to surviving and advancing to the next challenge. Monday night that was trying to get themselves some wins and earn the right to host the first round.

“I think we’re very excited to get back in the playoffs,” LeMahieu said. “And we get a chance, again, to go all the way. I think we have a pretty focused group, that’s very excited to be back in the postseason. And we’re looking to do big things.”