Surging Yankees open collection with Orioles nonetheless in working for AL East

The New York Yankees know they will be hosting postseason games next week, but they still would like to skip ahead to the American League Division Series.

Tied for the lead in the AL East, the Yankees will aim for their sixth straight win and hope to get some outside help on Friday night when they host the Baltimore Orioles.

The Yankees (91-68) are tied with the Toronto Blue Jays for the division lead after trailing by five games on Sept. 16.

The Blue Jays, who host the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday, won eight of 13 meetings in the season series to claim the tiebreaker from New York. The Yankees must get one more win than Toronto to claim their fourth division title in eight seasons under manager Aaron Boone.

At worst, the Yankees would end up with the top AL wild card and be home for a three-game series starting on Tuesday.

“Great, but that’s not the world we’re even living in right now,” Boone said of clinching at least the first wild-card spot. “It’s like we need to try and win every game and that’s our focus and keeping it like that.”

New York has eight wins in its past nine games and 22 in its past 30 after completing a three-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox with a 5-3 victory on Thursday.

The Yankees struggled in clutch situations for portions of the game, stranding 11 and going 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position. However, Giancarlo Stanton hit a go-ahead, bases-clearing double to give New York a 4-3 lead in the fifth inning.

Aaron Judge collected two more hits and reached base four times thanks to two more intentional walks. He enters the final weekend with a major-league-best .330 batting average, putting him 17 points ahead of Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson.

Baltimore (75-84) has 14 wins in its past 22 games after ending its home schedule by rallying for a 6-5 victory over the Rays on Thursday afternoon. Rookie Dylan Beavers belted a walk-off homer on the first pitch of the ninth inning after rookie Coby Mayo hit a tying two-run shot in the eighth.

“It was awesome, especially going down early,” Beavers said. “We battled back. We didn’t roll over. We kept fighting in that game.”

The Orioles played without rookie Samuel Basallo and Jackson Holliday. Basallo is day-to-day after getting hit by a pitch on the right wrist on Wednesday, while Holliday missed the past two games due to knee soreness.

The Yankees are 6-4 this season against the Orioles. New York won three of four meetings last week in Baltimore but was held to one hit in six scoreless innings on Sept. 19 by Trevor Rogers (9-2, 1.35 ERA), who pitches the series opener on Friday. Tomoyuki Sugano and Kyle Bradish will start the following two games.

“I think they’re good,” Boone said about the Orioles. “That’s what they’ve shown over the last three months or so.”

Rogers is 1-0 with a 1.42 ERA in three career starts against the Yankees. The left-hander is riding a team-record streak of allowing two runs or fewer in 15 straight starts. The turnaround occurred after he posted a 7.11 ERA in four starts last year following a trade from Miami and injured his knee ahead of the 2025 season.

“He’s been unbelievable,” Baltimore’s Ryan Mountcastle said. “Just feels like every time he steps out there, it’s six, seven (innings), one run, no runs. It’s unbelievable.”

Will Warren (8-8, 4.35 ERA) will oppose Rogers again after allowing three runs, one earned, on four hits in 5 1/3 innings last week. The right-hander is 0-2 with a 4.64 ERA in his past four starts and 0-2 with a 4.20 ERA in three career starts against Baltimore, all of them this year.

–Field Level Media