On Tuesday, the New York Yankees booked their spot in the 2025 MLB postseason with an exciting 3-2 win over the Chicago White Sox. Down 2-1 in the ninth inning, the Yankees came back and stole the game, thanks to a run-scoring single from trade deadline acquisition Jose Caballero, who continues to be a huge part of the team since his arrival.

After some consternation towards the middle of the season where seemingly nothing could go right for the Yankees, to have finally secured their spot in the playoffs has to be a major relief. And just to thicken the plot a bit more, the 89-68 Yankees are now behind the Toronto Blue Jays by just one game in the AL East standings with five games remaining in the season — with New York ending the season with games against sub-.500 teams, unlike the Blue Jays, who still have two games left against the Boston Red Sox in their current series.

Nevertheless, Yankees manager Aaron Boone, as much as he knows that clinching a playoff spot is a major cause for celebration, implored his team not to rest on their laurels, for they have much bigger ambitions in mind than simply making it to October.

“First box to check, right? We got to get in. We’re in. Don’t take that s**t for granted. Yeah, we’re in the playoffs. We got a lot more to do, right? We’ve got a lot bigger goals. Enjoy this,” Boone said, per Brendan Kuty of The Athletic.

The Yankees’ playoff journey in 2025 could be a whole lot easier if they manage to avoid the AL Wild Card Series, which they could do if they manage to overtake the Blue Jays in the division standings. Alas, the Yankees cannot simply tie the Blue Jays in the standings, for the latter owns the tiebreaker over them by virtue of winning the season series.

Yankees are rounding into form at the right time

The Yankees have been playing excellent baseball as of late, and they’ve been finding ways to win even in suboptimal circumstances like the ones they faced on Tuesday. They got the job done with two outs in the ninth inning, with Caballero driving in the winning run after the White Sox lost the plot.

New York is 7-3 in its last 10 games and they have a record of 13-7 this month. Their offense is the best in MLB, and no team in the AL would want to face them in the postseason, that’s for certain.