Winning eight straight games for the first time this season may result in the New York Yankees securing a division title and the best record in the American League.
With the AL East still undecided, the Yankees conclude the regular season Sunday when they host the Baltimore Orioles.
New York (93-68) and the Toronto Blue Jays will be tied for the division lead for the fifth straight day when the teams take the field at the same time. About two hours after the Yankees secured a 6-1 win, the Blue Jays kept the division deadlocked with their 5-1 home victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Yankees fell behind in the race when they lost six of seven to Toronto and lost eight of 13 overall meetings with the Blue Jays, who last won the AL East in 2015. New York was 6 1/2 games out on Aug. 23 and five behind as recently as Sept. 16.
New York is 24-8 in its past 32 games since a 12-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox and 10-1 in its past 11 contests since a 7-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Sept. 15.
“I feel like the guys are doing a good job of just taking care of what we can take care of,” New York third baseman Ryan McMahon said. “We gotta go win tomorrow and that’s all we can really control, and then hopefully the dominoes fall our way.”
The Yankees are entering the final day as sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are heating up. Judge homered for the ninth time in 16 games Saturday and drove in three runs, giving him an MLB-leading .331 average.
Stanton homered for the second straight game and is 6-for-14 with nine RBIs in his past four games after hitting a go-ahead bases-clearing double Thursday and two homers Friday.
“It won’t matter either way,” said Judge, who is hitting .375 (33-for-88) in his past 27 games. “Our first goal (in spring training) was to win our division, so that gives us an opportunity to get a couple of more home games here for our fans. But the guys in this room, they’ll be happy either way. If it’s playing a wild card or a division [series], either will be fine.”
The Orioles (75-86) are 4-8 against the Yankees this season and Coby Mayo’s homer accounted for their only run in a game when they finished with three hits. It marked the fifth time since Sept. 1 they had three hits or fewer and 13th time overall.
“Tough situation with that the last couple months for that group of hitters,” Baltimore interim manager Tony Mansolino said of his team’s offensive struggles. “We know and it’s well-documented at this point, and we are incredibly accountable for it that we need to get that fixed. So not acceptable by any means.”
Luis Gil (4-1, 3.29) starts Sunday for the Yankees. He allowed six earned runs on 13 hits in 10 2/3 innings in no-decisions against the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox.
Gil is 3-1 with a 3.66 ERA in four career starts against the Orioles.
Kyle Bradish (1-1, 3.25) will make his sixth start since returning from Tommy John surgery last month. Bradish has allowed two or fewer runs in each start, including last Sunday when he allowed one run on two hits in six innings before the Yankees scored six runs in the 10th inning.
Bradish is 1-1 with a 2.90 ERA in six career starts against New York.