Rays clinch AL East crown after Yankees secure home field advantage for Wild Card round
· Yahoo Sports
When the Yankees retained a large chunk of their 2025 roster, they didn’t think they’d end up starting the 2026 playoffs in the same position that they did last year.
Alas, the second-place Bombers, burdened by injuries all season, officially missed out on a division title for the second straight season, as Tampa Bay secured the American League East and a postseason bye with a 6-1 win in the second game of Tuesday’s doubleheader between the two teams. With their significantly richer rivals thwarted — the Yankees’ luxury tax payroll is $228.9 million more than Tampa’s, per Cot’s Contracts — the Rays excitedly shook hands in front of the Bronx faithful before popping bottles in the visitor’s clubhouse at Yankee Stadium.
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It was a sour ending to a long day that began with a 2-0 victory for the Yankees, who are now 90-67 and six games behind the Rays with five games left in the regular season. That afternoon win ensured that the Yankees will have home field advantage in the Wild Card round, which begins on Sept. 29.
The likeliest scenario is that the Yankees will host the Red Sox, just as they did in last year’s Wild Card round.
The Yankees already knew that winning the division was an uphill battle coming into this four-game series against the Rays, as they needed to sweep just to keep that improbable dream alive after losing two games in Arizona over the weekend. And even with their win in Game 1 on Tuesday, the pinstripers only had a 1.8% chance of claiming the AL East, according to FanGraphs.
“You gotta give them credit,” Aaron Boone said of the 96-61 Rays on Tuesday morning. “They’ve won a ton of games this year, games that have been probably up in the air late, and they’ve come out on top. So they’ve had a great year, and they’re always a challenge to play.”
Drew Rasmussen was particularly challenging on Tuesday night, as he outdueled Max Fried and didn’t permit a hit until Heliot Ramos led off the seventh inning with a double. The right-handed Rasmussen also struck out 11 while allowing one run over 6.2 innings.
Now the Yankees can take the remainder of the week to rest key players and experiment before rematching with Boston in the Wild Card round, which they expect to play without the injured Aaron Judge. If they can win that series, they’ll face the Rays again in the ALDS.
While the Yankees beat the Red Sox last October and won this year’s season series against them, the Wild Card round is not how they envisioned beginning the 2026 postseason after they fell short of a division title last year.
In 2025, the Yankees ended the regular season with the same record as the pennant-winning Blue Jays. However, Toronto won the season series tiebreaker between the two teams — and therefore the AL East — earned a bye in the playoffs, and defeated the Yankees in a four-game ALDS.
The Yankees last won the East in 2024. They lost that year’s World Series to the Dodgers.
The Yanks have won their division just three times since 2013, and they haven’t won a championship since 2009.