The New York Yankees took care of business in American League East with room to spare. Thanks to a 5-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night, the Yankees improved to a 95-59 record and clinched the AL East title with eight games left to be played in the regular season.
This year’s AL East title is the 20th in the Yankees’ franchise history and their first since 2019.
“Really proud of the guys. It’s the toughest division to win … every team’s a battle,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone after the game.
Boone reminded everyone that the goal for the Yankees is lifting the World Series trophy but said that team deserves to celebrate its achievement.
“We’re going to celebrate tonight and get on with the business of, obviously, we’ve got bigger goals,” he added. “We want to win a championship. That’s our stated goal. But tonight deserves to be celebrated in the gauntlet that is the AL East.”
The Yankees had a spectacular 2022 season start and were up 15.5 games on the second-placed team in AL East by July. This was followed by an uneven second part of the campaign, which saw their lead in the division dwindle to just 3.5 games at one point. However, the Yankees managed to shake off the rough stretch at the right time. They won eight games out of their previous nine contests and ran away with the division title.
After the Yankees clinch, the only division in MLB that still doesn’t have the winner is the NL East. This might remain the case until the very end of the regular season, as the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves currently share the same record at the top with 97 wins and 58 losses each.
